Nearly six months into the government’s two-year, $787 billion economic stimulus program, some analysts are giving the initiative a mixed review, and warning local governments will lag behind the recovery curve.

With lawmakers back in their states and districts facing tough questions about health care overhaul plans, analysts at the Brookings Institution debated the effects of the stimulus at a roundtable Thursday, noting that the bulk of the stimulus money has yet to be spent — and its impact will truly be seen in the recovery stage, after the economy bottoms out.

“It’s just taken too long to get it going,” said Barry Bosworth, a senior fellow in Brookings’ economic studies program. He said the program, a mixture of discretionary spending, tax cuts and state aid, did little to boost business investment. Bosworth argued, however, that transfer payments, like extended unemployment benefits, and tax cuts in the stimulus package helped replace the dwindling flow of disposable income to individuals and families.

The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that the economy is showing signs of “leveling out.” And the government’s “cash-for-clunkers” auto trade-in program sparked a wave of car buying in late July, leading Congress to add another $2 billion to the initiative. Ford Motor Co. announced Thursday that it would increase third quarter production by 10,000 units to take advantage of the program.

Still, unemployment remains high nationally — 9.4 percent in July and even higher in many parts of the country. Moreover, retail spending unexpectedly dipped by 0.1 percent in July, according to the Commerce Department.

Amy Liu, deputy director of Brookings’ metropolitan policy program, said the “recovery is highly uneven around the country,” and noted that local governments, dependent on sales and property tax revenue, can be as much as two years behind the national economy in feeling the effect of a recovery.

With tax revenues still dropping in many regions, “we’ll still be hearing about the fallout and lag of this economy in 2010 or 2011,” Liu predicted.

She suggested lawmakers consider additional efforts to boost municipal bond markets — something Congress did in the stimulus package, through a variety of tax benefits.