January 19, 2011 Reading Time: < 1 minute

“Government spending, even in a time of crisis, is not an automatic boon for an economy’s growth. A body of empirical evidence shows that, in practice, government outlays designed to stimulate the economy may fall short of that goal. Such findings have serious consequences as the United States embarks on a massive government spending initiative. Before it approves any additional spending to boost growth, the government should use the best peer-reviewed literature to estimate whether such spending is likely to stimulate growth and report how much uncertainty surrounds those estimates. These analyses should be made available to the public for comment prior to enacting this kind of legislation.” Read more

“Does Government Spending Affect Economic Growth” 
Thomas Stratmann and Gabriel Lucjan Okolski 
Mercatus Center Policy Briefs, June 10, 2010. 

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Tom Duncan

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