Archived Publication Types

In a new Strategic Analysis summarized in this issue, President Dimitri B. Papadimitriou and Research Scholars Edward Chilcote and Gennaro Zezza observe that the economy continues to grow on an unbalanced path, and that there is an increase in the default risk for the private and financial sectors.   Contents:   INSTITUTE RESEARCH Program: The […]

Download Volume 15, No. 3 PDF (714.97 KB)

View Conference Website Bureau for Development Policy, UNDPin partnership withThe Levy Economics Institute of Bard CollegeThe conference on Unpaid Work and the Economy: Gender, Poverty, and the Millennium Development Goals was organized by the Bureau for Development Policy, United Nations Development Programme, in partnership with The Levy Economics Institute. The purpose of convening this conference […]

Can the growth in the current account deficit be sustained? A new Strategic Analysis by President Dimitri B. Papadimitriou and Research Scholars Edward Chilcote and Gennaro Zezza focuses on net income as an important component of the deficit, particularly the interest paid by the United States on American debt held abroad. Contents: NEW STRATEGIC ANALYSIS […]

Download Volume 16, No. 3 PDF (440.75 KB)

The stability of the international financial system is in doubt. Analysis of the system has focused mainly on the sustainability of financing the American trade deficit and has failed to understand the microeconomics of transactions within the system. According to this brief by Thomas I. Palley, the international financial system is unsustainable for reasons of […]

Download Public Policy Brief Highlights No. 85A, 2006 PDF (319.69 KB)

The latest Strategic Analysis by the Institute’s Macro-Modeling Team suggests that much of the recent growth in GDP can be attributed to house price appreciation and private sector borrowing. However, rising house prices have not improved the equity position of households.   INSTITUTE RESEARCH Program: The State of the US and World Economies, and Strategic […]

Download Volume 15, No. 2 PDF (412.88 KB)

Even as the United States enjoys an economic expansion, there is an undercurrent of concern among economic analysts who follow financial markets. Some feel that the expansion of the credit derivatives markets poses the threat of a crisis similar to the Long-Term Capital Management debacle of 1998. Credit derivatives allow banks to share risks with […]

Download Public Policy Brief Highlights No. 84A, 2006 PDF (237.62 KB)

The aging of the American population will be a primary domestic public policy issue during the next decades. According to Census Bureau projections, the proportion of the elderly in the total population will increase from its 2002 level of under 13 percent to slightly more than 16 percent by 2020. Concomitantly, the proportion of working-age […]

The latest Levy Institute Strategic Analysis depicts a household sector that is struggling under an unprecedented burden of debt and relying upon an unsustainable upward trend in real estate prices. The authors find that a reversal of this trend could severely dampen economic growth. Contents: NEW STRATEGIC ANALYSIS Are Housing Prices, Household Debt, and Growth […]

Download Volume 16, No. 2 PDF (418.64 KB)

When a woman works for General Motors, she is paid for her work, and her work is counted as part of GDP. But what of the work she might do in her own home? In a recent conference coorganized by the Levy Institute, the United Nations Development Programme, and the Bureau of Development Policy, scholars […]

Download Volume 16, No. 1 PDF (535.84 KB)

In most developing countries, efforts to reduce poverty and reach the Millennium Development Goals provide a timely opportunity to draw attention to the contribution of unpaid work to economic and social development. Summarized in this issue, an October 2005 conference organized by the Levy Institute in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme focused on […]

Download Volume 15, No. 1 PDF (597.82 KB)

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) currently insures bank deposit balances up to $100,000. According to some observers, statutory protection creates moral hazard problems for insurers because it allows banks to engage in risky activities. As an example, moral hazard was a key contributor to huge losses suffered when thrift institutions failed during the 1980s. […]

Download Public Policy Brief Highlights No. 83A, 2006 PDF (298.64 KB)

