Publications
Filter by
200 publications found, searching for 'Fiscal Policy '
-
Policy Notes No. 2
April 03, 2020
Stabilizing State and Local Budgets through the Pandemic and Beyond
AbstractThe federal government appears to have abandoned the idea of a coordinated public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving the entirety to state and local governments. Meanwhile, the economic standstill resulting from necessary public health measures will soon cripple state and local budgets. Alexander Williams outlines a proposal for an intragovernmental automatic stabilizer program […]
Download Policy Note 2020/2 PDF (84.42 KB) -
One-Pager No. 62
March 13, 2020
The Economic Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic
AbstractAs the coronavirus (COVID-19) spreads across the United States, it has become clear that, in addition to the public health response (which has been far less than adequate), an economic response is needed. Yeva Nersisyan and Senior Scholar L. Randall Wray identify four steps that require immediate attention: (1) full coverage of medical costs associated […]
Download One-Pager No. 62 PDF (130.06 KB) -
Working Paper No. 948
February 10, 2020
Challenges for the EU as Germany Approaches Recession
AbstractThis paper analyzes recent macroeconomic developments in the eurozone, particularly in Germany. Several economic indicators are sending signals of a looming German recession. Geopolitical tensions caused by trade disputes between the United States and China, plus the risk of a disorderly Brexit, began disrupting the global supply chain in manufacturing. German output contraction has been […]
Download Working Paper No. 948 PDF (431.40 KB) -
Strategic Analysis
January 17, 2020
Greece: In Search of Investors
Abstract2019 marked the third year of the continuing economic recovery in Greece, with real GDP and employment rising, albeit at modest rates. In this Strategic Analysis we note that the expansion has mainly been driven by net exports, with tourism playing a dominant role. However, household consumption and investment are still too far below their […]
Download Strategic Analysis, January 2020 PDF (786.47 KB) -
Testimony
November 20, 2019
Statement of Senior Scholar L. Randall Wray to the House Budget Committee, US House of Representatives
AbstractOn November 20, 2019, Senior Scholar L. Randall Wray testified before the House Committee on the Budget on the topic of reexamining the economic costs of debt: "In recent months a new approach to national government budgets, deficits, and debts—Modern Money Theory (MMT)—has been the subject of discussion and controversy. [. . .] In this […]
Download Testimony, November 20, 2019 PDF (1.15 MB) -
Working Paper No. 937
October 04, 2019
Indian Fiscal Federalism at the Crossroads
AbstractThere is a growing recognition that fundamental changes are happening in Indian fiscal federalism ex post the abolition of the Planning Commission, the creation of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog, the constitutional amendment to introduce the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the establishment of the GST Council, and the historically high tax […]
Download Working Paper No. 937 PDF (357.76 KB) -
Book Series
October 01, 2019
Challenges to Indian Fiscal Federalism
AbstractThe principle of fiscal federalism enshrined in India’s Constitution is under severe strain today. This book is a key addition to understanding the challenges involved. The authors capture the implications of the abolition of the Planning Commission, the introduction of the controversial Goods and Services Tax regime, and formulation of Terms of Reference of the […]
-
Working Paper No. 936
September 04, 2019
Fiscal Reform to Benefit State and Local Governments
AbstractThis paper will present the Modern Money Theory approach to government finance. In short, a national government that chooses its own money of account, imposes a tax in that money of account, and issues currency in that money of account cannot face a financial constraint. It can make all payments as they come due. It […]
Download Working Paper No. 936 PDF (229.58 KB) -
Working Paper No. 932
June 26, 2019
Rethinking China’s Local Government Debt in the Frame of Modern Money Theory
AbstractLocal government debt in China is increasing and presents a great threat to China’s financial stability. In China’s fiscal system, the central government often prioritizes reducing its fiscal deficit and can determine to a great extent the distribution of revenue and expenditure between itself and local governments. There is therefore a tendency for the fiscal […]
Download Working Paper No. 932 PDF (388.51 KB) -
Working Paper No. 926
April 25, 2019
Fiscal Stabilization in the United States
AbstractThe debate about the use of fiscal instruments for macroeconomic stabilization has regained prominence in the aftermath of the Great Recession, and the experience of a monetary union equipped with fiscal shock absorbers, such as the United States, has often been a reference. This paper enhances our knowledge about the degree of macroeconomic stabilization achieved […]
Download Working Paper No. 926 PDF (917.65 KB) -
Strategic Analysis
April 15, 2019
Can Redistribution Help Build a More Stable Economy?
