Publications

1681 publications found

• Working Paper No. 417 January 22, 2005

  Determinants of Minority–White Differentials in Child Poverty

  Yuval Elmelech
  Abstract

  This paper uses data from the 1993–2001 March Current Population Survey to estimate the extent to which child living arrangements, parental work patterns, and immigration attributes shape racial and ethnic variation in child poverty. Results from multivariate analyses and a standardization technique reveal that parental work patterns as well as child living arrangements are especially […]

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• Working Paper No. 416 January 20, 2005

  Occupational and Industrial Mobility in the United States 1969–93

  Asena Caner, and Edward N. Wolff
  Abstract

  Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we investigate occupational and industrial mobility of individuals over the 1969–80 and 1981–93 periods in the United States. We find that workers changed both occupations and industries more frequently in the later period. For example, occupational mobility for men ranged from 15 to 20 percent per year during […]

• Policy Notes No. 1 January 01, 2005

  The Case for an Environmentally Sustainable Jobs Program

  Mathew Forstater
  Abstract

  The job numbers in the United States and around the globe continue to look bleak. Not only are the absolute numbers dismal, but also job growth has dragged on with no hope for a substantial change in prospects. This situation supports the view that we are facing a long-term problem that requires critical and creative […]

• Public Policy Brief No. 80 December 21, 2004

  The Fed and the New Monetary Consensus

  L. Randall Wray
  Abstract

  The most charitable interpretation of the Federal Reserve’s recent interest rate hikes is that they appear to have been premature. A convincing array of data on payrolls, employment-to-population ratios, and other labor market indicators show that the current recovery has not yet attained the degree of labor market tightness that was common in previous recoveries, […]

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 80, 2004 PDF (268.63 KB)
• Research Project Report December 01, 2004

  How Much Does Public Consumption Matter for Well-Being?

  Asena Caner, Edward N. Wolff, and Ajit Zacharias
  Abstract

  This report supplements previous findings of the Levy Institute Measure of Economic Well-Being (LIMEW) research project within our program on the distribution of income and wealth. Some readers have questioned the sensitivity of our estimates in view of our imputation techniques. Therefore, the authors explore the sensitivity of their key findings to changes in the […]

  Download LIMEW Report, December 2004 PDF (417.17 KB)
• Working Paper No. 415 November 19, 2004

  Measuring Capacity Utilization in OECD Countries

  Jamee K. Moudud, and Anwar M. Shaikh
  Abstract

  This paper derives measures of potential output and capacity utilization for a number of OECD countries, using a method based on the cointegration relation between output and the capital stock. The intuitive idea is that economic capacity (potential output) is the aspect of output that co-varies with the capital stock over the long run. We […]

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• Working Paper No. 414 November 10, 2004

  Household Wealth Distribution in Italy in the 1990s

  Andrea Brandolini, Luigi Cannari, Giovanni D’Alessio, and Ivan Faiella
  Abstract

  This paper describes the composition and distribution of household wealth in Italy. First, the evolution of household portfolios over the last 40 years is described on the basis of newly reconstructed aggregate balance sheets. Second, the characteristics and quality of the main statistical source on wealth distribution, the Bank of Italy’s Survey of Household Income […]

  Download Working Paper No. 414 PDF (513.03 KB)
• Working Paper No. 413 October 05, 2004

  Visions and Scenarios

  Mathew Forstater
  Abstract

  Ecological economics is a transdisciplinary alternative to mainstream environmental economics. Attempts have been made to outline a methodology for ecological economics and it is probably fair to say that, at this point, ecological economics takes a “pluralistic” approach. There are, however, some common methodological themes that run through the ecological economics literature. This paper argues […]

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• Working Paper No. 412 October 01, 2004

  The Transmission Mechanism of Monetary Policy

  Abstract

  Recently, many economists have credited the late-1990s economic boom in the United States for the easy money policies of the Federal Reserve. On the other hand, observers have noted that very low interest rates have had very little positive effect on the chronically weak Japanese economy. Therefore, some theory of how money affects the economy […]

  Download Working Paper No. 412 PDF (320.12 KB)
• Research Project Report September 22, 2004

  How Much Does Wealth Matter for Well-Being?

  Asena Caner, Edward N. Wolff, and Ajit Zacharias
  Abstract

  Economic well-being refers to the command or access by members of a household over the goods and services produced in a modern market economy during a given period of time.The Levy Institute Measure of Economic Well-Being (LIMEW) is a comprehensive measure that is constructed as the sum of the following components: base money income (gross […]

  Download LIMEW Report, September 2004 PDF (424.32 KB)
• Strategic Analysis August 01, 2004

  Prospects and Policies for the US Economy

  Wynne Godley, Alex Izurieta, and Gennaro Zezza
  Abstract

  The American economy has grown reasonably fast since the second half of 2003, and the general expectation seems to be that satisfactory growth will continue more or less indefinitely. This paper argues that the expansion may indeed continue through 2004 and for some time beyond. But with the government and external deficits both so large […]

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• Public Policy Brief No. 79 August 01, 2004

  The Case for Rate Hikes

  L. Randall Wray
  Abstract

  For a time, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) seemed to have learned from the mistakes of the past. Instead of taking good economic performance as a sign of incipient inflation, Chairman Alan Greenspan kept interest rates relatively low in the late 1990s, even as unemployment plummeted. Many commentators worried that the FOMC’s unusually easy […]

