Working Papers

Tradable Spillovers of Fiscal Policy

Evidence from the 2009 Recovery Act

Abstract

Local fiscal policy shocks propagate between labor markets through the trade in intermediate goods used in final production. Through this channel, each $1 of local aid from the 2009 Recovery Act increased output by $1.33 in the rest of the country over two years, in addition to its local state-level effect of $1.46. Combining both the local and spillover effects, absent other offsetting forces, the implied aggregate multiplier from the Recovery Act was approximately 2.8. A sectoral decomposition of the direct and spillover effects is consistent with the spillover effects being mediated through the trade in intermediate goods.