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Question:Consider the following statement “The Australian economy is "weak", with households weighed down by slow wages growth and higher taxes, the OECD has declared in a report that backs lower interest rates, calls for more government spending and paves the way for unconventional monetary policies.” Use the dynamic AD-AS model to describe a longer run scenario where the government is trying to pursue higher economic growth using higher government spending, but were incorrect in their estimation of the major parameters governing long run full employment equilibrium. In your analysis discuss the implications of an incorrect scenario predicted by the government when effecting their stimulus policy on equilibrium output and (un)employment. Make sure to outline the assumptions you have made to reach your conclusion.

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The economy of Petmeckistan has been thrown into a recession due to widespread pessimism by households and firms. Should the government leap into action and try to fix it

Some economists think so, believing that policymakers should take an active approach to stabilize an economy. But other economists believe that intervention isn’t necessary most of the time. Rather, they believe that things will sort themselves out without immediate action needed. In this case, policy interventions might further destabilize an economy, so should only be used in extreme circumstances.

This second, “hands-off” approach assumes that there is a long-run self-adjustment mechanism. The long-run self-adjustment mechanism is one process that can bring the economy back to “normal” after a shock. The idea behind this assumption is that an economy will self-correct; shocks matter in the short run, but not the long run. At its core, the self-correction mechanism is about price adjustment. When a shock occurs, prices will adjust and bring the economy back to long-run equilibrium.

The AD (aggregate demand) curve is defined by the IS–LM equilibrium income at different potential price levels. The downward sloping AD curve is derived from the IS–LM model.

IS–LM diagram, with real income plotted horizontally and the interest rate plotted vertically

AD–AS diagram, with real income plotted horizontally and the price level plotted vertically

It shows the combinations of the price level and level of the output at which the goods and assets markets are simultaneously in equilibrium. The above figure showing IS and LM curves, where LM curve shifts downward to the right to LM’ and thus shifting the new equilibrium to E’ where both the goods and the money market get cleared. Now, the new output level Y’ corresponds to the lower price level P’. Thus a reduction in price, which is shown in the figure, leads to an increase in equilibrium output.

The equation for the AD curve in general terms is:

{\displaystyle Y=Y^{d}({\tfrac {M}{P}},G,T,Z_{1})}

where Y is real GDP, M is the nominal money supply, P is the price level, G is real government spending, T is an exogenous component of real taxes levied, and Z1 is a vector of other exogenous variables that affect the location of the IS curve (exogenous influences on any component of spending) or the LM curve (exogenous influences on money demand). The real money supply has a positive effect on aggregate demand, as does real government spending (meaning that when the independent variable changes in one direction, aggregate demand changes in the same direction); the exogenous component of taxes has a negative effect on it.

Aggregate demand curve shifts rightward in case of a monetary expansion

An increase in the nominal money stock leads to a higher real money stock at each level of prices. In the asset market, the decrease in interest rates induces the public to hold higher real balances. It stimulates the aggregate demand and thereby increases the equilibrium level of income and spending. Thus, as we can see from the diagram, the aggregate demand curve shifts rightward in case of a monetary expansion.

The aggregate supply curve may reflect either labor market disequilibrium or labor market equilibrium. In either case, it shows how much output is supplied by firms at various potential price levels. The aggregate supply curve (AS curve) describes for each given price level, the quantity of output the firms plan to supply.

The Keynesian aggregate supply curve shows that the AS curve is significantly horizontal implying that the firm will supply whatever amount of goods is demanded at a particular price level during an economic depression. The idea behind that is because there is unemployment, firms can readily obtain as much labour as they want at that current wage and production can increase without any additional costs (e.g. machines are idle which can simply be turned on). Firms' average costs of production therefore are assumed not to change as their output level changes. This provides a rationale for Keynesians' support for government intervention. The total output of an economy can decline without the price level declining; this fact, in conjunction with the Keynesian belief of wages being inflexible downwards, clarifies the need for government stimulus. Since wages cannot readily adjust low enough for aggregate supply to shift outward and improve total output, the government must intervene to accomplish this result. However, the Keynesian aggregate supply curve also contains a normally upward-sloping region where aggregate supply responds accordingly to changes in price level. The upward slope is due to the law of diminishing returns as firms increase output, which states that it will become marginally more expensive to accomplish the same level of improvement in productive capacity as firms grow. It is also due to the scarcity of natural resources, the rarity of which causes increased production to also become more expensive. The vertical section of the Keynesian curve corresponds to the physical limit of the economy, where it is impossible to increase output.

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