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Government Spending and Durable Goods

Author

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  • Christopher E. Boehm
Abstract
This paper shows that the fiscal multiplier for purchases of durable and investment goods is very small - much smaller than the multiplier for nondurable goods. Standard models predict small durables multipliers because private sector purchases of durable goods are highly intertemporally substitutable and therefore easily crowded out. Empirical estimates based on U.S. data confirm this result. In aggregate time series data output rises by about 50 cents less if the government purchases 1$ of durable rather than nondurable goods. At the industry level, spending on durable goods leads to smaller sectoral expansions than spending on nondurable goods. The findings of this paper suggest that infrastructure spending which is frequently part of fiscal stimulus packages is relatively ineffective at raising aggregate demand.

Suggested Citation

  • Christopher E. Boehm, 2016. "Government Spending and Durable Goods," CESifo Working Paper Series 6244, CESifo.
  • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_6244
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    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp6244.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Lemoine, Matthieu & Lindé, Jesper, 2023. "Fiscal stimulus in liquidity traps: Conventional or unconventional policies?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    2. Boehm, Christoph E., 2020. "Government consumption and investment: Does the composition of purchases affect the multiplier?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 80-93.
    3. Christoph Boehm & Nitya Pandalai Nayar, 2018. "Are supply curves convex? Implications for state-dependent responses to shocks," 2018 Meeting Papers 336, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    4. Sheremirov, Viacheslav & Spirovska, Sandra, 2022. "Fiscal multipliers in advanced and developing countries: Evidence from military spending," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    5. Rong Li, 2017. "Putting Government Spending Shocks under the Microscope: Standard Vector Autoregression versus the Narrative Approach," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 73(3), pages 237-254, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    durable goods; fiscal policy; government spending; fiscal multiplier;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • E63 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Comparative or Joint Analysis of Fiscal and Monetary Policy; Stabilization; Treasury Policy

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