Dr Bryce Wilkinson: Please Ma’am, can we have some more fiscal largesse?

Last week, eleven New Zealand economists issued a public letter advocating more government spending relative to revenue. That means yet more debt.

The belief that more government borrowing lessens recession severity has a long but professionally embarrassing history.

The theory that recessions can be due to insufficient (government) spending is widely attributed to English super-star economist John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946).