Review Questions

20. Give some examples of changes in federal spending and taxes by the government that would be fiscal policy and some that would not.

21. Have the spending and taxes of the U.S. federal government generally had an upward or a downward trend in the last few decades?

22. What are the main categories of U.S. federal government spending?

23. What is the difference between a budget deficit, a balanced budget, and a budget surplus?

24. Have spending and taxes by state and local governments in the United States had a generally upward or downward trend in the last few decades?

25. What are the main categories of U.S. federal government taxes?

26. What is the difference between a progressive tax, a proportional tax, and a regressive tax?

27. What has been the general pattern of U.S. budget deficits in recent decades?

28. What is the difference between a budget deficit and the national debt?

29. What is the difference between expansionary fiscal policy and contractionary fiscal policy?

30. Under what general macroeconomic circumstances might a government use expansionary fiscal policy? When might it use contractionary fiscal policy?

31. What is the difference between discretionary fiscal policy and automatic stabilizers?

32. Why do automatic stabilizers function “automatically?”

33. What is the standardized employment budget?

34. What are some practical weaknesses of discretionary fiscal policy?

35. What are some of the arguments for and against a requirement that the federal government budget be balanced every year?

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