期刊名称：Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis - Regional Economist
出版年度：2014
出版社：Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
摘要：I n response to the 2007-08 financia l crisis and the recession that followed, 1 the fed- eral government took a series of large-scale fiscal measu res, which d rove the deficit to unprecedented levels for the post war period. These measu res included, chiefly, the Eco- nomic Stimu lus Act of 2008 and the Ameri- can Recover y and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Subsequent measures were under taken to curb the growing deficit, such as the Budget Control Act of 2011, t he American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 and the Bipart isan Bud get Act of 2013. The political context during t his period was characterized by significant tur- moil, including ongoing debates on whether to raise t he debt ceiling, uncertainty about the reversal of tax cuts, fears of a "fiscal cliff," etc. The inevitable consequence of t he large deficits since 2008 was a substa ntial increa se in government debt as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), from 35 percent in 2007 to a projected 74 percent this year. 2 Arguably, the political d iscussion over fiscal issues has quieted down in recent months, and uncertainty about the feder al budget outlook has greatly diminished. Thus, it seems timely now to study the overall fisca l response to the crisis and look at the impli- cations of cur rent budget projections for the next decade. The table displays major components of the federal bud get, averaged over six periods since 1971. The source of the data is the Congressional Budget Office (CBO); included are projections for fiscal years 2014 until 2024. 3
