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1681 publications found
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Public Policy Brief No. 66
November 01, 2001
Racial Wealth Disparities
AbstractDespite decades of policies aimed at improving the economic position of African Americans in terms of relative income and earnings, they remain substantially behind whites. The research presented in this brief indicates that the wealth gap is even more staggering. Following families over time in order to understand racial differences in the sources and patterns […]
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Working Paper No. 340
October 01, 2001
Incentives in HMOs
AbstractWe studied the effect of physician incentives in an HMO network. Physician incentives are controversial because they may induce doctors to make treatment decisions that differ from those they would choose in the absence of incentives. We set out a theoretical framework for assessing the degree to which incentive contracts do, in fact, induce physicians […]
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Working Paper No. 339
October 01, 2001
Uncertainty, Conventional Behavior, and Economic Sociology
AbstractThis paper addresses the problem of the conceptualization of social structure and its relationship to human agency in economic sociology. The background is provided by John Maynard Keynes’s observations on the effects of uncertainty and conventional behavior on the stock market; the analysis consists of a comparison of the social ontologies of the French Intersubjectivist […]
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Strategic Analysis
October 01, 2001
The Developing US Recession and Guidelines for Policy
AbstractThe United States should now be prepared for one of the deepest and most intractable recessions of the post–World War II period, with no natural process of recovery in prospect unless a large and complex reorientation of policy occurs both here and in the rest of the world. The grounds for reaching this somber conclusion […]
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Policy Notes No. 10
October 01, 2001
Are We All Keynesians (Again)?
AbstractIt is now widely recognized that economists and policymakers alike had been living a 30-year fantasy. The best government is not that which governs least. The best economy is not that which is abandoned to the invisible fist of the unconstrained market. Our national and individual security is not best left to the fate of […]
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Working Paper No. 338
September 01, 2001
The Monetary Policies of the European Central Bank and the Euro’s (Mal)performance
AbstractThe stability-oriented macroeconomic framework established in the Maastricht and Amsterdam Treaties on European Union (TEU), especially the unparalleled status of independence and peculiar mandate of the European Central Bank (ECB), were promised to virtually guarantee price stability and a “strong” euro. Actual developments have shattered these hopes in a rather drastic way. Despite the dismal […]
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Policy Notes No. 9
September 01, 2001
Hard Times, Easy Money?
AbstractThe tools of countercyclical monetary policy have been brought fully to bear on a potentially severe recession. This note argues, however, that such a policy is less effective in times such as these—that is, when uncertainty is especially high—and so is likely to be particularly ineffective in combating the current economic slowdown.
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Public Policy Brief No. 65
August 01, 2001
Easy Money through the Back Door
AbstractThis brief assesses the experiences of Europe’s policy regime in the two years since the introduction of the euro in 1999, particularly the performance of the European Central Bank (ECB), the institution in charge of conducting monetary policy for the euro area. Conventional accounts of European growth, price, and labor market performance over recent years […]
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Working Paper No. 337
August 01, 2001
Can Countries under a Common Currency Conduct Their Own Fiscal Policies?
AbstractThe debate about balance of payment problems is generally linked with adjustments in the fiscal sector, especially since the views of Bretton Woods institutions became predominant. For the majority of theoretical models that currently inform policy, it is becoming common thought that in a world of free trade and free movement of capital, a floating […]
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Working Paper No. 336
August 01, 2001
The Role of Institutions and Policies in Creating High European Unemployment
AbstractThe conventional wisdom is that high European unemployment is the result of job markets that are rigid and inflexible. This paper presents new empirical evidence that challenges this received wisdom. A major contribution of the paper is that it fully accounts for both micro- and macroeconomic factors, as well as taking account of cross-country economic […]
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Strategic Analysis
August 01, 2001
As the Implosion Begins . . . ?
AbstractDistinguished Scholar Wynne Godley and Research Scholar Alex Izurieta respond to Jan Hatzius’s rebuttal of their July 2001 Strategic Analysis, in which they stated that the American economy was probably already in recession, and that a prolonged period of subnormal growth and rising unemployment was likely unless there were another round of policy changes. Hatzius, […]
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Working Paper No. 335
August 01, 2001
Young Mexican Americans, Blacks, and Whites in Recent Years
AbstractThis paper stresses that the key to concerns about the progress of second-generation Americans is the fate of the Mexican second generation. It compares several indicators of the advances of second-generation Mexicans to those of non-Hispanic, native-born blacks and non-Hispanic, native-born white attainments. The analysis relies on the most recent available evidence from the CPS […]
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Policy Notes No. 8
August 01, 2001
The War Economy
AbstractThere is no chance that events will right themselves in a few weeks, or that we will be saved by such underlying factors as technology and productivity growth or by lower interest rates or the provisions of the recent tax act. Rather, we are in for a crisis; the sooner this is recognized and acted […]
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Strategic Analysis
July 01, 2001
As the Implosion Begins . . . ?
