Microeconomic Policies and Macroeconomic Growth

The ways in which microeconomic policies affect macroeconomic growth is increasingly important to policymakers, and I’m delighted that this session of the conference is drawing attention to the topic. Faster economic growth is almost always desired by elected leaders, but it is especially valuable now in many countries given weak growth in recent years and sizable fiscal challenges. Government debt has increased significantly relative to GDP around the world and is on a steep upward path in the United States and elsewhere. Upward paths of debt relative to GDP cannot be sustained indefinitely.