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The Global Insight

What can the government do to speed up the economy?

Author

Sarah Garza

Updated on February 06, 2026

Fiscal policy uses the government’s power to spend and tax. When the country is in a recession, the government will increase spending, reduce taxes, or do both to expand the economy. When we’re experiencing inflation, the government will decrease spending or increase taxes, or both.

How can we increase economic growth?

Having more cash means companies have the resources to procure capital, improve technology, grow, and expand. All of these actions increase productivity, which grows the economy. Tax cuts and rebates, proponents argue, allow consumers to stimulate the economy themselves by imbuing it with more money.

Why does the government want to increase economic growth?

Economic growth creates higher tax revenues, and there is less need to spend money on benefits such as unemployment benefit. Therefore economic growth helps to reduce government borrowing.

What does the government do for the economy?

Governments provide the legal and social framework, maintain competition, provide public goods and services, redistribute income, correct for externalities, and stabilize the economy.

What is the most important source of economic growth?

Human Resources: Labour inputs consist of quantities of workers and of the skills of the work force. Many economists believe that the quality of labour inputs—the skills, knowledge, and discipline of the labour force—is the single most important element in economic growth.

How does decreased government spending lead to increased economic growth?

A 1999 NBER paper “Fiscal Policy, Profits, and Investment” concluded that reductions in government spending and wages lead to a reduction in business profits and an increase in investment, which increased economic growth.

How does the government increase the rate of saving?

There are two ways of raising the rate of saving. The government can directly increase the rate of saving by increasing its own saving, called public saving. Public saving is the excess of government tax revenue over government expenditure. When government expen­diture exceeds its revenue, there is a deficit in the budget.

Can a rise in taxes lead to an increase in GDP?

However, it is possible that increased spending and rise in tax could lead to an increase in GDP. In a recession, consumers may reduce spending leading to an increase in private sector saving. Therefore a rise in taxes may not reduce spending as much as usual. The increased government spending may create a multiplier effect.

How does raising interest rates affect the economy?

Lower economic growth (even negative growth – recession) Higher unemployment. If output falls, firms will produce fewer goods and therefore will demand fewer workers. Improvement in the current account. Higher rates will reduce spending on imports, and the lower inflation will help improve the competitiveness of exports.