
What are the three time lags?
The three specific inside lags are recognition lag, decision lag, and implementation lag. The one specific outside lag is termed impact lag. Policy lags can reduce the effectiveness of business-cycle stabilization policies and can even destabilize the economy.
What is the meaning of lag time?
Definition of time lag : an interval of time between two related phenomena (such as a cause and its effect)
What are the types of lags in economics?
There are three types of lag in economic policy: the recognition lag, the decision lag, and the effect lag. The recognition lag is the time it takes for the authorities to discover the need to make a change in economic policy.
What is the time lag for fiscal policy?
The time lag could span anywhere from nine months up to two years. Fiscal policy and its effects on output have a shorter time lag. When monetary policy attempts to stimulate the economy by lowering interest rates, it may take up to 18 months for evidence of any improvement in economic conditions to show up.
What's another word for lag time?
What is another word for time lag?gapinterludedelayintervallaggingspacetime gaptime warpbreakintermission90 more rows
What is lead time and lag time?
The Lead Time is an advance in carrying out the activities. The Lead Time corresponds to the time “saved”. The Lag Time is a delay in carrying out activities.
How many types of lags are there?
The Lags are: 1. Data lag 2. Recognition lag 3. Legislative lag 4.
What are long and variable time lags?
The 'long and variable lags' of monetary policy are those after the decision is taken and enacted. Fiscal policy changes can have more immediate effect, but the decision lag is longer.
What are three types of time lags for macroeconomic policy?
Recognition Lag vs. Implementation Lag and Impact LagImplementation lag: the time it takes to implement a corrective fiscal or monetary policy response to an economic shock. ... Impact lag: the period between when monetary authorities change policy and when it takes full effect.
Why is time lags a problem in fiscal policy?
Policy lags also affect fiscal policies by reducing their effectiveness because it may take a while before the policies impact the economy after being implemented. The economy may be worse than the impact of the implemented policies, hence making them less effective.
Why does monetary policy have time lag?
Beyond pass-through, an important source of lags arises from the gradual response of investment – both business investment and consumer investment in durables and dwellings – to changes in monetary policy. Adjustment costs associated with changing the level of the relevant capital stock are partly responsible.
What is lag time in business communication?
Delays in communication or customer orders can lead to lag times in industrial facilities. Lag time is time spent waiting for something to happen, during which other activities cannot proceed because they are dependent on the original action.
How do you use lag in a sentence?
1. She did well in her first year at school but then started to lag behind. 2. If we lag behind other nations in economy, we will be thrown into a passive position.
What is lag time geology?
The time between initial inundation and onset of rapid sediment accumulation is "lag time." This interval is critical in our understanding of shoaling-upward platform cycles.
Is lag a real word?
: to move or advance slowly or more slowly than others Work lagged behind schedule. One hiker lagged behind the group.
What is fiscal analogy?
One analogy of fiscal policy is that it is like driving a car, where you can only look out of the back window (economists can only see the past not the future)
Is inflation a problem in 12 months?
The other danger is that the government may go too far in reflating the economy, so in 12 months time we could face the prospect of inflationary pressure because of the current expansion. I don't really think inflation is a problem at the moment , but, it has often been a criticism levelled at fiscal policy.
How long does it take to implement an economic policy?
The time taken to implement an economy policy. Economic policy such as infrastructure spending can take over a period of years to plan before the main spending is even initiated.
Does economic policy happen instantaneously?
All economic policy does not happen instantaneously. Government policy is subject to time lags, which are time restraints that limit the ability to recognise and respond to changes in the economy.
What is the time lag?
An issue standing in the way of the effectiveness of each of these is the time lag that occurs from the implementation of a policy to the actual evidence of it affecting the economy. Different reasons exist for the time lag, and it creates ongoing issues for monetary and fiscal policy efforts to improve economic conditions. Advertisement.
What is the time lag in monetary policy?
What Is the Time Lag in Monetary or Fiscal Policy? The Federal Reserve Bank manages interest rates. Both fiscal and monetary policies influence the performance of the economy in the near-term future. An issue standing in the way of the effectiveness of each of these is the time lag that occurs from the implementation of a policy to ...
How long does the economy see real effects?
For example, if the economy experiences a recession, the Fed enforces a new monetary policy decision to cut interest rates, and the government enforces a new fiscal policy to cut taxes, the economy may not see any evidence of real effects for nine to 12 months.
How long does it take for monetary policy to show up?
When monetary policy attempts to stimulate the economy by lowering interest rates, it may take up to 18 months for evidence of any improvement in economic conditions to show up.
What happens if interest rates are lower?
Additionally, consumers and businesses may lack confidence in the economy, so even if interest rates become lower, they will look at the probability of future growth prospects before choosing to take advantage of the lower interest rates. Then, banks may not pass the full interest rate cut on to consumers, and any cuts they do pass on will happen slowly.
What happens when the government is too aggressive in its efforts to stimulate the economy?
Conversely, another problem happens when the government is too aggressive in its efforts to stimulate the economy and then creates a situation where the next 12 months bring about inflation because of the current expansion.
What would happen if the dollar fell?
Lastly, if the value of the dollar falls, this would make exports cheaper for other countries; however, other countries usually schedule orders in advance for several months or more and so will not benefit from the change in the dollar's value.
What is a lag in monetary policy?
Nature of the Lag in Monetary Policy: According to Friedman, a lag is both long and variable which describes the timing relation between the money stock and economic activity. Strictly speaking, there are several lags in the effects of monetary action rather than the lag.