This conference was organized as part of the Levy Institute’s research and policy program of the distribution of income and wealth. Its purpose was to cover issues and topics related to time allocation. Presentations focus on utilizing time-use data in investigating the determinants of time allocation by gender and other demographic and economic characteristics (e.g., […]

Organized by the Bureau for Development Policy, United Nations Development Programme, in partnership with The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College View Conference Website The purpose of convening this conference was to share views, research, and methodologies from around the world, on women’s unpaid work and its relationship to the economy within the context of […]

Organized by the Bureau for Development Policy, United Nations Development Programme, in partnership with The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College View Conference Website The purpose of convening this conference was to share views, research, and methodologies from around the world on women’s unpaid work and its relationship to the economy within the context of […]

Download Conference Proceedings, October 1–3, 2005 PDF (1.30 MB)

A new Levy Institute Strategic Analysis examines the current states of the economy’s main balances and proposes an alternative to the piecemeal protectionist measures that some have advocated. The authors argue that some of the dire events in their baseline scenario—which shows that the balance of trade is likely to deteriorate by the end of […]

Download Volume 15, No. 4 PDF (1.23 MB)

In a new Policy Note, Distinguished Scholar Wynne Godley observes that the state of aggregate demand in the United States is precariously based, as private debt and borrowing cannot continue to provide the motor for expansion for more than a couple of years, particularly if interest rates continue to rise. The risk is a return […]

Download Volume 14, No. 3 PDF (362.38 KB)

As his new term begins, President George W. Bush has been trying to focus his domestic agenda on what he calls the “ownership society,” a sweeping vision of an America in which more citizens would hold significant assets and be free to make their own choices about providing for their health care and retirement, and […]

Download Public Policy Brief Highlights No. 82A, 2005 PDF (246.16 KB)

The July Report leads off with a summary of the Levy Institute’s Annual Hyman P. Minsky Conference, which this year examined the fiscal and monetary policies required for sustainable growth. Contents: Conference: 15th Annual Hyman P. Minsky Conference on the State of the US and World Economies; Economic Imbalance: Fiscal and Monetary Policy for Sustainable […]

Download Volume 15, No. 3 PDF (304.29 KB)

For some time, Levy Institute scholars have been engaged with issues related to the current account, government, and private sector balances. We have argued that the existing imbalances in these accounts are unsustainable and will ultimately present a serious challenge to the performance of the American economy. Other scholars are also concerned, but for reasons […]

Download Public Policy Brief Highlights No. 81A, 2005 PDF (241.56 KB)

This issue begins with a sensitivity analysis of public consumption—a major component of the Levy Institute Measure of Economic Well-Being—in relation to economic well-being in the United States. One of the notable observations contained in our report is that the distribution of public consumption is pro-rich.  

Download Volume 14, No. 2 PDF (269.19 KB)

Participants at the 15th Annual Hyman P. Minsky Conference offered their viewpoints on the American economy’s recovery following a short-lived recession, policy guidelines to be considered within the context of current economic trends, and the implications for both the national economy and international economies. What are the monetary and fiscal policy prescriptions for growth, employment, […]

Download Conference Proceedings, April 21–22, 2005 PDF (1.39 MB)

This year’s Hyman P. Minsky Conference drew upon public discussions on the state of the United States and world economies in the context of current economic trends and their implications. Topics included fiscal and monetary policies for continued growth and employment; brutal gyrations in the currency markets and the consequent exchange-rate misalignments, as well as […]

A new Strategic Analysis by the Levy Institute’s Macro-Modeling Team assesses the main sector balances, all of which are now deficits. The private sector, led by personal borrowing, is now running a deficit approaching 2 percent of GDP; although this trend has helped support the economy in the short term, it is unsustainable, given the […]

Download Volume 15, No. 2 PDF (391.98 KB)

A conference on the distributional effects of government spending and taxation was held at the Levy Institute’s conference center in fall 2004 and is summarized under The Distribution of Income and Wealth program. The presentations outlined how governments play a large role in affecting inequality, since countries spend at least a quarter of GDP on […]