Publications

1681 publications found

• Working Paper No. 280 September 01, 1999

  The Rhetorical Evolution of the Minimum Wage

  Oren Levin-Waldman
  Abstract

  The concept of the minimum wage has undergone several rhetorical permutations. Originally conceived as a living wage, which would function as a family wage, it ultimately became a matter of macroeconomic policy, the goals of which were to achieve greater efficiency and in some case economic development. In recent years, the rhetoric has narrowed to […]

  Download Working Paper No. 280 PDF (52.21 KB)
• Working Paper No. 279 September 01, 1999

  Monetary Policy in an Era of Capital Market Inflation

  Jan Toporowski
  Abstract

  The theory of capital market inflation argues that the values of long-term securities markets are determined by a disequilibrium inflow of funds into those markets. The resulting overcapitalization of companies leads to increased fragility of banking and undermines monetary policy and stable relationships between short- and long-term interests rates, such as that postulated by Keynes […]

  Download Working Paper No. 279 PDF (31.58 KB)
• Policy Notes No. 8 August 20, 1999

  More Pain, No Gain

  Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, and L. Randall Wray
  Abstract

  Neither the Breaux plan nor President Clinton’s proposal for “saving” Social Security promises much gain, but the Breaux plan, unlike the president’s proposal, would inflict real pain in the form of reduced benefits.

  Download Policy Note 1999/8 Revision PDF (72.39 KB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 55 August 02, 1999

  Does Social Security Need Saving?

  Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, and L. Randall Wray
  Abstract

  Projections of an impending crisis in financing Social Security depend on unduly pessimistic assumptions about basic demographic and economic variables. Moreover, even if the assumptions are accepted, the projected gap between Social Security revenues and expenditures would not constitute a “crisis” and could be eliminated with relatively simple adjustments when it occurs. The real issue […]

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 55, 1999 PDF (284.91 KB)
• Working Paper No. 278 August 01, 1999

  Minsky and the Mainstream

  Steven M. Fazzari
  Abstract

  Hyman Minsky’s research emphasized the central role of finance in modern economics at a time when finance was not important in most mainstream macroeconomic research. But in the 1980s, mainstream research began to explore the role of finance in firm and consumer behavior. This paper examines the extent to which this recent mainstream research captures […]

  Download Working Paper No. 278 PDF (35.51 KB)
• Working Paper No. 277 August 01, 1999

  Hyman Minsky’s Theory of Capitalist Development

  Charles J. Whalen
  Abstract

  During the last decade of his life, Hyman P. Minsky drew on insights acquired from Joseph Schumpeter in an effort to explore the long-term development of capitalism. He believed such an exploration would underscore the economic implications of postwar financial-system innovations and could encourage a broad discussion regarding the appropriate structure of the US economy. […]

  Download Working Paper No. 277 PDF (45.39 KB)
• Working Paper No. 276 August 01, 1999

  Lessons from the Asian Crisis

  Laurence H. Meyer
  Abstract

  This paper presents a central banker’s perspective on the Asian crisis. Central banks have two core missions: the pursuit of monetary policy to achieve broad macroeconomic objectives and the maintenance of financial stability, including the management of financial crises. The management of financial crises is closely connected to the regulation and supervision of the banking […]

  Download Working Paper No. 276 PDF (35.87 KB)
• Working Paper No. 275 July 01, 1999

  Minsky’s Analysis of Financial Capitalism

  Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, and L. Randall Wray
  Abstract

  In this paper, the authors discuss Minsky’s analysis of the evolution of one variety of capitalism—financial capitalism—which developed at the end of the nineteenth century and was the dominant form of capitalism in the developed countries after World War II. Minsky’s approach, like those of Schumpeter and Veblen, emphasized the importance of market power in […]

  Download Working Paper No. 275 PDF (261.42 KB)
• Working Paper No. 274 July 01, 1999

  The Independent European Central Bank

  Philip Arestis
  Abstract

  In this paper, Visiting Senior Scholar Philip Arestis questions the assumptions underlying the economic case for the independent European Central Bank (ECB). Arestis argues that although a European Clearing Agency (ECA) of the type Keynes envisaged for the international economy is not a panacea for the economic problems of the European Union (EU), it is […]

  Download Working Paper No. 274 PDF (60.86 KB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 54 July 01, 1999

  Down and Out in the United States

  Marc-André Pigeon, and L. Randall Wray
  Abstract

  Despite a long period of strong economic growth, more than 28 million working-age persons were categorized by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as out of the labor force in 1998. A small portion of this population will move into the labor force, but the majority will remain without work. This brief examines the demographics of […]

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 54, 1999 PDF (273.59 KB)
• Working Paper No. 273 July 01, 1999

  Savings-Recycling Public Employment

  Mathew Forstater
  Abstract

  William Vickrey’s single-minded commitment to full employment is evident in a series of papers written in the last years of his life. In these works Vickrey formulated an assets-based approach to macroeconomic analysis that has definite implications for budgetary and employment policy. For Vickrey the relation between desired and actual holdings of net financial assets–or […]

  Download Working Paper No. 273 PDF (37.37 KB)
• Policy Notes No. 7 July 01, 1999

  Capital Income Taxes and Economic Performance

  Steven M. Fazzari
  Abstract

  Tax reform that reduces tax rates on capital income, no matter how successful it is in reducing the user cost of capital, will have at best minimal effects on capital formation and output and therefore on the growth of the United States’ economy.

