The New Deal tried public works, farm subsidies and other devices to reduce unemployment, but Roosevelt never completely gave up trying to balance the budget. Between 1933 and 1941, the average federal budget deficit was 3% per year.Government Spending Chart: United States 1900–2016 – Federal State Local Data . Usgovernmentdebt.us. Retrieved on July 14, 2013. Roosevelt did not fully utilize deficit spending. The effects of federal public works spending were largely offset by Herbert Hoover's large tax increase in 1932, whose full effects for the first time were felt in 1933 and it was undercut by spending cuts, especially the Economy Act. According to Keynesians like Paul Krugman, the New Deal therefore was not as successful in the short run as it was in the long run.New York Times, Paul Krugman, Franklin Delano Obama? , November 10, 2008
