The use of government spending to influence the economy

Fiscal policy is the use of government spending and taxation to influence the economy. Governments typically use fiscal policy to promote strong and sustainable growth and reduce poverty. The role and objectives of fiscal policy gained prominence during the recent global economic crisis, when governments stepped in to support financial systems, jump-start growth, and mitigate the impact of the crisis on vulnerable groups. In the communiqué following their London summit in April 2009, leaders of the Group of 20 industrial and emerging market countries stated that they were undertaking “unprecedented and concerted fiscal expansion.” What did they mean by fiscal expansion? And, more generally, how can fiscal tools provide a boost to the world economy?

Historically, the prominence of fiscal policy as a policy tool has waxed and waned. Before 1930, an approach of limited government, or laissez-faire, prevailed. With the stock market crash and the Great Depression, policymakers pushed for governments to play a more proactive role in the economy. More recently, countries had scaled back the size and function of government—with markets taking on an enhanced role in the allocation of goods and services—but when the global financial crisis threatened worldwide recession, many countries returned to a more active fiscal policy.

When policymakers seek to influence the economy, they have two main tools at their disposal—monetary policy and fiscal policy. Central banks indirectly target activity by influencing the money supply through adjustments to interest rates, bank reserve requirements, and the purchase and sale of government securities and foreign exchange. Governments influence the economy by changing the level and types of taxes, the extent and composition of spending, and the degree and form of borrowing.

Governments directly and indirectly influence the way resources are used in the economy. A basic equation of national income accounting that measures the output of an economy—or gross domestic product (GDP)—according to expenditures helps show how this happens:

GDP = C + I + G + NX.

On the left side is GDP—the value of all final goods and services produced in the economy. On the right side are the sources of aggregate spending or demand—private consumption (C), private investment (I), purchases of goods and services by the government (G), and exports minus imports (net exports, NX). This equation makes it evident that governments affect economic activity (GDP), controlling G directly and influencing C, I, and NXindirectly, through changes in taxes, transfers, and spending. Fiscal policy that increases aggregate demand directly through an increase in government spending is typically called expansionary or “loose.” By contrast, fiscal policy is often considered contractionary or “tight” if it reduces demand via lower spending.

Besides providing goods and services like public safety, highways, or primary education, fiscal policy objectives vary. In the short term, governments may focus on macroeconomic stabilization—for example, expanding spending or cutting taxes to stimulate an ailing economy, or slashing spending or raising taxes to combat rising inflation or to help reduce external vulnerabilities. In the longer term, the aim may be to foster sustainable growth or reduce poverty with actions on the supply side to improve infrastructure or education. Although these objectives are broadly shared across countries, their relative importance differs, depending on country circumstances. In the short term, priorities may reflect the business cycle or response to a natural disaster or a spike in global food or fuel prices. In the longer term, the drivers can be development levels, demographics, or natural resource endowments. The desire to reduce poverty might lead a low-income country to tilt spending toward primary health care, whereas in an advanced economy, pension reforms might target looming long-term costs related to an aging population. In an oil-producing country, policymakers might aim to better align fiscal policy with broader macroeconomic developments by moderating procyclical spending—both by limiting bursts of spending when oil prices rise and by refraining from painful cuts when they drop.