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University of Massachusetts Amherst

Economics Department Working Paper Series

Functional finance

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Fiscal Policy And Structural Transformation In Developing Economies, Peter Skott Jan 2020

Fiscal Policy And Structural Transformation In Developing Economies, Peter Skott

Economics Department Working Paper Series

Developing economies with high levels of open or hidden unemployment face structural transformation problems. Unlike in mature economies there are no structural aggregate demand problems, and sustained aggregate demand stimulus can lead to a profit squeeze in the modern sector and deindustrialization. Adaptations of functional finance to developing economies should aim to stabilize the level and composition of demand at values that are consistent with a target rate of growth of the modern sector. Populist temptations, however, may lead to deindustrialization.


Aggregate Demand, Functional Finance And Secular Stagnation, Peter Skott Jan 2016

Aggregate Demand, Functional Finance And Secular Stagnation, Peter Skott

Economics Department Working Paper Series

This paper makes three main points. Fiscal policy, first, may be needed in the long run to maintain full employment and avoid secular stagnation. If fiscal policy is used in this way, second, the long-run debt ratio depends (i) inversely on the rate of growth, (ii) inversely on government consumption, and (iii) directly on the degree of inequality. The analysis, third, suggests that policies and policy debates have been misguided. The recent rediscovery of ’secular stagnation’ by Summers and others should be welcomed, but the suggested theoretical redirection is unclear and does not go far enough.


Public Debt, Secular Stagnation, And Functional Finance, Peter Skott Jan 2015

Public Debt, Secular Stagnation, And Functional Finance, Peter Skott

Economics Department Working Paper Series

Fiscal policy and public debt may be required to maintain full employment and avoid secular stagnation. This conclusion emerges from a range of different models, including OLG specifications and stock-flow consistent (post-) Keynesian models. One of the determinants of the required long-run debt ratio is the rate of economic growth. Low growth leads to high debt, and empirical correlations between growth and debt may reflect this causal effect of growth on debt, rather than negative effects of debt on growth. A second result relates directly to austerity policies. The level of government consumption and the structure of taxation influence the …


Fiscal And Monetary Policy Rules In An Unstable Economy, Soon Ryoo, Peter Skott Jan 2015

Fiscal And Monetary Policy Rules In An Unstable Economy, Soon Ryoo, Peter Skott

Economics Department Working Paper Series

This paper examines the implications of different monetary and fiscal policy rules in an economy characterized by Harrodian instability. We show that (i) a monetary rule along Taylor lines can be stabilizing for low debt ratios but becomes de-stabilizing if the debt ratio exceeds a certain threshold, (ii) a `Keynesian' fiscal policy rule can stabilize the economy at full employment, (iii) a fiscal `austerity' rule that links fiscal parameters to deviations from a target debt ratio fails to adjust the `warranted' to the `natural' growth rate and destabilizes the warranted path, (iv) instability may arise from a combination of fiscal …