CH 13+14+15 Flashcards
taxes (definition)
required payments to the government
social insurance (definition)
government programs intended to protect families against economic hardship–> include social security, medicare, medicaid and the ACA and smaller programs like unemployment insurance+food stamps
disposable income (definition)
the total income households have available to spend, which is equal to the total income received from wages, dividends, interest, rent, minus taxes plus governnment transfers
an increase in taxes/reduction in government transfers…
reduces disposable income–> leaidng to fall in consumer spending
decrease in taxes/increase of government transfers…
increase disposable income–> increase consumer spending
why can the government shift the AD curve?
because the government itself is already one source of the spending that makes up the GDP (remember the formula;) )
government fiscal policy that closes recessionary gap:
expansionary fiscal policy
expansionary fiscal policy (definition) and its 3 forms
fiscal policy that increases aggregate demand by…
- increase in government purchases G+S
- cut in taxes
- increase in government transfers
fiscal policy that closes inflationary gap:
contractionary fiscal policy
contractionary fiscal policy (definition) and its 3 forms:
a fiscal policy that reduces aggregate demand by…
- reduction in government purchases G+S
- increase in taxes
- reduction government transfers
3 main arguments against use of expansionary fiscal policy:
- government spending always crowds out private spending
- government spending always crowds out private investment spending
- ricardian equivalence: government budget deficits lead to reduced private spending
ricardian equivalence (definition)
other things equal, expansionary fiscal policy leads to larger budget deficit+greater government debt–> higher debt eventually leads to government needing to raise taxes to pay for its debt–> consumers anticipating that must apy higher taxes in future will cut their spending in order to save money
one key reason for caution fiscal policy (definition+explanation)
there are important time lags between when policy is decided upon and when it is implemented
3 things that have to hapen before government increases spending to fighht recession:
1. has to realise that the recessionary gap exists–> economic date takes time to collect and analyse–> recessions recognised only months after have begun
2. government has to develop a spending plan–> can take months
3. takes time to spend the money
–> because time lags, might implement expansionary policy when economy already recovered and even in inflationary gap–> in that case expansionary policy will only worsen economy
multiplier (definition)
ratio of change i real GDP caused by an autonomous change (like government spending) in aggregate spending to the size of that autonomous change
MPC (definition)
marginal propensity to consume
–> the fraction of an additional dollar in disposable income that is spent
MPC (equation)
change in consumer spending : disposable income
fiscal multiplier Tax/Government transfer (equation)
MPC X 1 : (1–MPC)
government expenditure fiscal multiplier (equation)
1 : (1–MPC)
lump-sum taxes (definition)
taxes that don’t depend on the taxpayer’s income
–> with lump-sum taxes there’s no change in the multiplier
effect of taxes on multiplier: (explanation)
change size of multiplier–> because great majority of tax revenue dependent on level of economic growth (GDP) –> therefore taxes reduce the multiplier because governments holds in part of the increae in real GDP
automatic stabilisers (definition)
government spending and taxation rules that cause fiiscal poolicy to be automatically expansionary when economy contracts and automatically contractionary when economy expands
discretionary fiscal policy (definition)
fiscal policy that is the direct result of deliberate actions by policy makers rather than automatic adjustment
–> example: government during recession passing legislation that cuts taxes+increases government spending in order to stimulate economy–> in general economists only support discretionary fiscal policy in case of severe recession or sustained economic weakness
austerity (definition)
sharp cuts in spending+tax increases for economy
–> austerity is form of contractionary policy
expansionary fiscal policy and has the following effect on the budget balance…
it reduces the budget balance–> makes budget surplus smaller, or even budget deficit bigger
contractionary fiscal policy and has the following effect on the budget balance…
increases the budget balance for that year–> makes budget surplus bigger, or budget deficit smaller
2 reasons why can’t just use budget balance to measure fiscal policy:
- there are 2 different changes in fiscal policy that have equal effect on the budget balance, but that may have quite unequal effects on the actual economy–> changes in government purchases have larger effect on real GDP than equal sized chages in taxes+government transfers
- often changes in budget balance are the result, not the cause of fluctuations in the economy
cyclically adjusted business cycle (definition)
an estimate of what the budget balance would be if real GDP were exactly equal to potential output
–> takes into account extra tax revenue government would collect and transfers it would save if a recessionary gap were eliminated OR the revenue government would lose+extra transfers it would make if inflationary gap was to be eliminated
government deficit (definition)
difference between amount government spends and recieves in taxes over given period 9usually 1 year)
government debt (definition)
sum of money governmenyt owes at particular point in time
fiscal year (definition)
runs from October 1st to September 30th and is labelled according to the calender year in which it ends
public debt (definition)
government debt held by individuals and institutions outside the government–> a government that runs persistent budget deficits will experience a rising level of public
Potential dangers posed by Rising Government Debt
- crowding out
- financial pressure on future government budgets and default
debt spiral (definition)
takes place when interest rate on government debt drives that up even higher
debt-GDP ratio (definition)
government’s debt as a percentage of GDP
implicit liabilities (definition)
spending promises mady by governments that are effectively a debt despite the fact that they are not in usual debt statistics
–> implicit liabilities in US mainly arise form transfer programs aimed at providing security in retirement+protection from large health care bills
dedicated taxes (definition)
social security+part medicare supported by dedicated taxes: expenses paid out of special taxes on wages
money (definition)
any asset that can easily be used to purchase G+S
currency in circulation (definition)
cash held by the public
–> is considered money–> includes checkable bank deposits
money supply (definition)
the total value of financial assets in the economy that are considered money
3 roles of money (definition)
- medium of exchange
- store of value
- unit of account
medium of exchange (explanation)
an asset that individuals acquire for the purpose of trading G+S rather than for their own consumption
–> however during economic turmoil people often turn to other countries’ money as medium of exchange
store of value (explanation)
to act as medium of exchange money must also hold purchasing power over time
–> if used eg ice cream instead of money–> wouldn’t work because would melt thus no store of value
unit of account (explanation)
a measure used to set prices and make economic calculations
–> makes things lot easier–> without commonly accepted measure the terms of a transaction harder to determine–> makes it harder to make transactions and achieve gains from trade
commodity money (definition)
a good used as medium of exchange that has intrinsic value in other uses
–> gold, silver
commodity backed money (definition)
a medium of exchange with no intrinsic value whose ultimate value is guaranteed by promise that can be converted into valuable goods
–> like money notes–> could exchange that in bank for actual gold/silver coins
fiat money (definition)
a medium of exchange whose value derives entirely from its official status as a means of payment
–> like our current money
2 major advantages of using fiat money over commodity-backed money:
- creating fiat money doesn’t use up any real resources beyond the paper it’s printed on–> like gold/silver
- the supply of money can be adjusted based on the needs of the economy, instead of being determined by amount of gold/silver that needs to be found/mined
2 major risks of using Fiat money:
- counterfeited money
- governments that can create money whenever they like (because large influence within CB), will be very tempted to make use of that privilege
monetary aggregates (definition)
an overall measure of the money supply
3 sizes of measuring money supply: (definition)
- M1: narrowest definition
- M2: less narrow
- M3: broadest definition
M1 (explanation)
contains only currency in circulation (cash) and checkable bank deposits
–> themost liquid measure of money, because directly usable as medium of exchange