Publications

1681 publications found

• Working Paper No. 236 May 01, 1998

  An Important Inconsistency at the Heart of the Standard Macroeconomic Model

  Wynne Godley, and Anwar M. Shaikh
  Abstract

  The standard neoclassical model is the foundation of most mainstream macroeconomics. Its basic structure dominates the analyis of macroeconomic phenomena, the teaching of the subject, and even the formation of economic policy. And, of course, the modern quantity theory of money and its attendant monetarist prescriptions are grounded in the model’s strict separation between real […]

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• Working Paper No. 235 May 01, 1998

  East Asia Is Not Mexico

  Jan Kregel
  Abstract

  What was different about the collapse of the Asian emerging markets in 1997? The free fall of the Mexican peso and the collapse of the Mexican Bolsa produced a “Tequila effect” that spread through most of South America. But it did not create a sell-off in the global financial markets similar to that which occurred […]

• Policy Notes No. 5 May 01, 1998

  The Fed Should Lower Interest Rates More

  Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, and L. Randall Wray
  Abstract

  Some analysts have argued against monetary ease, fearing that it might fuel a speculative boom. Alas, given the recent substantial “market correction,” this objection may safely be put away.

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• Working Paper No. 234 April 01, 1998

  Yes, “It” Did Happen Again

  Jan Kregel
  Abstract

  The title of Visiting Senior Scholar Jan Kregel’s working paper is a reference to Hyman P. Minsky’s book Can “It” Happen Again? The Minskian “it” is the debt deflation scenario that led to the Great Depression, and Kregel makes the case that the recent Asian crisis is just such a scenario. Minsky defined three types […]

• Working Paper No. 233 April 01, 1998

  Public Capital and Economic Growth

  David Alan Aschauer
  Abstract

  Empirical research largely suggests that there is a positive role for public capital and a negative role for taxation and debt, and the effectiveness of public capital depends critically on its efficiency. Research Associate David Alan Aschauer develops a common framework to investigate the importance of three aspects of public capital: how much you have, […]

• Working Paper No. 232 April 01, 1998

  The Asian Disease

  Martin Mayer
  Abstract

  The Asian crisis is a textbook case of the “financial instability hypothesis” first expressed in 1966 by the late Hyman P. Minsky. Minsky’s “hypothesis” was proposed to explain instability in a large, insulated, developed economy. Despite its intuitive appeal, it was not widely accepted among financial economists (Charles Kindleberger being a notable exception) because, they […]

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• Working Paper No. 231 April 01, 1998

  The Hierarchy of Money

  Stephanie A. Kelton
  Abstract

  This paper attempts to bring together several of Hyman P. Minsky’s insights in order to suggest a relationship between the state’s ability to tax and the money of the economy. Minsky recognized that money represents an IOU or promise to pay and that “acceptability” is its important feature. He further recognized that the State can […]

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• Policy Notes No. 4 April 01, 1998

  Small Business and the New Welfare

  Oren Levin-Waldman, and George W. McCarthy
  Abstract

  To what extent have small businesses hired former welfare recipients and what might induce them to hire more? The Levy Institute conducts a national survey of small firms in many industries to find out.

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• Working Paper No. 230 March 01, 1998

  The Romance of Assimilation?

  Joel Perlmann
  Abstract

  Little research has been done on the role of intermarriage in the blending of peoples in the American past, and even less has been done on the effect of past intermarriage on the ethnic identity of today’s Americans. Senior Scholar Joel Perlmann sees value in studying intermarriage to show fault lines in society (social distance […]

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• Policy Notes No. 3 March 01, 1998

  Small Business and the Minimum Wage

  Oren Levin-Waldman, and George W. McCarthy
  Abstract

  To what extent have small businesses hired former welfare recipients and what might induce them to hire more? Do small businesses change their hiring and employment practices in response to an increase in the minimum wage? The Levy Institute conducts a national survey of small firms in many industries to find out.

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• Working Paper No. 229 March 01, 1998

  E Pluribus Unum

  Lingxin Hao, and Alejandro Portes
  Abstract

  Knowledge of English is near universal, and preference for that language is dominant among most immigrant nationalities. However, only a minority remain fluent in the parental languages, and there are wide variations among immigrant groups in the extent of their parental linguistic retention. These variations are important for theory and policy because they affect the […]

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• Working Paper No. 228 March 01, 1998

  Education’s Hispanic Challenge

  Georges Vernez
  Abstract

  Two family characteristics are consistently associated with educational attainment: the level of education of parents and the material resources available to support the education of the children. Hispanic parents have a lower level of education than any other group, and Hispanic income is lower than any other group except African Americans. Hispanic children are underrepresented […]

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• Working Paper No. 227 March 01, 1998

  The Japanese Financial Crisis, Corporate Governance, and Sustainable Prosperity

  William H. Lazonick
  Abstract

  Before the Japanese stock market crash of 1990, Japanese industry was a phenomenal success. A recent unemployment rate of under 4 percent, although low by world standards, is the highest Japan has experienced since the current mode of calculation began in 1953. Japan’s industrial dominance, sustained prosperity, and commitment to lifetime employment seem to be […]

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• Policy Notes No. 2 February 01, 1998

  How Should the Surpluses Be Spent?