  Download Policy Note 1999/7 PDF (80.22 KB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 53 July 01, 1999

  Full Employment Has Not Been Achieved

  Dimitri B. Papadimitriou
  Abstract

  Claims that the nation has reached full employment take for granted the need for a reserve pool of labor to maintain price stability and labor market flexibility. But are millions of jobless and underemployed workers the best we can do in these times of economic expansion? And what will happen when the inevitable downturn comes? […]

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 53, 1999 PDF (115.15 KB)
• Working Paper No. 272 July 01, 1999

  Functional Finance and Full Employment

  Mathew Forstater
  Abstract

  Recent global economic developments invite a reconsideration of orthodox macroeconomic theory and policy and encourage a revisiting of the ideas of unorthodox thinkers of the past. This paper reviews fifteen lessons to be learned from the work of Abba Lerner. These lessons, which fall under the general categories of functional finance and full employment, are […]

  Download Working Paper No. 272 PDF (120.90 KB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 52 July 01, 1999

  Government Spending in a Growing Economy

  Jamee K. Moudud
  Abstract

  Based on neoclassical theory, cutting budget deficits has come to be seen as a principal way to increase long-run growth, but the empirical evidence is ambiguous on the outcome of this macropolicy. A new model, the classical growth cycles (CGC) model, offers an alternative theoretical framework for analyzing the complex effects of fiscal policy. The […]

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 52, 1999 PDF (267.44 KB)
• Working Paper No. 271 July 01, 1999

  Can Rescheduling Explain the New Jersey Minimum Wage Studies?

  Thomas R. Michl
  Abstract

  This paper interprets the New Jersey minimum wage studies of Card and Krueger and their critics, Neumark and Wascher, through a scheduling model. The former found an increase in the number of workers in New Jersey fast-food restaurants after the state minimum wage was increased, while the latter found a decline in the total payroll […]

  Download Working Paper No. 271 PDF (83.12 KB)
• Policy Notes No. 6 June 01, 1999

  The Minimum Wage Can Be Raised

  Oren Levin-Waldman
  Abstract

  Survey responses make it clear the minimum wage can be raised. The question now is, How high can it be raised before serious employment consequences occur?

  Download Policy Note 1999/6 PDF (82.56 KB)
• Policy Notes No. 5 May 01, 1999

  How Can We Provide for the Baby Boomers in Their Old Age?

  Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, and L. Randall Wray
  Abstract

  The search for the solution to the problems faced by the Social Security system should focus not on how to amend OASDI but on how best to achieve faster long-term economic growth. Achieving such growth is better left to the purview of fiscal and monetary policy, not the OASDI system.

  Download Policy Note 1999/5 PDF (73.51 KB)
• Working Paper No. 270 May 01, 1999

  Can Social Security Be Saved?

  Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, and L. Randall Wray
  Abstract

  The first part of this paper is an overview of projections of Social Security’s future and an explanation of why the projections have led many to believe there is a looming financial crisis. We argue that any problems to be faced are far down the road and not severe enough to justify the use of […]

  Download Working Paper No. 270 PDF (416.05 KB)
• Working Paper No. 269 May 01, 1999

  Demand Constraints and Economic Growth

  Marc-André Pigeon, and L. Randall Wray
  Abstract

  In recent years the United States has seemed to achieve the best of all possible worlds: robust economic growth, very low unemployment, and low inflation. Many attribute this performance to fewer supply-side constraints, as the country has moved away from stifling regulations and other impediments to trade. When compared with the very high unemployment rates […]

  Download Working Paper No. 269 PDF (465.86 KB)
• Policy Notes No. 4 April 01, 1999

  Can Goldilocks Survive?

  Wynne Godley, and L. Randall Wray
  Abstract

  Growing government budget surpluses combined with growing trade deficits have generated record private sector deficits. Unless households continue to reduce their saving—creating an increasingly unsustainable debt burden—the impetus that has driven the expansion will evaporate.

  Download Policy Note 1999/4 PDF (69.00 KB)
• Working Paper No. 268 April 01, 1999

  Risk Reduction in the New Financial Architecture

  Martin Mayer
  Abstract

  Five times in a decade not yet completed, financial markets have floated to the edge of a whirlpool. In October 1998, they were about to drown when Alan Greenspan threw them a piece of string that, surprisingly, turned out to be a lifeline. The causes for this financial instability lie deep—in the economic theory that […]

  Download Working Paper No. 268 PDF (109.96 KB)
• Working Paper No. 267 March 01, 1999

  The Minimum Wage and Regional Wage Structure

  Oren Levin-Waldman
  Abstract

  When the minimum wage was first enacted in 1938, the fiercest opposition came from the South, where wages were considerably lower that in the industrial North. Today, that opposition is found to emanate from states that have right-to-work laws (regardless of location). Using census data from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) for the […]

  Download Working Paper No. 267 PDF (60.61 KB)
• Working Paper No. 266 March 01, 1999

  Minsky’s Analysis, the European Single Currency, and the Global Financial System

  Malcolm Sawyer
  Abstract

  The paper begins with a brief review of the main ideas associated with Hyman Minsky and their implications for economic policy and the achievement of full employment. There is a focus on the financial instability hypothesis, the role of the central bank as lender of last resort, and the requirements for regulation of the financial […]

  Download Working Paper No. 266 PDF (46.14 KB)