This study outlines measures related to fiscal policies aimed at responding to the financial crisis according to the timing of commencement and then examines impacts of expansionary fiscal policies on macro variables so as to extract policy implications. The size of expansionary fiscal policy to respond to the financial crisis is found to total 59.8 trillion won (6.1% of GDP in 2007), among which a total of 30.5 trillion won was the increased fiscal expenditure made by the 2008 supplementary budget, the 2009 revised budget and the 2009 supplementary budget. In addition, tax reductions are found to be a total of 29.3 trillion won, mainly driven by the tax reforms in 2008 and 2009.

Examining dynamic changes in macro variables caused by the temporary increase in fiscal expenditure and the tax reductions reveals that the increase effect of the real GDP growth rate brought by a temporary rise in fiscal expenditure excluding tax reduction effects turned out to be 1.1%p in 2009 and 0.3%p in 2010, compared to the period without the increase in fiscal expenditure. Meanwhile, when taking into account the effect of expansionary fiscal policies including tax reduction effects, the increase effect of real GDP turns out to be much higher. In the case of 2009, the real GDP rose additionally by 1.9%p, in which 1.1%p by the increase in fiscal expenditure and 0.8%p by tax reduction. Based on these results, the expansionary fiscal policy conducted during the financial crisis since the second half of 2008 can be seen to have played a significant role in helping the Korean economy post a higher-than-anticipated recovery pace from the economic slowdown triggered by the crisis.