The impact of fiscal policy under rational expectations: Some tests

The purpose of this paper is to explore empirically for Canada the implication of the Macro Rational Expectations (MRE) hypothesis that only unanticipated fiscal policy matters for real economic activity. The empirical results generated over the quarterly period 19601 to 1982iv do not reject the MRE hypothesis for Canada. These results, therefore, cast doubts on the appropriateness of using systematic fiscal policy to stabilize the real economy in Canada.