Stimulus

Research

The Economic Situation, March 2013 Bruce Yandle \| Mar 01, 2013 There was only one lane open as I made my trip to Atlanta; the other three were blocked with those unhappy yellow and black make-believe barrels used by the highway folks. Traffic flow was constrained by efforts to repair potholes and broken pavement. We in the slow lane had little choice in the matter. Instead of 70, we were slowed to 20 miles per hour. We had to accept our fate, or find another route at the next exit.	The Economic Situation Bruce Yandle \| Mar 06, 2012 With hope riding high for a stronger 2012 economy, treating the economy like a Washington-directed marionette is not the way to go.
Would More Infrastructure Spending Stimulate the Economy? Veronique de Rugy, Matthew Mitchell \| Sep 12, 2011 Four years into the deepest recession since World War II, the U.S. economy expanded at a rate of only 0.7 percent in the first half of 2011. This means that the economy is growing at a slower pace than the population and that capita output continues to fall. In response, the president has announced a plan for yet more deficit-financed stimulus spending.	Economic Situation Report Bruce Yandle \| Sep 06, 2011 In this quarterly economic situation report, Bruce Yandle discusses how the economy has changed since May 2011.
No Such Thing as Shovel Ready Garett Jones, Daniel M. Rothschild \| Aug 30, 2011 How did the $787 billion American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) affect the U.S. economy?	Did Stimulus Dollars Hire the Unemployed? Garett Jones, Daniel M. Rothschild \| Aug 30, 2011 To address the lack of knowledge about ARRA funding, we surveyed hundreds of firms, non-profits, and local governments that received ARRA funding. We collected over 1,300 anonymous, voluntary responses from managers and employees that allow us to better understand what happened at the organizations that received contracts funded by ARRA spending. This bottom-up study of ARRA is the first of its kind. We hope that others, especially government agencies, will build upon this on-the-ground analysis.

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Testimony & Comments

Federal Infrastructure Spending: Neither a Good Stimulus Nor a Good Investment Veronique de Rugy \| Nov 16, 2011 In her testimony before the Joint Economic Committee, Veronique de Rugy argued that although infrastructure may be a good long-term investment, it is a particularly bad vehicle for stimulus and will not boost short-term job growth.	Wasteful Spending Does Not Stop at Earmarks and Overpayments Veronique de Rugy \| Feb 17, 2011 Veronique de Rugy testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform about wasteful government spending.
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009: An Update Veronique de Rugy \| Jul 14, 2010 Since the Great Recession began in December 2007, employment has shrunk by 7.5 million jobs1, long-term unemployment is higher now than in any previous recession2, and real GDP has plummeted to 2006…

Research Summaries & Toolkits

Mercatus Center Policy Guide

| Aug 03, 2012

The Mercatus Center at George Mason University is pleased to provide you with our new policy guide. The guide is designed to provide easily accessible economic information that might prove useful in pre- paring for hearings or town hall meetings, drafting speeches or policy papers, and generally educating the public regarding spending, taxes, regulation, financial markets, and technology policy.

Assessing the President's FY2013 Budget Proposal

| Feb 13, 2012

This policy brief takes a look at the president's FY2013 budget proposal and emphasizes the need for fundamental reform in the areas of spending, taxes, and the budget process.

The Essential Stimulus

Veronique de Rugy | Sep 09, 2011

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was heralded with promises of jobs and economic growth. In retrospect, how well has it fulfilled those promises?

