Fiscal austerity vs. expansionary fiscal policy: on the results of these opposed economic policies applied to fight recessions

ABSTRACT This paper presents an inquiry into the observed results when governments have implemented one or other type of (opposed) economic policy prescribed in economics to reverse the consequences of a global economic crisis –like that unleashed in 2008–. An updated assessment of the evidence in this respect is developed, through a review of available empirical studies and analysis of the outcomes -in terms of recovery of economic activity- of having applied one and the other ‘competing’ economic policies. The approach focuses on the causal relationships involved, mainly between variations in public spending/fiscal deficit and changes in economic activity’s indicators.