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 79, 2004 PDF (426.03 KB)
• Book Series August 01, 2004

  Induced Investment and Business Cycles

  Hyman P. Minsky, and Dimitri B. Papadimitriou
  Abstract

  This unique volume presents, for the first time in publication, the original doctoral thesis of Hyman P. Minsky, one of the most innovative thinkers on financial markets. Dimitri B. Papadimitriou’s introduction places the thesis in a modern context, and explains its relevance today. The thesis explores the relationship between induced investment, the constraints of financing […]

• Working Paper No. 411 July 25, 2004

  Financial Liberalization and Poverty

  Philip Arestis, and Asena Caner
  Abstract

  Financial development and its effects on the economic development of a country has recently been one of the most prolific areas of research in the fields of development, finance, and international economics. So far, however, very little work has been done to analyze comprehensively the relationship between financial liberalization and poverty. There is still controversy […]

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• Working Paper No. 410 July 22, 2004

  Gibson’s Paradox, Monetary Policy, and the Emergence of Cycles

  Abstract

  Many empirical studies have found that interest rate increases have a positive effect on the price level. This paper pursues an obvious, but neglected explanation: interest payments are a cost of production that is at least in part passed on to customers. A model shows that the cost-push effect of inflation, long known as Gibson’s […]

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• Working Paper No. 409 July 01, 2004

  Assessing the ECB’s Performance since the Global Slowdown

  Jörg Bibow
  Abstract

  This paper assesses the ECB’s performance, which the author finds to be seriously lacking but which is of paramount importance to understanding euroland’s ongoing stagnation and fragility. A main finding is that the series of policy blunders which characterized the bank’s conduct features a bias. Institutions as well as personalities appear to be behind the […]

  Download Working Paper No. 409 PDF (671.34 KB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 78 June 03, 2004

  The War on Poverty after 40 Years

  Stephanie A. Kelton, and L. Randall Wray
  Abstract

  Twenty to 25 years ago, a debate was under way in academe and in the popular press over the War on Poverty. One group of scholars argued that the war, initiated by Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, had been lost, owing to the inherent ineffectiveness of government welfare programs. Charles Murray and other scholars argued that […]

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 78, 2004 PDF (345.93 KB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 77 June 02, 2004

  The Sustainability of Economic Recovery in the United States

  Philip Arestis, and Elias Karakitsos
  Abstract

  A rebound of consumption, investment, and consumer confidence in the second half of 2003 has raised hopes that the United States’ recovery from the 2001 recession is on a sustainable course. According to this brief by Philip Arestis and Elias Karakitsos, however, the trend in the short-term factors affecting the economy has changed for the […]

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 77, 2004 PDF (547.07 KB)
• Book Series June 01, 2004

  What Has Happened to the Quality of Life in the Advanced Industrialized Nations?

  Edward N. Wolff
  Abstract

  Throughout the 1990s the United States expanded its lead over other advanced industrial nations in terms of conventionally measured per capita income. However, it is not clear that welfare levels in America have grown concomitantly with per capita income, nor that Americans are necessarily better off than citizens of other advanced countries. The contributors to […]

• Working Paper No. 408 May 25, 2004

  Keynesian Theorizing during Hard Times

  Claudio H. Dos Santos
  Abstract

  This paper argues that the Stock-Flow Consistent Approach to macroeconomic modeling can be seen as a natural outcome of the path taken by Keynesian macroeconomic thought in the 1960s and 1970s, a theoretical frontier that remained largely unexplored with the end of Keynesian academic hegemony. The representative views of Davidson, Godley, Minsky, and Tobin as […]

• Working Paper No. 407 May 01, 2004

  Changes in Household Wealth in the 1980s and 1990s in the US

  Edward N. Wolff
  Abstract

  I find that despite slow growth in income over the 1990s, there have been marked improvements in the wealth position of average families. Both mean and median wealth grew briskly in the late 1990s. The inequality of net worth leveled off even though income inequality continued to rise over this period. Indebtedness also fell substantially […]

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• Research Project Report May 01, 2004

  Levy Institute Measure of Economic Well-Being

  Asena Caner, Edward N. Wolff, and Ajit Zacharias
  Abstract

  This report presents the latest findings of the Levy Institute Measure of Economic Well-Being (LIMEW) research project within our program on the distribution of income and wealth. It enhances previous findings about economic well-being and inequality in the United States by extending our analysis to include additional years, 1995 and 2001, and by comparing our […]

  Download LIMEW Report, May 2004 PDF (450.31 KB)
• Working Paper No. 406 May 01, 2004

  Investigating the Intellectual Origins of Euroland’s Macroeconomic Policy Regime

  Jörg Bibow
  Abstract

  This paper investigates the (re-)establishment of central banking in West Germany after 1945 and the history of the Bundesbank Act of 1957. The main focus is on the early emphasis on the “independence” of the central bank, which, together with a “stability-orientation” in monetary policy, proved a lasting German peculiarity. The paper inquires whether contemporary […]

• Policy Notes No. 2 May 01, 2004

  Those “D” Words

  L. Randall Wray
  Abstract

  Recent economic commentary has been filled with “D” words: deficits, debt, deflation, depreciation. Deficits—budget and trade—are of the greatest concern and may be on an unsustainable course, as federal and national debt grow without limit. The United States is already the world’s largest debtor nation, and unconstrained trade deficits are said to raise the specter […]

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