Blanchard on Fiscal Policy

I was recently rather negative about the way the IMF frames the fiscal policy debate around the  right speed of consolidation. In my view this always prioritises long run debt control over fiscal stimulus at the zero lower bound (ZLB), and so starts us off on the wrong foot when thinking about the current conjuncture. Its the spirit of 2011 rather than the spirit of 2009.

Blanchard and Leigh have a recent Vox post, which allows me to make this point in perhaps a clearer way, and also to link it to a recent piece by David Romer. The Vox post is entitled “fiscal consolidation: at what speed”, but I want to suggest the rest of the article undermines the title. The first three sections are under the subtitle “Less now, more later”. They discuss the (now familiar from the IMF) argument that fiscal multipliers will be significantly larger in current circumstances, the point that output losses are more painful when output is low, and the dangers of hysteresis. I have no quarrel with anything written here, except the subtitle, of which more below.

A more interesting section is the one subtitled “More now, less later”. This section starts by noting that the textbook case for consolidation is that high debt crowds out productive capital and increases tax distortions. Yet these issues are not discussed further. The article does not say why, but the reason is pretty obvious. While both are long term concerns, they are not relevant at the ZLB.

Instead the section focuses on default, and multiple equilibria. After running through the standard De Grauwe argument, the text then says: “This probably exaggerates the role that central banks can play: Knowing whether the market indeed exhibits the good or the bad equilibrium, and what the interest rate associated with the good equilibrium might be is far from easy to assess, and the central bank may be reluctant to take what could be excessive risk onto its balance sheet.” This is more a description of ECB excuses before OMT than an argument.

More interesting is what comes next. Does default risk actually imply more austerity now, less later? I totally agree with the following: “The evidence shows that markets, to assess risk, look at much more than just current debt and deficits. In a word, they care about credibility.” “How best to achieve credibility? A medium-term plan is clearly important. So are fiscal rules, and, where needed, retirement and public health care reforms which reduce the growth rate of spending over time. The question, in our context, is whether frontloading increases credibility.”

So here we come to a critical point. Does more now, less later, actually increase the credibility of consolidation? If it does not, then the only argument for frontloading austerity disappears. The next paragraph discusses econometric evidence from the crisis, and concludes it is ambiguous. The whole rationale for more now, less later, is hanging by a thread. And there is just one paragraph left! Let me reproduce it in full.

“The econometric evidence is rough, however, and may not carry the argument. Adjustment fatigue and the limited ability of current governments to bind the hands of future governments are also relevant. Tough decisions may need to be taken before fatigue sets in. One must realise that, in many cases, the fiscal adjustment will have to continue well beyond the tenure of the current government. Still, these arguments support doing more now.”

Is this paragraph intentionally weak and contradictory? If credible fiscal adjustment requires consolidation by future governments, why does doing more now add to credibility? You could equally well argue that overdoing it now, because of the adverse reaction it creates (‘fatigue’ !?), turns future governments (and the electorate) away from consolidation, and so it is less credible.

So what we have is an article that appears to be a classic ‘on the one hand, on the other’ type, but is in fact a convincing argument for ‘less now, more later’. Perhaps that is intentional. But even if it is, I’m still unhappy. Although the arguments on multipliers, output gaps and hysteresis appear under the subtitle ‘less now, more later’, they in fact imply ‘stimulus now, consolidation later’, once you take the ZLB seriously. If you are walking along a path, and there is a snake blocking your way, you don’t react by walking towards it more slowly!

Why does this matter? Let me refer to recent comments David Romer made about the ‘Rethinking Macro’ IMF conference, which he suggests avoided the big questions. For example he notes “I heard virtually no discussion of larger changes to the fiscal framework.” He goes on (my italics)

“Another fiscal idea that has received little attention either at the conference or in the broader policy debate is the idea of fiscal rules or constraints. For example, one can imagine some type of constitutional rule or independent agency (or a combination, with a constitutional rule enforced by an independent agency) that requires highly responsible fiscal policy in good times, and provides a mechanism for fiscal stimulus in a downturn that is credibly temporary.”

As I argued here, it is not a matter of having a fiscal rule for consolidation that allows you to just ease up a bit at the ZLB. What we need is a rule that obliges governments to switch from consolidation to stimulus at or near the ZLB. Otherwise, the next time a large crisis hits (and Romer plausibly suggests that could be sooner rather than later), we will have to go through all of this stuff once again.