Publications

1681 publications found

• Working Paper No. 619 September 19, 2010

  Asia and the Global Crisis

  Jesus Felipe
  Abstract

  The global crisis of 2007–09 affected developing Asia largely through a decline in exports to the developed countries and a slowdown in remittances. This happened very quickly, and by 2009 there were already signs of recovery (except on the employment front). This recovery was led by China’s impressive performance, aided by a large stimulus package […]

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• Working Paper No. 618 September 16, 2010

  Quality of Match for Statistical Matches Used in the 1992 and 2007 LIMEW Estimates for the United States

  Thomas Masterson
  Abstract

  The quality of match of four statistical matches used in the LIMEW estimates for the United States for 1992 and 2007 is described. The first match combines the 1992 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) with the 1993 March Supplement to the Current Population Survey, or Annual Demographic Supplement (ADS). The second match combines the 1985 […]

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• Working Paper No. 617 September 15, 2010

  How to Sustain the Chinese Economic Miracle?

  Jörg Bibow
  Abstract

  This paper investigates China’s role in creating global imbalances, and the related call for a massive renminbi revaluation as a (supposed) panacea to forestall their reemergence as the world economy recovers from severe crisis. We reject the prominence widely attributed to China as a cause of global imbalances and the exclusive focus on the renminbi-dollar […]

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• Public Policy Brief No. 115 September 13, 2010

  What Should Banks Do?

  L. Randall Wray
  Abstract

  In this new brief, Senior Scholar L. Randall Wray examines the later works of Hyman P. Minsky, with a focus on Minsky’s general approach to financial institutions and policy. The New Deal reforms of the 1930s strengthened the financial system by separating investment banks from commercial banks and putting in place government guarantees such as […]

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• Working Paper No. 616 September 09, 2010

  Product Complexity and Economic Development

  Jesus Felipe, Utsav Kumar, Arnelyn Abdon, and Marife Bacate
  Abstract

  We rank 5,107 products and 124 countries according to the Hidalgo and Hausmann (2009) measures of complexity. We find that: (1) the most complex products are in machinery, chemicals, and metals, while the least complex products are raw materials and commodities, wood, textiles, and agricultural products; (2) the most complex economies in the world are […]

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• Working Paper No. 615 September 01, 2010

  Quality of Match for Statistical Matches Used in the 1999 and 2005 LIMEW Estimates for Canada

  Thomas Masterson
  Abstract

  The quality of match of four statistical matches used in the LIMEW estimates for Canada for 1999 and 2005 is described. The first match combines the 1999 Survey of Financial Security (SFS) with the 1999 Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID). The second match combines the 1998 General Social Survey (GSS) with the 1999 […]

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• Working Paper No. 614 August 25, 2010

  The “Keynesian Moment” in Policymaking, the Perils Ahead, and a Flow-of-funds Interpretation of Fiscal Policy

  Andrea Terzi
  Abstract

  With the global crisis, the policy stance around the world has been shaken by massive government and central bank efforts to prevent the meltdown of markets, banks, and the economy. Fiscal packages, in varied sizes, have been adopted throughout the world after years of proclaimed fiscal containment. This change in policy regime, though dubbed the […]

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• Working Paper No. 613 August 23, 2010

  As You Sow So Shall You Reap

  Jesus Felipe, Utsav Kumar, and Arnelyn Abdon
  Abstract

  We develop an Index of Opportunities for 130 countries based on their capabilities to undergo structural transformation. The Index of Opportunities has four dimensions, all of them characteristic of a country’s export basket: (1) sophistication; (2) diversification; (3) standardness; and (4) possibilities for exporting with comparative advantage over other products. The rationale underlying the index […]

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• Working Paper No. 612 August 20, 2010

  What Do Banks Do? What Should Banks Do?

  L. Randall Wray
  Abstract

  Before we can reform the financial system, we need to understand what banks do; or, better, what banks should do. This paper will examine the later work of Hyman Minsky at the Levy Institute, on his project titled “Reconstituting the United States’ Financial Structure.” This led to a number of Levy working papers and also […]

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• Working Paper No. 611 August 17, 2010

  Why China Has Succeeded—and Why It Will Continue to Do So

  Jesus Felipe, Utsav Kumar, Arnelyn Abdon, and Norio Usui
  Abstract

  The key factor underlying China’s fast development during the last 50 years is its ability to master and accumulate new and more complex capabilities, reflected in the increase in diversification and sophistication of its export basket. This accumulation was policy induced and not the result of the market, and began before 1979. Despite its many […]

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• Working Paper No. 610 August 13, 2010

  Investing in Care

  Rania Antonopoulos, Ajit Zacharias, Thomas Masterson, and Kijong Kim
  Abstract

  Massive job losses in the United States, over eight million since the onset of the “Great Recession,” call for job creation measures through fiscal expansion. In this paper we analyze the job creation potential of social service–delivery sectors—early childhood development and home-based health care—as compared to other proposed alternatives in infrastructure construction and energy. Our […]

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• Working Paper No. 609 August 11, 2010

  Using Capabilities to Project Growth, 2010–30

  Jesus Felipe, Utsav Kumar, and Arnelyn Abdon
  Abstract

  We forecast average annual GDP growth for 147 countries for 2010–30. We use a cross-country regression model where the long-run fundamentals are determined by countries’ accumulated capabilities and the capacity to undergo structural transformation.

