- Expansionary fiscal policy in a small
open economy ( with floating exchange
rate )
In case of a small open economy, with floating exchange
rate, an expansionary fiscal policy ( increase in
government spending or decrease in taxes
)
- Increases the planned
expenditure in the economy
- That's why the IS curve shifts to the
right ( IS0 to
IS1 ) as shown in the
figure below
- This raises the exchange rate ( e0
to e1 ) ( currency
appreciates )
- But, as the domestic currency appreciates, the
domestic goods become more expensive than foreign
goods, hence the net exports (NX) of the country
falls
- Therefore, the fall in net exports actually
offsets the increase in income arising from the
expansionary fiscal policy and has no effect on
the aggregate income and output (
Y0 )
- Expansionary fiscal policy in a small
open economy ( with fixed exchange rate
)
In case of a small open economy, with fixed exchange
rate, an expansionary fiscal policy ( increase in
government spending or decrease in taxes
)
- Increases the planned
expenditure in the economy
- That's why the IS curve shifts to the
right ( IS0 to
IS1 ) as shown in the
figure below
- Therefore, it much like the floating exchange
rate tries to put upward pressure on the
exchange rate
- But, here as the Central Banks stand ready to
maintain the fixed exchange rate, they respond by
increasing the money supply
- That's why the LM curve shifts to the
right ( LM to LM0 ) as
shown in the figure below
- The exchange rate here remains the
same ( e0 )
- But it raises the aggregate
income and output in the
economy( Y0 to
Y1 )
Therefore we can conclude by saying that the
impacts of expansionary fiscal policy in a
small open economy are very different under
- Floating exchange rate and
- Fixed exchange rate
Under floating exchange rate,
- Currency appreciates ( increase in the
exchange rate ), but the aggregate
income and output stays the
same
But, under a fixed exchange rate,
- Aggregate income and output
rises, but the Central Bank is willing
and able to maintain a fixed exchange rate