Friday, February 13, 2009
Which Stimulus Programs Have the Most Bang for the Buck?
An article by economist James K. Galbraith contains a chart - based on information from Moody's and congressional testimony - showing the most bang for the buck from government stimulus programs:
What a dollar of stimulus puts back into the economy when spent on...
(Click here for full image).
Of course, there will be a fierce debate about whether there is the money for any stimulus program, when the government has already run up huge obligations for which it cannot pay.
And of course, if there is a stimulus plan, people will argue as to who should receive the stimulus based on ideology (For example, Galbraith is liberal, so he argues for liberal causes).
I'm not going to weigh in on any of these questions. I'm just sharing the info presented in the chart.
5 comments:
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What I would like to see is a rundown of the "stimulus" bill showing how many dollars they have allocated to each item on the chart and then figure out how much will be put into the economy by the package. My guess is that we will end up in negative territory, especially if we factor in Geithner's new Paulsen plan to donate a few hundred billion more to the banks.
ReplyDeleteA few days ago an artcicle in Financial Times told about IMF study indicating the return from infrastructure projectds to be 2-3 times larger than from any tax cuts.
ReplyDeleteTax cuts pecolate too slowly to economy and as such they have very little value as instant remedy.
Your graph tells it all and used it also on my blogg, thanks!
ReplyDeleteWill 160 million spent on conversion boxes for digital tv do anything for the economy besides put money in the manufacturer's pocket?
ReplyDeleteVery interesting chart. As you have said however, that is if there is any money for a stimulus program. Unfortunately, it is one of those wait and see situations, hoping for the best outcome!
ReplyDelete