The US economy: weakness of the "strong" recovery

The strategic prospects for the US (or any) economy can be evaluated by reference to the financial balances of its main sectors, which are related to one another by a consistent accounting system. The 1992-2000 expansion, accompanied by a rising budget surplus, was greeted by a storm of self-congra...

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Main Authors: Wynne Godley, Alex Izurieta
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Associazione Economia civile 2012-04-01
Series:PSL Quarterly Review
Subjects:
Online Access:https://rosa.uniroma1.it/rosa04/psl_quarterly_review/article/view/9824
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author Wynne Godley
Alex Izurieta
author_facet Wynne Godley
Alex Izurieta
author_sort Wynne Godley
collection DOAJ
description The strategic prospects for the US (or any) economy can be evaluated by reference to the financial balances of its main sectors, which are related to one another by a consistent accounting system. The 1992-2000 expansion, accompanied by a rising budget surplus, was greeted by a storm of self-congratulation in the US and widely expected to last indefinitely. But inspection of the balances revealed that the configuration of driving forces was unsustainable and that the fiscal stance should drastically change at some stage. Eventually, there has indeed been a huge fiscal expansion which warded off an incipient recession. But the new configuration of financial balances again reveals an unsustainable situation, with government, foreign and private debt all rising excessively fast. Sustained growth in the medium term can only be achieved if there is now a prolonged expansion in net export demand--for which the rest of the world does not seem to be well prepared.   JEL Codes: E10, E32, E66
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spelling doaj.art-301e391f4b0248d1b0ea15e9865239f42023-02-03T16:48:44ZengAssociazione Economia civilePSL Quarterly Review2037-36352037-36432012-04-015722910.13133/2037-3643/9824The US economy: weakness of the "strong" recoveryWynne GodleyAlex Izurieta The strategic prospects for the US (or any) economy can be evaluated by reference to the financial balances of its main sectors, which are related to one another by a consistent accounting system. The 1992-2000 expansion, accompanied by a rising budget surplus, was greeted by a storm of self-congratulation in the US and widely expected to last indefinitely. But inspection of the balances revealed that the configuration of driving forces was unsustainable and that the fiscal stance should drastically change at some stage. Eventually, there has indeed been a huge fiscal expansion which warded off an incipient recession. But the new configuration of financial balances again reveals an unsustainable situation, with government, foreign and private debt all rising excessively fast. Sustained growth in the medium term can only be achieved if there is now a prolonged expansion in net export demand--for which the rest of the world does not seem to be well prepared.   JEL Codes: E10, E32, E66 https://rosa.uniroma1.it/rosa04/psl_quarterly_review/article/view/9824Expansion
spellingShingle Wynne Godley
Alex Izurieta
The US economy: weakness of the "strong" recovery
PSL Quarterly Review
Expansion
title The US economy: weakness of the "strong" recovery
title_full The US economy: weakness of the "strong" recovery
title_fullStr The US economy: weakness of the "strong" recovery
title_full_unstemmed The US economy: weakness of the "strong" recovery
title_short The US economy: weakness of the "strong" recovery
title_sort us economy weakness of the strong recovery
topic Expansion
url https://rosa.uniroma1.it/rosa04/psl_quarterly_review/article/view/9824
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