POLICY LAGS: A series of lags between the onset of an economic problem, such as business-cycle contraction, and the full impact of the policy designed to correct the problem, such as expansionary fiscal or monetary policy. Policy lags can take several years and are one of the key arguments against discretionary policies and for reliance on self correction and automatic stabilizers. Policy lags are often divided into inside lags, the time between the shock and the corrective policy, and outside lags, the time between the corrective policy and full impact on the economy. See also | economic policies | stabilization policies | inside lag | outside lag | recognition lag | implementation lag | self correction | discretionary policy | automatic stabilizers | business cycle | contraction |
