Why Do More Polarized Countries Run More Procyclical Fiscal Policy?
研究财政政策的顺周期行为，发现社会极化（以收入不平等和教育不平等衡量）与财政顺周期倾向正相关，且顺周期财政政策会抑制经济增长。
We study the cyclical behavior of fiscal policy to explain why some countries exhibit procyclical fiscal policy stances-being expansionary in good times and contractionary in bad times. We develop a model that links the polarization of preferences over fiscal spending to the procyclicality bias. We then present evidence that social polarization as measured by income inequality and educational inequality is consistently and positively associated with fiscal procyclicality, even after controlling for other determinants from existing theories. We also find a strong negative impact of fiscal procyclicality on economic growth. Copyright by the President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.