While the New York Fed is increasingly tasked with regulating financial institutions, its bread and butter is economic analysis. A recent report debunks the theory that the stimulus spending lowered unemployment.
James Orr, vice president in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Research and Statistics Group, and John Sporn, a senior analyst in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Markets Group, analyzed $860 billion (6 percent of GDP) stimulus contained in the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, adopted in the context of rising unemployment rates.
Their analysis of the distribution of ARRA funds across states shows that the expanded assistance to unemployed workers was highly correlated with state unemployment rates. However, most other state allocations had little association—positive or negative—with state unemployment rates. You can see that reflected in the chart above.
In this battle of Keynes vs. Hayek, it looks like Hayek won.
Sources:
- State Unemployment and the Allocation of Federal Stimulus Spending
James Orr and John Sporn in the New York Federal Reserve Bank’s Liberty Street Economics - The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009: A Review of Stimulus Spending in New York and New Jersey (.pdf) by James Orr and John Sporn
- Hayek vs. Keynes Rap Anthem “Fear the Boom and Bust”