Abstract
"Big G" typically refers to aggregate government spending on a homogenous good. We confront this notion with five facts for the universe of federal purchases. First, they are volatile and account for the largest part of the short-run variation is total spending. Second, the origin of their variation is granular. Third, purchases are not subject to procurement and bidding. Fourth, there are concentrated in long-term contracts. Fifth, their composition is biased towards sectors in which private-sector prices are sticky. We develop a two-sector New Keynesian model consistent with the facts and find where the government spends is key to aggregate effects.