Answer:
a. Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) allow people to shelter some of their income from taxation. Suppose the maximum annual contribution to such accounts is $5,000 per person. Now suppose there is an increase in the maximum contribution, from $5,000 to $8,000 per year.
This change in the tax treatment of saving causes the equilibrium interest rate in the market for loanable funds to _decrease and the level of investment spending to increase_.
b. An investment tax credit effectively lowers the tax bill of any firm that purchases new capital in the relevant time period. Suppose the government repeals a previously existing investment tax credit.
The repeal of the previously existing tax credit causes the interest rate to ___increase____ and the level of investment to ___decrease_____.
c. Initially, the government's budget is balanced, then the government responds to the conclusion of a war by significantly reducing defense spending without changing taxes.
This change in spending causes the government to run a budget ___surplus_______ which ___increases_____ national saving. This causes the interest rate to ___decrease_____ and the level of investment spending to __increase_____
Step-by-step explanation:
Interest rate decreases with increased savings and this results to increased investment as funds are available at affordable costs. The situation is reversed when the savings are decreased, since the interest rate will increase as there are less savings for investment purposes.
There is a continuous interaction between taxation, savings, government spending, inflation, and investment versus interest rates. This means that interest rates also reflect these factors put together. This why in both fiscal and monetary policies, governments try to strike some balance in order to direct the economy towards desired targets. For example, when the government wants to stimulate the economy, it works to reduce interest rates in order to encourage investments, but this also lowers the propensity to save and encourages the propensity to spend, which trigger inflation and increases interest rate as an aftermath. And this seems to be an endless vicious or virtuous circle, depending on what is achieved by the monetary and fiscal measures in operation.