The Analytics of SVARs: A Unified Framework to Measure Fiscal Multipliers
68 Pages Posted: 8 May 2012
Date Written: February 21, 2012
Abstract
Does fiscal policy stimulate output? SVARs have been used to address this question but no stylized facts have emerged. We derive analytical relationships between the output elasticities of fiscal variables and fiscal multipliers. We show that standard identification schemes imply different priors on elasticities, generating a large dispersion in multiplier estimates. We then use extra-model information to narrow the set of empirically plausible elasticities, allowing for sharper inference on multipliers. Our results for the U.S. for the period 1947-2006 suggest that the probability of the tax multiplier being larger than the spending multiplier is below 0.5 at all horizons.
Keywords: Fiscal policy, identification, vector autoregressions
JEL Classification: E62, C52
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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