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Should a Balanced Budget be a Primary Government Goal?

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What's wrong with the following statement? The most important attribute of any government budget is that it be a balanced budget, regardless of how that fiscal balance is achieved.

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Solution Summary

Budget deficits occupy a lot of ink space. The question is whether a balanced budget should be the ultimate priority of a government. This exercise gives a short description of the issue.

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The answer here is based on the Keynesian theory, and hence can be argued against by other schools.

The budget is said to be balanced when the expenses equal the income. But, in the Keynesian school, a school that is followed by virtually every government and central bank in the West, the role of the government is that of a stabilizer. Their ...

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