Thursday, January 29, 2009

More Stimulus Guesstimates

The stimulus has passed the House and is now cooling in the senatorial saucer. The CBO has estimated its effects:
According to CBO’s estimates, with enactment of H.R. 1, the number of jobs would be between 0.8 million and 2.1 million higher at the end of this year, 1.2 million to 3.6 million higher at the end of next year, and 0.7 million to 2.1 million higher at the end of 2011 than under current law.
As this Times analysis nicely explains, the components vary in their speed and effectiveness - the spending has a higher multiplier than the tax cuts, but some of the spending will take longer to implement. The Tax Policy Center has graded the effectiveness of the tax provisions; they give a B+ to the centerpiece "making work pay" refundable tax credit of $500 for individuals and $1000 for couples, while the corporate tax breaks mostly get lower grades. At Econbrowser, Menzie Chinn plots the CBO's estimate of spending over time (bear in mind that the CBO's estimates are for the federal government's fiscal years, which begin in October, not January, so we're almost half way through FY 09).

A detailed outline of the bill has been posted by Speaker Pelosi's office.

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