Answer:
Definition of expansionary fiscal policy. This involves the government seeking to increase aggregate demand – through higher government spending and/or lower tax.
Expansionary fiscal policy is usually financed by increased government borrowing – and selling bonds to the private sector.
Keynes said expansionary fiscal policy should be used during a recession – when there is unemployment, surplus saving and falling real output. He argued this injection of government spending could stimulate economic activity and get the unemployed resources back into productive use. This enables the economy to recover more quickly than a laissez-faire approach
Expansionary fiscal policy increases the level of aggregate demand, through either increases in government spending or reductions in taxes. Expansionary policy can do this by (1) increasing consumption by raising disposable income through cuts in personal income taxes or payroll taxes; (2) increasing investments by raising after-tax profits through cuts in business taxes; and (3) increasing government purchases through increased spending by the federal government on final goods and services and raising federal grants to state and local governments to increase their expenditures on final goods and services. Contractionary fiscal policy does the reverse: it decreases the level of aggregate demand by decreasing consumption, decreasing investments, and decreasing government spending, either through cuts in government spending or increases in taxes. The aggregate demand/aggregate supply model is useful in judging whether expansionary or contractionary fiscal policy is appropriate.
Consider first the situation in Figure 2, which is similar to the U.S. economy during the recession in 2008–2009. The intersection of aggregate demand (AD0) and aggregate supply (SRAS0) is occurring below the level of potential GDP as indicated by the LRAS curve. At the equilibrium (E0), a recession occurs and unemployment rises. In this case, expansionary fiscal policy using tax cuts or increases in government spending can shift aggregate demand to AD1, closer to the full-employment level of output. In addition, the price level would rise back to the level P1 associated with potential GDP.