Public expenditure: Difference between revisions
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==Economic consequences== | |||
===Crowding-out and crowding-in=== | |||
Under normal circumstances, private sector spending on government bonds is to some extent at the expense of spending on private sector bonds, with the consequence that some private-sector investment is "crowded out". To the extent that government bonds are used to finance consumption rather than investment, the total of the country's investment is diminished, leading in time to a loss of potential output. Crowding-out is seldom complete, however, but depends upon a range of factors including elasticities of demand for investment and for money <ref> See Frederick Fourie: ''How to Think and Reason in Economics'', Juta 2001</ref>. During a recession, crowding-out may to some extent be offset by "crowding-in" as government spending makes up for the deficiency in private sector spending, leading to a recovery of demand and an increase in private-sector investment. The balance between crowding out under particular circumstances is a matter of controversy <ref> See "The Crowding-out Controversy" on page 248 of William Baumol and Alan Blinder: ''Economics, Principles and Policy'', Harcourt Bruce Jovanovich, 1979 </ref> . | |||
Revision as of 03:57, 22 October 2009
Economic consequences
Crowding-out and crowding-in
Under normal circumstances, private sector spending on government bonds is to some extent at the expense of spending on private sector bonds, with the consequence that some private-sector investment is "crowded out". To the extent that government bonds are used to finance consumption rather than investment, the total of the country's investment is diminished, leading in time to a loss of potential output. Crowding-out is seldom complete, however, but depends upon a range of factors including elasticities of demand for investment and for money [1]. During a recession, crowding-out may to some extent be offset by "crowding-in" as government spending makes up for the deficiency in private sector spending, leading to a recovery of demand and an increase in private-sector investment. The balance between crowding out under particular circumstances is a matter of controversy [2] .