This paper argues that John Maynard Keynes had a targeted (as contrasted with aggregate) demand approach to full employment. Modern policies, which aim to close the demand gap," are inconsistent with the Keynesian approach on both theoretical and methodological grounds. Aggregate demand tends to...

This paper reconsiders fiscal policy effectiveness in light of the recent economic crisis. It examines the fiscal policy approach advocated by the economics profession today and the specific policy actions undertaken by the Bush and Obama administrations. An examination of the labor market...

The present article offers a fundamental critique of fiscal policy as it is understood in theory and exercised in practice. Two specific demand-side stabilization methods are examined here: conventional pump priming and the new designation of fiscal policy effectiveness found in the new...

The so-called new economic consensus has begun to reassess the role and place of fiscal policy and is calling for its restitution in certain cases. Although a "consensus" may exist on various macroeconomic issues within this literature, fiscal policy is not one of them. The debate is stirred...

The article evaluates the fiscal policy initiatives during the Great Recession in the United States. It argues that, although the nonconventional fiscal policies targeted to the financial sector dwarfed conventional countercyclical stabilization efforts directed to the real sector, the...