This paper discusses the need and scope for an active fiscal stabilization policy. It is argued that the effectiveness of fiscal policy as a short run stabilizer does not depend on the long run multipliers of (balanced budget) fiscal policies. To the extent that activity can be affected by...

A dominant explanation of price rigidity is the so-called "menu cost model" according to which small costs of changing prices may imply that firms keep nominal prices unchanged to nominal shocks which therefore have real effects. Crucial to this explanation is the assumption that price...