In fact, in annex 1 of the budget, which is, admittedly, 240 pages in, we report what are referred to in the field as “multipliers”; that is, how much economic activity one gets for each dollar spent, either through infrastructure, for example, or a tax cut. The standard analysis would tell you that your most immediate bang for the buck comes from infrastructure spending. The issue, I suppose, with infrastructure spending, as we have discussed today, is that it sometimes takes some time to get going. In comparison, a cut to personal income taxes in the first year tends to have a somewhat smaller stimulative impact, but it builds over time as people adjust their savings and consumption patterns to lower taxes.
In response to your question, I think our best advice would be that a balanced package, a package that uses the full range of programs and instruments available to the government, is probably the best way to go if one's goal is to stimulate economic activity.