Expert Commentary

The Fiscal Cliff Deal: Mercatus Center Scholars React By Veronique de Rugy, Jason J. Fichtner, Charles Blahous, Matthew Mitchell \| Jan 02, 2013 As the nation narrowly averts the dreaded “fiscal cliff,” can Americans finally exhale with the knowledge that Washington’s last-minute deal is a good deal for them? Mercatus Center at George Mason University scholars suggest the following key questions to help gauge whether the fiscal cliff deal is a real step toward improving the nation’s dire fiscal outlook.	The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Didn't Work U.S. News and World Report By Antony Davies, James R. Harrigan \| Dec 19, 2012 In early 2009, President Obama predicted that his American Recovery and Reinvestment Act would "jump-start our economy," "create new jobs," and provide "many years of economic growth." He claimed that this growth would "cut the deficit in half by the end of [his] first term in office" and put "our nation on sound fiscal footing." Terrified of a repeat of the Great Depression, Americans supported the president's plan for more than $1 trillion in new government spending.
What the Recent CBO Report Tells Us About Fiscal Stimulus and the Federal Budget By Charles Blahous \| Jun 11, 2012 The findings of CBO’s gloomy long-term report come as no surprise. Over the most recent four years, the U.S. government has engaged in continued massive deficit spending on a scale not seen since World War II. CBO finds that the continuation of such policies in future years will lead to federal fiscal ruin and severe economic hardship.	Does Stimulus Grow the Private Economy? By Garett Jones \| Apr 24, 2012 How could that possibly be? How could extra government spending shrink the private sector? Well, in the simplest Keynesian model, it can't. You have to add some bells and whistles--let's call that "reality"--to get a multiplier less than one.
Why It Doesn't Feel Like the Economy Is Getting Better By Antony Davies \| Apr 03, 2012 If the economy has been steadily improving for the past 30 months, then why have repeated Gallup polls on economic confidence shown people to be consistently dissatisfied with the economy?	Your Taxpayer Dollars at Work: Crony Green-Jobs Edition By Veronique de Rugy \| Feb 24, 2012 When it comes to wind-farm jobs, if you do the math and calculate the cost per job, you may well fall off you chair.

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Charts

FY2013 Budget: Charts on Deficits, Debt, and Spending

In these charts, Veronique de Rugy examines the impact that the president's FY2013 budget would have on government spending.

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Experts

Antony Davies

Antony Davies is associate professor of economics at Duquesne University and Mercatus Affiliated Senior Scholar at George Mason University. His primary research interests include econometrics, public policy, and economic psychology.

Veronique de Rugy

Veronique de Rugy is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Her primary research interests include the federal budget, homeland security, taxation, tax competition, and financial privacy issues.

Jason J. Fichtner

Jason J. Fichtner is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center. His primary research interests include Social Security, federal tax policy, federal budget policy, retirement security, and policy proposals to increase saving and investment.

Matthew Mitchell

Matthew Mitchell is a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and the lead scholar on the Project for the Study of American Capitalism. His primary research interests include economic freedom and economic growth, public choice economics, and the economics of government-granted privileges to businesses.

David M. Primo

David M. Primo is a senior scholar at the Mercatus Center and an associate professor of political science and business administration at the University of Rochester. His current research focuses on the value of legislative “pork” for reelection, the politics of judicial appointments, and the connection between formal models and data analysis.

Videos

Matt Mitchell Testifies on Job Creation

Matthew Mitchell | February 01, 2012

Creating a Shovel-Ready Economy: Lessons from the Recovery Act

Garett Jones | January 11, 2012

Podcasts

Antony Davies Discusses the Fiscal Cliff on KDKA Radio

Antony Davies | December 28, 2012

Antony Davies discusses the Fiscal Cliff on KDKA Radio.

Download the MP3

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Recent Events

Running the BLS Numbers on Jobs

What does the unemployment rate really mean? Does it suggest our economy is slowly growing, stuck in neutral, or in fact slipping back into recession? Do the monthly numbers on total jobs created and the unemployment rate tell the full economic story? In order to examine the results of the economic policies pursued since the Great Recession of 2008 effectively, it is critical to understand what the employment numbers mean and what information lies behind them.

