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Friday November 20, 2009

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Past Event

An Economic Studies and The Hamilton Project Event

If, When, How? Prospects for Fiscal Stimulus in the U.S. Economy

Fiscal Policy, Financial Markets, Financial Institutions, Troubled Asset Relief Program, U.S. Economic Stimulus


Event Summary

With the housing and financial markets still in distress and consumer confidence slipping, there is growing evidence that an economic slowdown – or even a recession – may be on the horizon. On January 10, the Hamilton Project released a briefing paper and convened a discussion on what economists know about fiscal stimulus – if it is appropriate, when should it be implemented, and how it should it be done.

Event Information

When

Thursday, January 10, 2008
10:00 AM to 12:00 PM

Where

Falk Auditorium
The Brookings Institution
1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC
Map

Contact: Brookings Office of Communications

E-mail: events@brookings.edu

Phone: 202.797.6105

Brookings Senior Fellow Douglas W. Elmendorf provided a short overview of the new paper, followed by a roundtable discussion on these broader issues. Former Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin will moderate the panel of economic experts, including former Council of Economic Advisers Chairman and current Harvard University Professor Martin Feldstein; Hamilton Project Director and Brookings Senior Fellow Jason Furman; Brookings Senior Fellow Alice M. Rivlin, a former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve and director of the Office of Management & Budget; and Moody’s Economy.com Chief Economist Mark Zandi.

Event Materials:

Download full event audio »

If, When and How: A Primer on Fiscal Stimulus by Douglas W. Elmendorf and Jason Furman
Q&A: President Bush's Plan for Economic Stimulus with Jason Furman
Douglas W. Elmendorf's prepared remarks
Read the full uncorrected transcript

Transcript

ROBERT RUBIN: I think the panel all has a view that, while there are different degrees here concern about the economy, there's a lot of uncertainty, and there's at least enough risk of serious difficulty, so we think the political system should be proactive in dealing with it, even though it may have somewhat different views as to the degree of that risk. Number two, we think a stimulus should be part of that. Number three, some of us think there should be a trigger, some of us might be a little more inclined to act more quickly, and therefore, might not have a trigger, so there's a good debate.

We all think that it should be temporary, timely, and targeted. We have some differences about exactly what that targeted ought to be, but I think we probably all feel the political system ought to try to reach across party and ideological lines to find common ground, even though nobody is totally happy. And if I missed anything, I don't know what it is. So that is my summary. What have I missed? Oh, size, yeah. I mean everybody seems -- I didn't have a view, but everybody seems to think it should be in the area of 100 billion.

Participants

Welcome and Moderator

Robert E. Rubin

Citigroup Inc.

Overview of Briefing Paper

Douglas W. Elmendorf

Senior Fellow, Economic Studies

Roundtable Discussion

Martin Feldstein

Harvard University

Jason Furman

Senior Fellow, Economic Studies

Alice M. Rivlin

Senior Fellow, Economic Studies

Mark Zandi

Moody’s Economy.com


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