Question

You are hired by the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) as an economic consultant. The Chairperson of the CEA tells you that she believes the current unemployment rate is too high. The unemployment rate can be reduced if aggregate output increases. She wants to know what policy to pursue to increase aggregate output by $500 billion. The best estimate she has for the MPC is 0.5. Which of the following policies should you recommend? Why?

A) increase government purchases by $200 billion B) increase government purchases by $250 billion C) cut taxes by $200 billion D) cut taxes by $200 billion and to increase government purchases by $200 billion

Answer 1

Council of Economic Advisors (CEA)

I would recommend this policy to increase aggregate output:

B) increase government purchases by $250 billion

Step-by-step explanation:

To increase aggregate output (GDP) by $500 billion, in order to reduce the unemployment rate, government, given the best estimate for the MPC as 0.5, it would be to increase government purchases by $250 billion. The MPC is the marginal propensity to consume.

By increasing government purchases by $250 billion, the ripple effect would ginger industries to generate more output, thereby increasing the factors that affect aggregate output. These actions would then increase aggregate output by more than $500 billion. This choice is made because government spending is funded from taxes, making government unable to cut taxes.

Economists define aggregate output as "the sum of all the goods and services produced in an economy over a certain period of time." Aggregate output is an economy's total productivity or GDP (Gross Domestic Product). The factors that determine aggregate output include household wealth, consumer and business expectations, capacity utilization, monetary policy, fiscal policy, exchange rates, and foreign GDP.

The equation for calculating aggregate output, which expands the GDP by showing price level, is given as "Y = Y ad = C + I + G + NX tells us that aggregate output (or aggregate income) is equal to aggregate demand, which in turn is equal to consumer expenditure plus investment (planned, physical stuff) plus government spending plus net exports (exports – imports)."