Summary Spring 2004

The sharp reversal from surplus to deficit of the federal budget has prevented a deep recession, but long-term strategic economic difficulties remain. A new Strategic Analysis suggests that the government continue its substantial fiscal stimulus while enhancing the country’s international competitiveness, so as to stimulate export growth and use the domestic jobs thereby created to fill in the remaining employment gaps.

Contents:

Institute Research – Levy Institute Measure of Economic Well-Being – Levy Institute Measure of Economic Well-Being: United States, 1989 and 2000; Strategic Analysis – Deficits, Debts, and Growth: A Reprieve But Not a Pardon; Program: Distribution of Income and Wealth – Inequality of the Distribution of Personal Wealth in Germany 1973-1998; Program: Financial Markets and Monetary Policy – The Future of the Dollar: Has the Unthinkable Become Thinkable? · Financial Globalization and Regulation · Does Financial Structure Matter? · Fiscal Consolidation: Contrasting Strategies and Lessons from International Experiences; Explorations in Theory and Empirical Analysis – Borrowing Alone: The Theory and Policy Implications of the Commodification of Finance · A Post-Keynesian Stock-Flow Consistent Macroeconomic Growth Model: Preliminary Results · A Stock-Flow Consistent General Framework for Formal Minskyan Analyses of Closed Economies; Institute News – Upcoming Events: 14th Annual Hyman P. Minsky Conference, April 23-24, and The Distributional Effects of Government Spending and Taxation, October 15-16; Publications and Presentations – Publications and Presentations by Levy Institute Scholars · Recent Levy Institute Publications