AbstractThe American economy is probably now in recession, and a prolonged period of subnormal growth and rising unemployment is likely unless there is another round of policy changes. A further relaxation of fiscal policy will probably be needed, but if a satisfactory rate of growth is to be sustained, this will have to be complemented […]
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Working Paper No. 334
July 01, 2001
Reflections on the Current Fashion for Central Bank Independence
AbstractThis paper challenges the time-inconsistency case for central bank independence. It argues that the time-inconsistency literature not only seriously confuses the substance of the rules versus discretion debate, but also posits an implausible view of monetary policy. Most worrisome, the inflationary bias featured prominently in the time-inconsistency literature has encouraged the development of a dangerously […]
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Policy Notes No. 7
July 01, 2001
The New Old Economy
AbstractConsensus opinion sees the United States’ economy growing by around 3 percent per year over the next few years, a high enough rate to keep unemployment low and outpace Europe. One problem with the consensus view is that it pays little heed to the very unusual nature of the American expansion. A minor downturn prompted […]
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Public Policy Brief No. 64
June 01, 2001
Campaign Contributions, Policy Decisions, and Election Outcomes
AbstractProposals for campaign finance reform are essentially based on the belief that political influence can be bought with financial donations to a candidate’s campaign. But do contributions really influence the decisions of legislators once they are in office? In this brief, Christopher Magee examines the link between campaign donations and legislators’ actions. His results suggest […]
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Working Paper No. 333
June 01, 2001
Toward a Population History of the Second Generation
AbstractPast-present comparisons of second-generation progress are often plagued by vague references to the baseline, the past. This essay seeks to contribute some specificity to the understanding of second generations past for the sake of comparison and as a contribution to historical understanding in its own right. First, it defines the older second-generation groups that make […]
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Working Paper No. 332
June 01, 2001
Contradictions Coming Home to Roost?
AbstractIt is widely believed that the current economic slowdown will be mild and temporary in nature, the result of a momentary wobble in the stock market. This paper argues that the slowdown stands to be more deep-seated, owing to contradictions in the existing process of aggregate demand generation. These contradictions are the result of deterioration […]
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Policy Notes No. 6
June 01, 2001
Killing Social Security Softly with Faux Kindness
AbstractThe President’s commission claims that the Social Security program is “unsustainable” and requires a complete “overhaul.” It also claims that the program is a bad deal for women and minorities. However, any honest accounting of all Social Security benefits finds that the program is a good deal for disadvantaged groups. Social Security will become a […]
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Policy Notes No. 5
May 01, 2001
The Backward Art of Tax Cutting
AbstractThis policy note examines the case for large tax cuts, focusing on the issues surrounding the purpose and overall size of the needed cut. Although Congress has passed a significant package of tax relief, many have worried that the budget surplus on which it was based will never appear. Thus, some have advocated “triggers” to […]
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Working Paper No. 330
May 01, 2001
Is Wealth Becoming More Polarized in the United States?
AbstractRecent work has documented a rising degree of wealth inequality in the United States between 1983 and 1998. In this paper we look at another dimension of the distribution: polarization. Using techniques developed by Esteban and Ray (1994) and extended by D’Ambrosia (2001), we examine whether a similar pattern exists with regard to trends in […]
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Working Paper No. 329
May 01, 2001
Reporting of Two or More Races in the 1999 American Community Survey
AbstractThis study presents data on race, collected at selected sites throughout the country for the 1999 American Community Survey (ACS). In particular, the distribution of the population by race and Hispanic or Latino origin is examined, as are the reporting of multiple races, number of races, and major race combinations and the extent to which […]
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Working Paper No. 328
May 01, 2001
On the “Burden” of German Unification
AbstractThis paper investigates the causes of western Germany’s remarkably poor performance since 1992. The paper challenges the view that the poor record of the nineties, particularly the marked deterioration in public finances since unification, might be largely attributable to unification. Instead, the analysis highlights the role of ill-timed and overly ambitious fiscal consolidation in conjunction […]
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