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• Working Paper No. 608 August 09, 2010

  Assessing the Returns to Education in Georgia

  Tamar Khitarishvili
  Abstract

  The economic returns to education in transition countries have been extensively evaluated in the literature. The present study contributes to this literature by estimating the returns to education in Georgia during the last transition period 2000–04. We find very low returns to education in Georgia and little evidence of an increasing trend in the returns. […]

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• Public Policy Brief No. 114 August 06, 2010

  Debts, Deficits, Economic Recovery, and the US Government

  Dimitri B. Papadimitriou
  Abstract

  In this new brief, President Dimitri B. Papadimitriou and Research Scholar Greg Hannsgen evaluate the current path of fiscal deficits in the United States in the context of government debt and further spending, economic recovery, and unemployment. They are adamant that there is no justification for the belief that cutting spending or raising taxes will […]

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• Working Paper No. 607 August 03, 2010

  Extrinsic Rewards and Intrinsic Motives

  James B. Rebitzer, and Lowell J. Taylor
  Abstract

  Employers structure pay and employment relationships to mitigate agency problems. A large literature in economics documents how the resolution of these problems shapes personnel policies and labor markets. For the most part, the study of agency in employment relationships relies on highly stylized assumptions regarding human motivation, e.g., that employees seek to earn as much […]

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• Working Paper No. 606 August 02, 2010

  Changes in Central Bank Procedures during the Subprime Crisis and Their Repercussions on Monetary Theory

  Marc Lavoie
  Abstract

  The subprime financial crisis has forced several North American and European central banks to take extraordinary measures and to modify some of their operational procedures. These changes have made even clearer the deficiencies and lack of realism in mainstream monetary theory, as can be found in both undergraduate textbooks and most macroeconomic models. They have […]

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• Policy Notes No. 2 July 22, 2010

  Global Central Bank Focus

  Paul McCulley
  Abstract

  The developed world faces a cyclical deficiency of aggregate demand, the product of a liquidity trap and the paradox of thrift, in the context of headwinds born of ongoing structural realignments. According to Paul McCulley, PIMCO, front-loaded fiscal austerity would only add to that deflationary cocktail. This is why the market vigilantes are fleeing risk […]

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• Public Policy Brief No. 113 July 21, 2010

  Endgame for the Euro?

  Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, L. Randall Wray, and Yeva Nersisyan
  Abstract

  Critics argue that the current crisis has exposed the profligacy of the Greek government and its citizens, who are stubbornly fighting proposed social spending cuts and refusing to live within their means. Yet Greece has one of the lowest per capita incomes in the European Union (EU), and its social safety net is modest compared […]

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• Policy Notes No. 1 July 12, 2010

  Economic Policy for the Real World

  Charles J. Whalen
  Abstract

  The nation’s economic challenges are daunting. Restoring robust American prosperity and widespread economic opportunity will not be easy. But, as Hyman Minsky stressed, “Economic systems are not natural systems…. Policy can change both the details and the overall character of the economy.” It’s clear that what we are now facing is not simply a cyclical […]

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• Working Paper No. 605 June 29, 2010

  Detecting Ponzi Finance

  Abstract

  Different frameworks of analysis lead to different conceptions of financial instability and financial fragility. On one side, the static approach conceptualizes financial instability as an unfortunate byproduct of capitalism that results from unpredictable random forces that no one can do anything about except prepare for through adequate loss reserves, capital, and liquidation buffers. On the […]

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• Public Policy Brief No. 112 June 28, 2010

  The Great Crisis and the American Response

  James K. Galbraith
  Abstract

  Senior Scholar James K. Galbraith argues the fundamental illusion of viewing the US economy through the free-market prism of deregulation, privatization, and a benevolent government operating mainly through monetary stabilization—the prevailing view among economists over the past three decades. The real sources of American economic power, he says, lie with those who manage and control […]

• Working Paper No. 604 June 28, 2010

  Three Futures for Postcrisis Banking in the Americas

  Gary A. Dymski
  Abstract

  This would seem an opportune moment to reshape banking systems in the Americas. But any effort to rethink and improve banking must acknowledge three major barriers. The first is a crisis of vision: there has been too little consideration of what kind of banking system would work best for national economies in the Americas. The […]

• Public Policy Brief No. 112 June 28, 2010

  Η μεγάλη κρίση και η αμερικανική αντίδραση

  James K. Galbraith
  Abstract

  Ο Ανώτατος Μελετητής James K. Galbraith εξετάζει κριτικά την ψευδαίσθηση του να βλέ̟πει κανείς την οικονομία των ΗΠΑ μέσα από το πρίσμα της ελεύθερης αγοράς, της α̟πορρύθμισης, των ιδιωτικο̟ποιήσεων και μιας καλοπροαίρετης κυβέρνησης η οποία λειτουργεί κυρίως μέσω της νομισματικής σταθερο̟ποίησης—η ε̟πικρατούσα άποψη ανάμεσα στους οικονομολόγους τις τελευταίες τρείς δεκαετίες. Οι πραγματικές π̟ηγές της αμερικανικής […]

  Download Κείμενο (Brief) Δημόσιας Πολιτικής Νο. 112, 2010 PDF (1,009.09 KB)
• Working Paper No. 603 June 18, 2010

  Does Excessive Sovereign Debt Really Hurt Growth?

  L. Randall Wray, and Yeva Nersisyan
  Abstract

  The worst global downturn since the Great Depression has caused ballooning budget deficits in most nations, as tax revenues collapse and governments bail out financial institutions and attempt countercyclical fiscal policy. With notable exceptions, most economists accept the desirability of expansion of deficits over the short term but fear possible long-term effects. There are a […]

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