An October 30 working paper by Stanford economists John Cogan and John Taylor found that the 2009 stimulus bill had very little stimulative effect because government purchases – the most stimulative type of government spending – rose very little. Taylor commented in a blog post.
In an October 28 post, Harvard economist Jeff Frankel noted that some developing countries such as Chile have done a better job of smoothing business cycles through fiscal policy than those in Europe and North America.
In an October 25 working paper, University of Arizona economic historian Price Fishback reexamines monetary and fiscal policy during the Great Depression.
In an October 19 commentary, economist Robert Skidelsky expressed concern about the premature withdrawal of fiscal stimulus.
On October 17, the Center for Public Integrity published a report on Republicans who opposed the stimulus bill but nevertheless begged for money from it because it would create jobs in their states or districts.
Also on October 17, I posted a commentary examining President Obama’s recent admission that there were no shovel-ready public works projects available when the 2009 stimulus bill was enacted.
On October 14, the International Monetary Fund published a working paper looking at the macroeconomic effects of implementation delays for public capital projects. It finds that such delays are significant and can even produce negative growth in the short-run.
On October 11, the Treasury and the Council of Economic Advisers released a study on infrastructure investment. It concludes that now is an especially auspicious time to increase such investment because so many of the necessary resources are currently idle. On October 12, Brookings Institution economist Robert Puentes commented.
I last posted items on this topic on October 7.
Bruce Bartlett is an American historian and columnist who focuses on the intersection between politics and economics. He blogs daily and writes a weekly column at The Fiscal Times. Read his most recent column here . Bartlett has written for Forbes Magazine and Creators Syndicate, and his work is informed by many years in government, including as a senior policy analyst in the Reagan White House. He is the author of seven books including the New York Times best-seller, Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy (Doubleday, 2006).
