Although there are some virtues to retaining the flexibility to tailor policy to the situation, policy made under the political gun and with political rather than economic objectives typically does not produce effective policy. It has two important effects: first, as I argue in this chapter, it tends to make the United States the reliable stimulator of first resort for the world, taking the burden off other countries and giving them less incentive to alter their growth strategies. Second, as I argue in the next chapter, the excessive political incentive to stimulate produces monetary policy
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