Sandra Phlippen, Assistant Professor at Erasmus School of Economics and Head fort he Netherlands at ABN Amro’s Group Economics, discusses, together with Wilmar Bolhuis (Leiden University) and Carlijn Prins (Rabobank), the “Speech from the Throne” and the panel gives their view on the "General Political Debate on the Budget Memorandum". ‘What we have often seen so far is that governments cannot refrain from handing out gifts when things are going well and that they tighten their belts when things are going poorly, which is exactly the opposite of what they are supposed to do.’
‘There is quite a lot of criticism about the fact that purchasing power is being handed out as gifts because of the upcoming elections, which is indeed true. But I think we are living in a special moment, because we do not really know whether the impact of the measures taken might not come exactly at the right moment, because at that time we are in a recession after all,’ says Phlippen. ‘Then it is exactly the right thing the government is doing. So, it is not easy to say whether they are doing the old wrong pro-cyclical or that they are actually doing counter-cyclical, without even realising it.’
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Listen to the entire item on BNR Nieuwsradio, 17 September 2019.