The Means to Prosperity: Fiscal Policy Reconsidered

by Berglund; Per Gunnar

• ISBN13: 9780415701563
• ISBN10: 0415701562
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-01-24
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

While recent developments in monetary theory have been fast to spread to policy analysis and practice and the media, the same is not true of fiscal policy, and a void has emerged. Issues such as timing, cyclical adjustments, long-term sustainability, and social implications are often seen as detached from discussions in the public arena.This book fills this gap. It delivers a keen assessment of the role and scope of current fiscal policy. New contributions and critical reviews of state of the art research analyze fiscal policy in terms of viability, potency, consequences and sustainability, and also shed light on its relation to economic and political ideas.The general tone of this volume is cautiously favourable of fiscal activism, although the emphasis is placed more on medium-term adjustments than on short-term 'fine-tuning'. The authors believe that the legacy of the last fiscal revolution has been an excessively negative view of deficits and debt, and believe that this volume will contribute to open a dialogue on fiscal issues, and bring back a more balanced view of fiscal policy. With contributions from leading authorities including Barbara Bergmann, Jeffrey Frankel and David Colander, this is a major new contribution to the field.

Table of Contents

List of figures	xi
List of tables	xiii
List of contributors	xvi
Preface by James K. Galbraith	xvii
Acknowledgments	xix
1 Fiscal policy reconsidered: introduction	1	(16)
PER GUNNAR BERGLUND AND MATIAS VERNENGO
PART I Fiscal policy strikes back	17	(66)
2 The case for fiscal policy	19	(20)
PHILIP ARESTIS AND MALCOLM SAWYER
3 A fiscal policy to counter recessions: triggered transfers to households	39	(13)
LAURENCE S. SEIDMAN AND KENNETH A. LEWIS
4 Integrating sound finance with functional finance	52	(15)
DAVID COLANDER AND PETER HANS MATTHEWS
5 Regime change for the US federal budget	67	(18)
MAX B. SAWICKY
PART II Fiscal policy in the periphery	83	(64)
6 Grappling with fiscal reform: the case of the Dominican Republic	85	(26)
ESTEBAN PÉREZ CALDENTEY
7 Globalization and endogenous fiscal crisis: theory and Brazilian experience	111	(17)
MATIAS VERNENGO
8 Fiscal programming and alternatives in debt management: the Turkish experience	128	(21)
EBRU VOYVODA
PART III Fiscal policy for our grandchildren	147	(106)
9 Paradox of thrift and budget in a simple Keynesian growth model	149	(53)
PER GUNNAR BERGLUND
10 Budget deficits, unemployment and economic growth: a cross-section time-series analysis	202	(19)
ROBERT EISNER
11 Public spending and public debt in the euro area	221	(16)
ALFRED GREINER, UWE KOELLER AND WILLI SEMMLER
12 Varieties of fiscal stimulus: a conflicting claims analysis	237	(16)
ALAN G. ISAAC
PART IV What are the questions?	253	(77)
13 The political economy of the deficit: roundtable session	255	(32)
BARBARA R. BERGMANN, JEFFREY A. FRANKEL, WILLIAM A. NISKANEN, LAURENCE S. SEIDMAN (participants); MATIAS VERNENGO (moderator); with an introduction by PER GUNNAR BERGLUND AND MATIAS VERNENGO
14 The final word on fiscal policy: interview	287	(43)
ROBERT EISNER: with an introduction by PER GUNNAR BERGLUND
Robert Eisner.: biographical data	330	(1)
Robert Eisner: bibliography	331	(12)
Index	343