Based on neoclassical theory, cutting budget deficits has come to be seen as a principal way to increase long-run growth, but the empirical evidence is ambiguous on the outcome of this macropolicy. A new model, the classical growth cycles (CGC) model, offers an alternative theoretical framework...

This paper is an extension of an earlier working paper ("Finance and the Macroeconomic Process in a Classical Growth and Cycles Model," Levy Institute Working Paper No. 253). The basic structure of the model remains unchanged in that it is based on a social accounting matrix (SAM) with...

The paper argues in favor of significant budget deficits based on the understanding that the expansion of the 1990s was fueled by a great build-up of debt, and that this would eventually give way to a severe recession unless offset by a strong fiscal stimulus. In 2001, with the total government...