Accessibility links
Does The Deficit Matter? : The Indicator from Planet Money Budget deficits used to be seen as a bad thing. Today, not so much...and some economists even say they don't really matter. What changed?

The Indicator from Planet Money

Does The Deficit Matter?

Does The Deficit Matter?

Listen · 9:28
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/722898635/731379980" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Budget deficits used to be regarded as a universal evil. A big deficit was bad--economists and politicians on both sides of the aisle agreed. But today, people don't seem so bothered by the budget deficit. Some economists even say deficits don't really matter and we should feel pretty free to rack up as big a deficit as we like.

On today's show, Stacey talks with Jason Furman of Harvard's Kennedy School about budget deficits, and why some kinds of deficit are better than others.

Music by Drop Electric. Find us: Twitter / Facebook / Newsletter.

Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, PocketCasts and NPR One.