Fiscal stimulus for debt intolerant countries?

Fashions are hard to resist, and it is now fashionable in much of the North to rely on a fiscal engine of growth. As for emerging markets, however, boosting spending at a time in which revenues are contracting or, in many cases, collapsing for an uncertain period of time is an more complicated matter. Policymakers would do well to keep four risks in mind. Fiscal multipliers: North and South; Emerging markets and global crowding out; Domestic debt is no panacea; and Above all--remember debt intolerance!