Beschreibung:
We investigate whether US government spending multipliers are higher during periods of heightened uncertainty or economic slack as opposed to normal times. Using quarterly historical data and local projections, we estimate a cumulative one-year multiplier of 2 during uncertain periods. In contrast, the multiplier is about 1 in times of high unemployment and about 0:5 - 0:7 during normal times. While we find positive employment effects in economic slack as in uncertain times, two transmission channels can explain the higher multipliers in the latter: greater price exibility leading to short run in ation (lowering the real interest rate) and diminishing risk premiums