Publications

1684 publications found

• Working Paper No. 807 June 04, 2014

  Income Distribution Macroeconomics

  Olivier Giovannoni
  Abstract

  Recent research stresses the macroeconomic dimension of income distribution, but no theory has yet emerged. In this note, we introduce factor shares into popular growth models to gain insights into the macroeconomic effects of income distribution. The cost of modifying existing models is low compared to the benefits. We find, analytically, that (1) the multiplier […]

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• Public Policy Brief No. 134 June 03, 2014

  A Sustainable Monetary Framework for an Independent Scotland

  Philip Pilkington
  Abstract

  This September, voters in Scotland will decide whether to break away from the United Kingdom. If supporters of independence carry the day, pivotal choices that affect the scope of Scotland’s economic sovereignty and its future relationship to the UK will need to be made, particularly with respect to the question of its currency. As the […]

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• Public Policy Brief No. 134 June 03, 2014

  Ένα βιώσιμο νομισματικό πλαίσιο μιας ανεξάρτητης Σκωτίας

  Philip Pilkington
  Abstract

  Οι ψηφοφόροι στη Σκωτία θα αποφασίσουν το Σεπτέμβριο αν θα παραμείνουν στο Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο. Αν ψηφίσουν υπέρ της ανεξαρτησίας, θα πρέπει να γίνουν στρατηγικής σημασίας επιλογές που αφορούν την έκταση της οικονομικής κυριαρχίας της Σκωτίας και τη μελλοντική της σχέση με το Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο. Με φόντο την καταστροφή στην ευρωζώνη, είναι σημαντικό να γίνουν οι […]

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• Working Paper No. 806 May 30, 2014

  The Great Recession and Unpaid Work Time in the United States

  Kijong Kim, and Tamar Khitarishvili
  Abstract

  Poverty status is an important factor influencing household production and the unpaid work time associated with it due to the role of household production as a coping strategy in mitigating the impact of economic downturns. In this paper, we examine the presence of poverty-based asymmetries in the unpaid work time changes of men and women […]

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• Working Paper No. 805 May 30, 2014

  What Do We Know About the Labor Share and the Profit Share? Part III

  Olivier Giovannoni
  Abstract

  Economic theory frequently assumes constant factor shares and often treats the topic as secondary. We will show that this is a mistake by deriving the first high-frequency measure of the US labor share for the whole economy. We find that the labor share has held remarkably steady indeed, but that the quasi-stability masks a sizable […]

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• Working Paper No. 804 May 21, 2014

  What Do We Know About the Labor Share and the Profit Share? Part II

  Olivier Giovannoni
  Abstract

  In this second part of our study we survey the rapidly expanding empirical literature on the determinants of the functional distribution of income. Three major strands emerge: technological change, international trade, and financialization. All contribute to the fluctuations of the labor share, and there is a significant amount of self-reinforcement among these factors. For the […]

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• Working Paper No. 803 May 21, 2014

  What Do We Know About the Labor Share and the Profit Share? Part I

  Olivier Giovannoni
  Abstract

  This series of working papers explores a theme enjoying a tremendous resurgence: the functional distribution of income—the division of aggregate income by factor share. This first installment surveys some landmark theories of income distribution. Some provide a technology-based account of the relative shares while others provide a demand-driven explanation (Keynes, Kalecki, Kaldor, Goodwin). Two questions […]

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• Working Paper No. 802 May 21, 2014

  Shadow Banking

  Thorvald Grung Moe
  Abstract

  Central banks responded with exceptional liquidity support during the financial crisis to prevent a systemic meltdown. They broadened their tool kit and extended liquidity support to nonbanks and key financial markets. Many want central banks to embrace this expanded role as “market maker of last resort” going forward. This would provide a liquidity backstop for […]

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• Working Paper No. 801 May 21, 2014

  The Political Economy of Shadow Banking

  Eloy Fisher, and Javier López Bernardo
  Abstract

  This paper describes the political economy of shadow banking and how it relates to the dramatic institutional changes experienced by global capitalism over past 100 years. We suggest that the dynamics of shadow banking rest on the distributive tension between workers and firms. Politics wedge the operation of the shadow financial system as government policy […]

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• Public Policy Brief No. 133 May 14, 2014

