Essays on Identification of Fiscal Policy Shocks

This thesis explores three different but interconnected issues relating to the identification of fiscal policy shocks. Grounded on several extensions of the structural vector autoregressive (SVAR) framework, the three essays provide empirical analyses of the macroeconomic impacts of fiscal policy shocks. They also shed light on the role of nonlinearity as well as its implications for the transitional dynamics of the U.S. economy during the financial crisis and the zero effective lower bound of interest rate. Beyond its contribution to the literature, this thesis also provides meaningful insights for effective policy targeting from a practical perspective.