One of the central lessons learned from the Great Depression was that adjusting government spending each year to balance the budget increases the volatility of output. We compare this policy with one that involves running temporary deficits and surpluses and an average budget balance of zero....

Using a New Neoclassical Synthesis model of monetary policy for a small open economy, this paper explores the impact of an increased degree of price flexibility on output volatility. Previous analysis of this question – based on the earlier generation of descriptive macro systems with...

In this chapter, William Scarth examines the relationship between population aging, productivity and growth in living standards and reaches a more optimistic conclusion about the effects of aging on productivity. Indeed, he finding that aging may in fact lead to increases in productivity, even...

While acknowledging that the AD-AS model is sometimes applied carelessly, this note defends this analytical framework against charges that it is internally inconsistent, empirically unrealistic, and unable to clarify major controversies in macroeconomic theory and policy.

According to the conventional wisdom, we face a trade-off between our equity and efficiency objectives. The author challenges this proposition. He shows in a rigorous manner that employment subsidies can indeed lead to lower unemployment and higher productivity growth in a standard economic...

The federal government has implemented an earned income tax credit what it has called the Working Income Tax Benefit in the 2007 Budget. Edmund Phelps has argued that the earned income tax credit in the United States should be replaced with an employment subsidy. This paper assesses the...

Population aging creates both a problem (higher taxes on a small group of workers to finance higher public pension and health care costs) and automatic adjustments that help to address that problem. The prospect of longer retirement involves an increased incentive to invest in physical capital,...

Many analysts expect the aging population to lead to a reduction in the growth of living standards. Income inequality – a problem that has been accentuated by the payroll tax hikes that were necessary to fund the public pension as the population ages – is becoming an increasing challenge at...

The federal government has implemented an earned income tax credit--what it has called the Working Income Tax Benefit--in the 2007 Budget. Edmund Phelps argued that the earned income tax credit in the United States should be replaced with an employment subsidy. This paper assesses the importance...