The Effects of Fiscal Measures During COVID-19

Jonathan Ostry, Pragyan Deb, Davide Furceri, Nour Tawk and Naihan Yang

No 16726, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: This paper empirically examines the effects of fiscal policy measures during the COVID-19 pandemic, using a novel database of daily fiscal policy announcements—classified by type of fiscal measure—and high-frequency economic indicators for 52 countries from January 1 to December 31, 2020. The results suggest that fiscal policy announcements have been effective in stimulating economic activity, boosting confidence, and reducing unemployment, but their effect varies by type of measure and country characteristics. Emergency lifeline measures (which form the bulk of below-the-line measures) are more effective when containment policies are stringent, providing cashflow support to firms and households. Demand-support measures (which comprise most of above-the-line measures) are more effective when containment measures are relaxed.

Keywords: Fiscal policy; Covid-19; Multipliers; High-frequency data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E24 E32 E52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-11
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://cepr.org/publications/DP16726 (application/pdf)
CEPR Discussion Papers are free to download for our researchers, subscribers and members. If you fall into one of these categories but have trouble downloading our papers, please contact us at subscribers@cepr.org

Related works:
Working Paper: The Effects of Fiscal Measures During COVID-19 (2021)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:16726

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
https://cepr.org/publications/DP16726

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers Centre for Economic Policy Research, 33 Great Sutton Street, London EC1V 0DX.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().