How long does lag last in a stock?
For individual cycles, the recorded lag varied between 6 and 29 months at peaks and between 4 and 22 months at troughs.
Why does tight monetary policy lead to recessionary conditions?
Similarly, a tight monetary policy to control a boom may lead to recessionary conditions due to time lags and their delayed effects. According to Friedman, “We seldom in fact know which way the economic wind is blowing until several months after the event.”.
How long does a money stock peaks?
On the basis of empirical evidence, Friedman comes to the conclusion that peaks in the rate of the money stock precede reference cycles (economic activity series) by 16 months on the average; peaks in the deviation of the money stock from its long term trend precede reference cycle peaks by 5 months on the average; such peaks in the absolute level of the money stock precede reference peaks by less than 5 months and may even lag behind; peaks in the rate of change of income precede peaks in the stock of money, and probably follow peaks in the rate of change of the money stock.
Why is monetary lag complex?
This is because monetary changes are never single and instantaneous. They consist of time sequence of changes whose effects accumulate and which are themselves in part the accumulated effect of other changes in the economy. Thus the concept of the lag is very complex, according to Friedman.
Why is lag so variable?
Given a particular length of lag, large variability in the lag simply means greater irregularity in length and timing of the resulting business cycles. At any one time, numerous disturbances affect the economic system through a variety of reaction mechanisms. If each part of the transmission mechanism has a “variable reaction time”, their combined effect would spread the ultimate effects. This keeps the lag highly variable.
What is the term for the time between the monetary series and the resulting series of effects of monetary actions?
Friedman defines “lag ” as the timing relation between the resulting monetary series and resulting series of effects of monetary actions.
Why do interest rates lag?
Businesses and consumers may also wait to see if a rate change is temporary or permanent before making new investments. And if lower interest rates weaken the currency , it can take months before new export orders are placed.
Why is there a lag in interest rate cuts?
There are many reasons for the response lag on interest rate cuts. Homeowners with fixed-rate mortgages cannot take advantage of interest rate cuts until their loans come up for refinancing, and banks often delay passing on bank rate cuts to consumers.
Why does monetary policy have a response lag?
Response lag occurs because any monetary fiscal policy, once implemented, must then work through a series of transactions that occur between market participants. Each of these transactions takes time, and businesses, consumers, and investors along the chain of transactions may wait for some time before completing the next transaction. Eventually, once all the necessary transactions take place, the outcome of the policy may be observed.
What is response lag?
The response lag is the break between when monetary and fiscal policies have been implemented and when the policies actually have an impact on the economy. Such policies are often instituted in response to a devastating economic effect, or to help support the economy at a certain point in the economic cycle.
Why does the stimulus take so long to work?
Because all economic action necessarily takes place over time, this chain of transactions may take a while. The process may be delayed if, at any step along this chain of transactions, the holders of the stimulus money hang on to it for a while as savings rather than spending it on. Only once the new stimulus money has circulated throughout the economy can the full effect of the policy be felt and observed by policymakers. The time interval between this point and the point of implementation (the mailing of the checks) is the response lag of the stimulus policy.
How does response lag work?
How Response Lag Works. In the popular imagination, central banks can control the economy at will by manipulating the money supply and interest rates. In reality, it is difficult to determine how effective monetary policy has been, never mind knowing how tight monetary policy should be.
How long does it take for tax cuts to affect the economy?
But fiscal policies still take months to have any effect on the economy. For example, while Trump’s tax reform went into effect in January 2018, it was for the 2018 tax year, meaning the impact was not felt until the spring of 2019 when Americans filed their 2018 taxes.

Example of Time Lags
- Change in interest rate (macro)
- Increase in level of investment (macro)
- Change in price of commodity (micro)
- Effect of devaluation (macro) (J-Curve effect)
- Change in interest rate (macro)
- Increase in level of investment (macro)
- Change in price of commodity (micro)
- Effect of devaluation (macro) (J-Curve effect)
Interest Rate Changes
- If we cut interest rates, we would expect a rise in investment and consumer spending. This is because lower interest rates make it cheaper to borrow and also make it less attractive to save. Lower interest rates should lead to higher aggregate demand. However, there may be time lags for a number of reasons. 1. Fixed interest rates for borrowing and saving. Consumers may have …
Effect of Investment
- An increase in the level of investment (gross fixed capital formation) will have both short-run and long-run effects. Investment increases long-run aggregate supply. In the short-run, we will see an increase in AD (investment is a component of AD). However, the main effect of investment is an increase in productive capacity. This will lead to an increase in the long-run trend rate of econo…
Time Lags and Elasticity
- If price rises, then in the short-term, demand is often price inelastic. This is because consumers are in the habit of buying the good and are less aware of alternatives. However, if the price rise is permanent, they may start to make more effort to look for alternatives. Therefore, over time, demand often becomes more price elastic. When the price of petrol tripled in the mid-1970s, de…
J-Curve Effect
- The J-Curve effect states that the impact of a devaluation will vary as time progress. A devaluation makes exports cheaper. In the short-term demand is inelastic, therefore, we get a fall in the value of exports and the current account deteriorates. However, in the long-term, demand for exports is more price elastic, and we get an improvement in the current account.
Irrational Exuberance and Time Lags
- It is argued that financial markets can be subject to irrational exuberance. Suppose house prices rise – rising house prices can encourage more people to enter the market to try and benefit from rising house prices. This fuels the rise in house prices even further. Therefore, if we start with a policy of lower interest rates, this causes a rise in house prices, but in the right circumstances, it …