In this paper we analyse counter-cyclical fiscal policy within the context of a microfounded analysis of business-cycle stabilization. We show that tax and spending instruments can have a useful counter-cyclical role, even after allowing for the distortionary nature of the instruments and the...

This paper studies the interactions of fiscal policy and monetary policy when they stabilize a single economy against shocks in a dynamic setting. If both policy-makers are benevolent, then, in our model, the best outcome is achieved when monetary policy does nearly all of the stabilization. If...