Consider a hypothetical economy in which households spend $0.80 of each additional dollar of their after-tax income. The expenditure multiplier for this economy is ____.
Suppose that this economy is experiencing a recession. The government would like to stimulate aggregate demand and is deciding whether it should increase its spending by $1 billion or reduce income tax by $1 billion. Assume other things remain constant, and the marginal propensity to consume remains at 0.8.
Before any multiplier effect takes place, a $1 billion increase in government spending will increase the aggregate demand by $____ billion, while a $1 billion reduction in income tax will increase the aggregate demand by ($200/$0.2/$0.8/$5/$800) billion.
Now consider the effect of each fiscal policy after the multiplier effect is complete. A $1 billion increase in government spending will result in a total increase of aggregate demand by $____ billion, whereas a $1 billion reduction in income tax will result in a total increase of aggregate demand by $____ billion.
Keynesians believe that the multiplier effect of an increase in government spending will be (greater than/less than/equal to) that of a tax cut of the same amount.
True or False: The impact of a one-time tax rebate tends to be greater than a permanent tax cut.