A conversation on fiscal stimulus and the government spending multiplier with Professor Fabrizio Carmignani, Dean (Academic) of Griffith Business School. Fabrizio and Economics Explored host Gene Tunny discuss: 

• how the size of the multiplier (and the degree of crowding out) varies with the state of the economy;
• how vouchers might be a more effective stimulus than cash handouts;
• how governments really do need to run surpluses (or only very small deficits) when the economy recovers so the debt-to-GDP ratio can be stabilised and reduced in the long-term; and
• how Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) isn't a theory, nor is it modern.

Links relevant to the conversation include:

Does Government Expenditure Multiply Output and Employment in Australia?

Fiscal Multipliers in Recession and Expansion

How Much Did the 2009 Australian Fiscal Stimulus Boost Demand? Evidence from Household-Reported Spending Effects

Fabrizio's bio

Fabrizio Carmignani is Dean (Academic) and Professor of Economics in the Griffith Business School. His research is in the broad field of applied macroeconomics and applied econometrics. His recent publications are in the areas of conflict economics, tourism economics, policy modeling, spatial econometrics, and the economics of natural resources. He has also been appointed as a member of the ARC College of Experts from 2019 to 31 December 2021.

He is a regular contributor to various media outlets, where he writes and speaks about fiscal and monetary policy issues in Australia and overseas. Between 2002 and 2009 he worked for the United Nations in various roles, including the position of First Economist in the Trade, Finance and Economic Development Division of the UN Economic Commission for Africa. Fabrizio holds a PhD from the University of Glasgow and a Research Doctorate from the Universita' Cattolica in Milano.