summary

Challenge summary

Summary: Reflections on the uses and limits of fiscal policy
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1 – 2 hours
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Linked to assessment

Understanding what fiscal policy tools governments have access to and the limits of these tools.

Start here

web resources

Stimulus resources

  1. Chapter 9: Fiscal Policy from John Petroff’s “Macroeconomics” text book, which provides definitions and insights into the key methods of effecting the macroeconomy that governments have in their toolkit.
  2. Follow up by reading MIT: Veronica Guerrieri’s “Principles of Macroeconomics, L18-L19: Fiscal Policy”lecture notes.
  3. Knowledge acquired through watching of these videos on the issues around fiscal policy.

objectives

Purpose

While we often have the impression that economic policy and governments should and could “fix” the economy, the reality is that all policy has limitations. The goal of this challenge is to:

  • Understand what tools governments have at their disposal.
  • Understand the limitations of these tools.
  • To use this understanding to analyze real world case studies.