Would the voucher work in Taiwan?

Taiwan is experiencing a difficult economic time since Ma took the presidential on May 20, 2008. The third-quarter growth rate was -1.02%, the lowest in last seven years.

To stimulate the economy, Ma's administration is proposing to issue vouchers to every Taiwan citizen of NT $3,600. This voucher will cost Taiwan NT $82.9 billion, or equivalently US$ 2.8 billion. To pay for the voucher, the Taiwan government will take a loan. Using a 3% interest of the loan for calculation. This loan alone will cost Taiwanese taxpayer NT $2.5 billion annually just to pay for the interest.

Would this voucher work for Taiwan? Japan did exactly like that nine years ago. It did not work. Japanese used the voucher for spending, but real cash for saving. In US, we had tax rebate few months ago. The US economy is still in bad shape.

The photo shows an investor watches nervously over the screen in the Taiwan stock market; the market had been spiraling downward since Ma took the office in May. The photo was taken from Liberty-Times.