In the years following the Great Recession, many economists and policymakers agreed that fiscal stimulus was critical to improving the faltering economy and helping to save or create millions of jobs. There is less agreement, however, on whether the stimulus should have been larger, if it contained the correct mix of tax cuts and targeted government spending, and whether it optimally utilized income support programs—notably TANF and SNAP—to stabilize the economy and protect millions of households from falling into poverty. On May 23, The Hamilton Project at Brookings hosted a policy forum addressing how to make better use of fiscal stimulus in future downturns, with a focus on three new Hamilton Project papers.
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