Effectiveness of the Australian Fiscal Stimulus Package: A DSGE Analysis

We develop and estimate a small open economy DSGE model to investigate the effectiveness of the Australian fiscal stimulus package introduced in the aftermath of the global financial crisis (GFC). The timing and magnitudes of GFC shocks, fiscal shocks that mimic the stimulus transfers, and accommodative monetary policy shocks are carefully calibrated and fed into various simulation experiments. The results suggest that the stimulus transfers were effective in combating the economic downturn caused by the GFC, however, the scale of the transfer initiative seems to be excessive.