Fiscal illusion Mourao (2008) attempts to quantify fiscal illusion empirically for almost 70 democracies since 1960. Fiscal illusion Fiscal illusion is a public choice theory of government expenditure first developed by the Italian economist Amilcare Puviani in his 1903 book "Teoria della illusione finanziaria" ("Theory of Financial Illusion" (not yet translated into English, but translated into German in 1960 under the title "Die Illusionen in der öffentlichen Finanzwirtschaft", Berlin: Dunker & Humblot, 1960)). Fiscal illusion suggests that when government revenues are not completely transparent or are not fully perceived by taxpayers, then the cost of government is seen to be less than
Fiscal policy a lower aggregate demand for goods and services, contrary to the objective of a fiscal stimulus. Neoclassical economists generally emphasize crowding out while Keynesians argue that fiscal policy can still be effective especially in a liquidity trap where, they argue, crowding out is minimal. Some classical and neoclassical economists argue that crowding out completely negates any fiscal stimulus; this is known as the Treasury View, which Keynesian economics rejects. The Treasury View refers to the theoretical positions of classical economists in the British Treasury, who opposed Keynes' call in the 1930s for fiscal stimulus. The same general argument has been