How The Federal Government Influences Economic Activity

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The federal government influences economic activity in an attempt to maintain growth, employment, and price stability through fiscal policies. Our government influences economic activity by implementing a discretionary fiscal policy or a monetary policy. A discretionary fiscal policy is used to expand or contract economic growth. Monetary policies are by the Federal Reserve to expand or contract the economy’s wealth. Both discretionary and monetary policies affect the aggregate demand and the aggregate supply. The aggregate demand is the total demand for goods and services by consumers. The aggregate supply is the production of goods and services that are going to be sold. In macroeconomics, we look at buying and selling by the whole economy …show more content…

“The goal is an equilibrium level of national income that generates full employment with price stability”. (Amacher & Rate, 2012 pg. 9.2) During a recession, the government can use an expansionary fiscal policy to fill the recessionary gap, influencing the aggregate curve to the right. A recessionary gap happens when the economy is operating under full unemployment. When the economy is going through a recession; net exports, individual incomes, and investments will decrease affecting our GDP. President Barack Obama used an expansionary fiscal policy by enacting the Economics Stimulus Act during the Great Recession. If the government wants the opposite effect, it would implement a contractionary monetary policy, which slows down the economy. An economy is slowed down by reducing the money supply. The Federal Reserve contracts the money supply by selling bonds through market operations, meaning the public market. When bonds are sold, interest is collected by the central bank which has an effect on the price of goods and services (Inflation). The Federal Reserve can also affect the money supply by adjusting interest rates which will affect borrowing, consumption, and investments. If the Federal Reserve wants to expand the money supply it will purchase government bonds. This will cause interest rates to fall resulting in an increase in investments and borrowing

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