  David Alan Aschauer
  Abstract

  The federal budget deficit is disappearing; some shadows linger, but the latest Congressional Budget Office projections put the government budget in deficit by only $5 billion in fiscal year 1998, in balance by 2001, and in surplus through at least 2008. In this Policy Note, Research Associate David Alan Aschauer examines the likely economic consequences, […]

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• Working Paper No. 226 February 01, 1998

  The Political Economy of Corporate Governance in Germany

  Mary O’Sullivan
  Abstract

  Research Associate Mary O’Sullivan, of INSEAD and the Center for Industrial Competitiveness at the University of Massachusetts–Lowell, is investigating systems of corporate governance to find which lead to successful decisions for individual firms and for an economy as a whole. She believes that success requires a form of corporate governance that generates conditions that permit […]

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• Policy Notes No. 1 January 01, 1998

  Welfare Graduates

  Thomas Karier
  Abstract

  Are the effects of college-level education on income and financial independence positive enough to make it worthwhile for states to extend support to qualified welfare recipients to enable them to pursue such education? Welfare reform around the country has tended to focus on immediate work experience as a means to achieve financial independence. While many […]

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• Working Paper No. 225 January 01, 1998

  The Development and Reform of the Modern International Financial System

  L. Randall Wray
  Abstract

  The international financial system might be said to be in crisis. It requires frequent intervention by central banks and other national and international bodies to reduce fluctuations of currencies. It does not tend to eliminate current account deficits or surpluses; exchange rate fluctuations do not lead to movements toward balanced trade, nor do they appear […]

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• Working Paper No. 224 January 01, 1998

  The Diagnostic Imaging Equipment Industry

  Chris Tilly
  Abstract

  While diagnostic imaging equipment is not by any means a typical industry, it offers an example of a rapidly changing, high technology sector—the kind of industry in which, according to many observers, United States manufacturers ought to excel. And indeed, for most of the 100-year history of this industry, American producers have led the field, […]

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• Working Paper No. 223 January 01, 1998

  The Kaleckian Analysis and the New Millennium

  Malcolm Sawyer
  Abstract

  Visiting Scholar Malcolm Sawyer, of the University of Leeds, commemorates Michal Kalecki’s 100th birthday by considering how Kalecki’s macroeconomic analysis of developed capitalist economies should be adapted in light of the institutional changes that have occurred since he did his major work. Sawyer believes that although Kalecki’s reputation rests on his theoretical work, his theorizing […]

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• Working Paper No. 222 January 01, 1998

  Money and Taxes

  L. Randall Wray
  Abstract

  Senior Scholar L. Randall Wray traces the development of the chartalist approach to money from Adam Smith, Georg Friedrich Knapp, and John Maynard Keynes to the later theorists, including Hyman Minsky, Abba Lerner, and Kenneth Boulding, who follow the endogenous money approach.

  Download Working Paper No. 222 PDF (2.53 MB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 38 December 11, 1997

  Who Pays for Disinflation?

  Willem Thorbecke
  Abstract

  Using theoretical predictions, econometric results, and the example of the Volcker disinflation, Willem Thorbecke establishes that through disinflation’s burden on the durable goods and construction industries, small firms, and low-wage workers and its benefits to bond market investors, it effects a redistribution of wealth from the poor to the rich. Because of this distributional consequence, […]

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 38, 1997 PDF (154.75 KB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 37 December 10, 1997

  Investment in Innovation

  Mary O’Sullivan
  Abstract

  Since the 1970s corporate America has become obsessed with shedding employees to cut costs and with distributing revenue to stockholders. However, the way for it to regain its competitive edge and thus to restore the promise of secure and remunerative employment for its workers is to reform its system of governance. It must reject organizational […]

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 37, 1997 PDF (209.27 KB)
• Working Paper No. 219 December 01, 1997

  Linking the Minimum Wage to Productivity

  Oren Levin-Waldman
  Abstract

  One of the principal problems with the minimum wage is that adjustments to it must be voted on by Congress. Although recent congressional action solves the immediate problem of restoring value to a wage that has otherwise failed to keep pace with inflation, it has not removed the issue from the political agenda. Every time […]

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• Working Paper No. 218 December 01, 1997

  Selective Use of Discretionary Public Employment and Economic Flexibility

  Mathew Forstater
  Abstract

  Flexibility is a desirable feature of an economic system. Structural rigidities can result in sluggish growth and inflationary pressures; many economic models, however, display considerable system flexibility because of the use of unacceptably unrealistic assumptions. The primary “real-life” features endowing the system with flexibility are unemployment and excess capacity. While realistic, unemployment is economically costly […]

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