  Dead Economic Dogmas Trump Recovery: The Continuing Crisis in the Eurozone Periphery

  C. J. Polychroniou
  Abstract

  The “happy talk” emanating from eurozone officials regarding the economic crises in the periphery deserves some vigorous pushback. Focusing on the four bailed-out countries of Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain, Research Associate and Policy Fellow C. J. Polychroniou argues in this policy brief that, contrary to the burgeoning optimism in official communications, these countries’ economies […]

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• Working Paper No. 800 May 08, 2014

  Autonomy-enhancing Paternalism

  Martin Binder, and Leonhard K. Lades
  Abstract

  Behavioral economics has shown that individuals sometimes make decisions that are not in their best interests. This insight has prompted calls for behaviorally informed policy interventions popularized under the notion of “libertarian paternalism.” This type of “soft” paternalism aims at helping individuals without reducing their freedom of choice. We highlight three problems of libertarian paternalism: […]

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• Working Paper No. 799 May 06, 2014

  Monetary Mechanics

  Abstract

  This paper develops the framework of analysis of monetary systems put together by authors such as Macleod, Keynes, Innes, and Knapp. This framework does not focus on the functions performed by an object but rather on its financial characteristics. Anything issued by anybody can be a monetary instrument and any type of material can be […]

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• Working Paper No. 799 May 06, 2014

  Νομισματική μηχανική

  Abstract

  Η παρούσα εργασία αναπτύσσει το πλαίσιο της ανάλυσης των νομισματικών συστημάτων που διαμορφώθηκε από οικονομολόγους όπως ο Macleod, ο Keynes, ο Innes και ο Knapp. Το συγκεκριμένο πλαίσιο δεν εστιάζει στις λειτουργίες που επιτελούνται από ένα αντικείμενο, αλλά στα χρηματοοικονομικά χαρακτηριστικά του. Οτιδήποτε έχει εκδοθεί από οποιονδήποτε μπορεί να αποτελέσει ένα νομισματικό μέσο και κάθε […]

  Download Επιστημονική Εργασία υπό Εξέλιξη (Working Paper) No. 799 PDF (617.69 KB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 132 May 05, 2014

  How Poor Is Turkey? And What Can Be Done About It?

  Ajit Zacharias, Thomas Masterson, and Emel Memiş
  Abstract

  Gauging the severity of poverty in a given country requires a reasonably comprehensive measurement of whether individuals and households are surpassing some basic threshold of material well-being. This would seem to be an obvious point, and yet, in most cases, our official poverty metrics fail that test, often due to a crucial omission. In this […]

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• Public Policy Brief No. 132 May 05, 2014

  Πόσο φτωχή είναι η Τουρκία και τι μπορεί να γίνει

  Ajit Zacharias, Thomas Masterson, and Emel Memiş
  Abstract

  H μέτρηση της σοβαρότητας της φτώχειας σε μια δεδομένη χώρα πρέπει να εξετάζει με έναν αρκετά περιεκτικό τρόπο το κατά πόσο τα άτομα και τα νοικοκυριά ξεπερνούν κάποιο βασικό όριο όσον αφορά την υλική ευημερία. Ωστόσο, αν και αυτό το σημείο πιθανώς να φαίνεται προφανές, στις περισσότερες περιπτώσεις οι επίσημες μετρήσεις της φτώχειας αποτυγχάνουν αυτή […]

  Download Κείμενο (Brief) Δημόσιας Πολιτικής Νο. 132 PDF (4.63 MB)
• Research Project Report May 01, 2014

  Time Deficits and Poverty

  Ajit Zacharias, Thomas Masterson, and Emel Memiş
  Abstract

  Official poverty lines in Turkey and other countries often ignore the fact that unpaid household production activities that contribute to the fulfillment of material needs and wants are essential for the household to reproduce itself as a unit. This omission has consequences. Taking household production for granted when measuring poverty yields an unacceptably incomplete picture, […]

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• Working Paper No. 798 May 01, 2014

  Quality of Match for Statistical Matches Using the American Time Use Survey 2010, the Survey of Consumer Finances 2010, and the Annual Social and Economic Supplement 2011

  Fernando Rios-Avila
  Abstract

  This paper describes the quality of the statistical matching between the March 2011 supplement to the Current Population Survey and the 2010 American Time Use Survey and Survey of Consumer Finances, which are used as the basis for the 2010 LIMEW estimates for the United States. In the first part of the paper, the alignment […]

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• Strategic Analysis April 25, 2014

  Is Rising Inequality a Hindrance to the US Economic Recovery?

  Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, Gennaro Zezza, and Michalis Nikiforos
  Abstract

  The US economy has been expanding moderately since the official end of the Great Recession in 2009. The budget deficit has been steadily decreasing, inflation has remained in check, and the unemployment rate has fallen to 6.7 percent. The restrictive fiscal policy stance of the past three years has exerted a negative influence on aggregate […]

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• Strategic Analysis April 25, 2014

  Αποτελεί η αυξανόμενη ανισότητα εμπόδιο στην οικονομική ανάκαμψη των ΗΠΑ;

  Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, Gennaro Zezza, and Michalis Nikiforos
  Abstract

  Η οικονομία των Ηνωμένων Πολιτειών αναπτύσσεται με μέτριο ρυθμό μετά από την επίσημη λήξη της Ύφεσης το 2009. Το έλλειμμα του προϋπολογισμού μειώνεται σταθερά, ο πληθωρισμός βρίσκεται υπό έλεγχο και το ποσοστό ανεργίας μειώθηκε από 9,8% στο 6,7% (τον Μάρτιο του 2014). Η περιοριστική δημοσιονομική πολιτική των τελευταίων τριών ετών έχει ασκήσει αρνητική επίδραση στη […]

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• Working Paper No. 797 April 23, 2014

  Gender-responsive Budgeting as Fiscal Innovation

  Lekha S. Chakraborty
  Abstract

  Gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) is a fiscal innovation. Innovation, for the purposes of this paper, is defined as a way of transforming a new concept into tangible processes, resources, and institutional mechanisms in which a benefit meets identified problems. GRB is a fiscal innovation in that it translates gender commitments into fiscal commitments by applying a […]

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• Research Project Report April 11, 2014

  Federal Reserve Bank Governance and Independence during Financial Crisis

  L. Randall Wray
  Abstract

  This monograph is part of the Levy Institute’s Research and Policy Dialogue Project on Improving Governance of the Government Safety Net in Financial Crisis, a two-year project funded by the Ford Foundation. This is the third in a series of reports examining the Federal Reserve Bank’s response to the global financial crisis, with particular emphasis […]

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• Public Policy Brief No. 131 April 08, 2014

  Ο Μίνσκι και η δυναμική μακροπροληπτική ρύθμιση

  Jan Kregel
  Abstract

  Στο πλαίσιο των σημερινών συζητήσεων σχετικά με την κατάλληλη μορφή της μακροληπτικής ρύθμισης και των προτάσεων για την επιβολή ορίων στα επίπεδα ρευστότητας και κεφαλαίων, ο ανώτατος μελετητής Jan Kregel εξετάζει το έργο του Μίνσκι ως σύμβουλος κυβερνητικών υπηρεσιών που διερευνούσαν το ζήτημα της ρυθμιστικής μεταρρύθμισης τη δεκαετία του 1960. Όπως εξηγεί ο Kregel, αυτή […]

  Download Κείμενο (Brief) Δημόσιας Πολιτικής Νο. 131 PDF (594.78 KB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 131 April 08, 2014

  Minsky and Dynamic Macroprudential Regulation

  Jan Kregel
  Abstract

  In the context of current debates about the proper form of prudential regulation and proposals for the imposition of liquidity and capital ratios, Senior Scholar Jan Kregel examines Hyman Minsky’s work as a consultant to government agencies exploring financial regulatory reform in the 1960s. As Kregel explains, this often-overlooked early work, a precursor to Minsky’s […]

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• Working Paper No. 796 April 04, 2014

  Minsky and the Subprime Mortgage Crisis

  Eugenio Caverzasi
  Abstract

  The aim of this paper is to develop a structural explanation of the subprime mortgage crisis, grounded on the combination of two apparently incompatible financial theories: the financial instability hypothesis by Hyman P. Minsky and the theory of capital market inflation by Jan Toporowski. Our thesis is that, once the evolution of the financial market […]

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