The Economic Situation, March 2013 Bruce Yandle \| Mar 01, 2013 There was only one lane open as I made my trip to Atlanta; the other three were blocked with those unhappy yellow and black make-believe barrels used by the highway folks. Traffic flow was constrained by efforts to repair potholes and broken pavement. We in the slow lane had little choice in the matter. Instead of 70, we were slowed to 20 miles per hour. We had to accept our fate, or find another route at the next exit.	The Economic Situation Bruce Yandle \| Mar 06, 2012 With hope riding high for a stronger 2012 economy, treating the economy like a Washington-directed marionette is not the way to go.
Would More Infrastructure Spending Stimulate the Economy? Veronique de Rugy, Matthew Mitchell \| Sep 12, 2011 Four years into the deepest recession since World War II, the U.S. economy expanded at a rate of only 0.7 percent in the first half of 2011. This means that the economy is growing at a slower pace than the population and that capita output continues to fall. In response, the president has announced a plan for yet more deficit-financed stimulus spending.	Economic Situation Report Bruce Yandle \| Sep 06, 2011 In this quarterly economic situation report, Bruce Yandle discusses how the economy has changed since May 2011.
No Such Thing as Shovel Ready Garett Jones, Daniel M. Rothschild \| Aug 30, 2011 How did the $787 billion American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) affect the U.S. economy?	Did Stimulus Dollars Hire the Unemployed? Garett Jones, Daniel M. Rothschild \| Aug 30, 2011 To address the lack of knowledge about ARRA funding, we surveyed hundreds of firms, non-profits, and local governments that received ARRA funding. We collected over 1,300 anonymous, voluntary responses from managers and employees that allow us to better understand what happened at the organizations that received contracts funded by ARRA spending. This bottom-up study of ARRA is the first of its kind. We hope that others, especially government agencies, will build upon this on-the-ground analysis.

The Fiscal Cliff Deal: Mercatus Center Scholars React By Veronique de Rugy, Jason J. Fichtner, Charles Blahous, Matthew Mitchell \| Jan 02, 2013 As the nation narrowly averts the dreaded “fiscal cliff,” can Americans finally exhale with the knowledge that Washington’s last-minute deal is a good deal for them? Mercatus Center at George Mason University scholars suggest the following key questions to help gauge whether the fiscal cliff deal is a real step toward improving the nation’s dire fiscal outlook.	The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Didn't Work U.S. News and World Report By Antony Davies, James R. Harrigan \| Dec 19, 2012 In early 2009, President Obama predicted that his American Recovery and Reinvestment Act would "jump-start our economy," "create new jobs," and provide "many years of economic growth." He claimed that this growth would "cut the deficit in half by the end of [his] first term in office" and put "our nation on sound fiscal footing." Terrified of a repeat of the Great Depression, Americans supported the president's plan for more than $1 trillion in new government spending.
What the Recent CBO Report Tells Us About Fiscal Stimulus and the Federal Budget By Charles Blahous \| Jun 11, 2012 The findings of CBO’s gloomy long-term report come as no surprise. Over the most recent four years, the U.S. government has engaged in continued massive deficit spending on a scale not seen since World War II. CBO finds that the continuation of such policies in future years will lead to federal fiscal ruin and severe economic hardship.	Does Stimulus Grow the Private Economy? By Garett Jones \| Apr 24, 2012 How could that possibly be? How could extra government spending shrink the private sector? Well, in the simplest Keynesian model, it can't. You have to add some bells and whistles--let's call that "reality"--to get a multiplier less than one.
Why It Doesn't Feel Like the Economy Is Getting Better By Antony Davies \| Apr 03, 2012 If the economy has been steadily improving for the past 30 months, then why have repeated Gallup polls on economic confidence shown people to be consistently dissatisfied with the economy?	Your Taxpayer Dollars at Work: Crony Green-Jobs Edition By Veronique de Rugy \| Feb 24, 2012 When it comes to wind-farm jobs, if you do the math and calculate the cost per job, you may well fall off you chair.