The effect of governmental expenditures on the total economy varies with both the level of utilization of labor and capital in the economy at the time of the expenditure, and the segment of the economy which receives the expenditure. If the economy as a whole or the segment of the economy which is the focus of the expenditure is operating at capacity or close to capacity, then the expenditure’s major effects will tend to be inflationary, and will not generate much employment of capital and labor. If the economy or sector is operating at much less than full employment, the expenditure will produce a genuine (non-inflationary) rise in the GNP.

　　A true measure of the effect of governmental increase in the amount of money made available, then, is not the simple dollar value of the initial injection but the cumulative effect of this injection through spending and re-spending. In the optimum case the initial expansion of income flow could be great enough to produce tax revenues in excess of the original "deficit spending" or the "tax cut", so that deficits are not only smaller than the increased GNP but are recouped. In Keynesian economics the fundamental point of government policy clearly is not budget-balancing but spending in the event of unused productive capacity and unemployment. Spending increases productivity. This productivity resulting from federal spending has overwhelmed the older economic myths of the balanced budget where government is conceived of as just another business firm.

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　　政府支出對于整個經(jīng)濟的影響作用，受到以下兩個因素的制約。第一，政府支出之時勞動力和資本的利用情況;第二，接受(政府)支出的經(jīng)濟部分。如果整個經(jīng)濟或接受(政府)支出的經(jīng)濟領(lǐng)域充分地或接近充分地發(fā)揮效能，那么政府支出的效果不會很大，所以資本和勞動力也不會得到充分利用。而如果經(jīng)濟潛能并未充分發(fā)揮，政府支出則會真正促進GNP的增長。

　　對于政府增加支出而產(chǎn)生的效果，真實的衡量標準并非在于最初的支出數(shù)額，而在于這一筆開支經(jīng)過多次投入而產(chǎn)生的長期效果。 在理想的情況下，最初的收入增長產(chǎn)生的稅收會超過最初的“負債投入”或“減免的稅收”。這樣，赤字不僅小于GNP的增長，而且得到了補償。凱恩斯的經(jīng)濟學(xué)理論認為，政府決策的重點并非在于平衡預(yù)算，而在于生產(chǎn)能力沒有得到充分發(fā)揮，失業(yè)率居高不下之時增加支出。 聯(lián)邦支出可以促進生產(chǎn)能力這一理論使得傳統(tǒng)的經(jīng)濟理論受到挑戰(zhàn)。這是因為后者認為政府應(yīng)發(fā)揮類似公司的職能，盡力平衡預(yù)算。