• East Asian Economic Review
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.55-73
• /
• 2018

The substantial slowdown of economic growth since the global financial crisis of 2008-2009 is rekindling debate on whether developing Asia should use fiscal expansion to boost aggregate demand. A key factor in the debate is the effectiveness of countercyclical fiscal policy in the region. The global crisis, as well as the fiscal stimulus packages implemented by developing Asian countries at that time, give some clues to this important issue. The region weathered the global crisis well and experienced a robust V-shaped recovery. According to conventional wisdom, the fiscal stimulus packages put in place by Asian governments played a key role in the region's recovery. The central objective of this paper is to empirically test this wisdom by using cross-country panel data. Our main finding is that the stimulus has had a limited but positive impact on developing Asia's output during the global crisis. This lends some support to the notion that countercyclical fiscal policy can help the region cope with severe external shocks. The broader, more fundamental implication for regional policymakers is that the region's long-standing commitment to fiscal discipline can yield significant benefits beyond macroeconomic stability. An important consequence of this commitment - relatively healthy fiscal balance sheets - enabled the region's governments to quickly and decisively embark upon fiscal stimulus programs.

• STI Policy Review
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.23-42
• /
• 2010

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), known widely as the "stimulus" bill, developed by the U.S. Congress and President-elect Obama in late 2008 and early 2009, is investing a significant portion of its $787 billion infusion of funds in future-oriented programs intended not only to "jump-start" the stalled American economy, but to promote the development of renewable energy sources and increase energy efficiency in appliances, buildings, transportation, and other sectors of the economy. These investments are expected both to create immediate employment in green industries and to build a more sustainable society in the long term. The Obama Administration's green energy initiatives are part of a larger emphasis on science and technology within its agenda. It has roots in the Obama campaign and is supported by an unusually strong science and technology team. Much of the activity is centered in the Department of Energy, which received a huge one-time increase in its fiscal year 2009 budget to support the new and expanded programs. Areas that have been neglected by the federal government R&D program for many years, including smart grid technology, solar, wind, and geothermal energy, received large boosts. Many of these programs - and, in fact, the broader concept of government involvement in commercial innovation - are politically controversial Previous attempts to expand research in these areas by liberal Democratic administrations and Congresses have been criticized and sometimes thwarted by conservatives. Whether President Obama's efforts will meet with more success, both politically and technologically, remains to be seen.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.41-60
• /
• 2010

After over a decade of sluggish economic growth accompanied by massive fiscal stimulus in the 1990s, it remains an open question whether and how Japanese firms have restructured their operations, and whether these efforts have borne any fruit. Using a randomly selected sample of 300 firms from the Tokyo Stock Exchange, we collect all restructuring announcement in the FY 2000-2001 (April 2000-March 2002) period. Our results are striking in that while we find that firms engaging in restructuring of various sorts display improved earnings in the period following the restructuring announcement, shareholders do not appear to benefit at the time of the restructuring announcements.