AbstractAlthough the ongoing recovery is about to become the longest in the history of the United States, it is also the weakest in postwar history, and as we enter the second quarter of 2019, many clouds have gathered. This Strategic Analysis considers the recent trajectory, the present state, and the future prospects of the US […]
Download Strategic Analysis, April 2019 PDF (1.06 MB) -
Working Paper No. 920
January 17, 2019
Macroeconomic Policy Effectiveness and Inequality
AbstractGender budgeting is a fiscal approach that seeks to use a country’s national and/or local budget(s) to reduce inequality and promote economic growth and equitable development. While the literature has explored the connection between reducing gender inequality and achieving growth and equitable development, more empirical analysis is needed on whether gender budgeting reduces gender inequality. […]
Download Working Paper No. 920 PDF (316.03 KB) -
Working Paper No. 917
October 22, 2018
Two Harvard Economists on Monetary Economics
AbstractIn November 1987, Hyman Minsky visited Bogotá, Colombia, after being invited by a group of professors who at that time were interested in post-Keynesian economics. There, Minsky delivered some lectures, and Lauchlin Currie attended two of those lectures at the National University of Colombia. Although Currie is not as well-known as Minsky in the American […]
Download Working Paper No. 917 PDF (217.18 KB) -
Working Paper No. 916
October 02, 2018
Unconventional Monetary Policies and Central Bank Profits
AbstractThis study investigates the evolution of central bank profits as fiscal revenue (or: seigniorage) before and in the aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2008–9, focusing on a select group of central banks—namely the Bank of England, the United States Federal Reserve System, the Bank of Japan, the Swiss National Bank, the European Central […]
Download Working Paper No. 916 PDF (2.15 MB) -
One-Pager No. 56
June 19, 2018
An Alternative to Sovereign Bond-Backed Securities for the Euro Area
AbstractThe European Commission's proposal for the regulation of sovereign bond-backed securities (SBBSs) follows the release of a high-level taskforce report, sponsored by the European Systemic Risk Board, on the feasibility of an SBBS framework. The proposal and the SBBS scheme, Mario Tonveronachi argues, would fail to yield the intended results while undermining financial stability. Tonveronachi articulates […]
Download One-Pager No. 56 PDF (107.37 KB) -
Public Policy Brief No. 145
June 08, 2018
European Sovereign Bond-Backed Securities
AbstractIn response to a proposal put forward by the European Commission for the regulation of sovereign bond-backed securities (SBBSs), Mario Tonveronachi provides his analysis of the SBBS scheme and attendant regulatory proposal, and elaborates on an alternative approach to addressing the problems that have motivated this high-level consideration of an SBBS framework. As this policy […]
Download Public Policy Brief No. 145, 2018 PDF (236.81 KB) -
Strategic Analysis
April 13, 2018
“America First,” Fiscal Policy, and Financial Stability
AbstractThe US economy has been expanding continuously for almost nine years, making the current recovery the second longest in postwar history. However, the current recovery is also the slowest recovery of the postwar period. This Strategic Analysis presents the medium-run prospects, challenges, and contradictions for the US economy using the Levy Institute’s stock-flow consistent macroeconometric […]
Download Strategic Analysis, April 2018 PDF (1.30 MB) -
Working Paper No. 900
January 29, 2018
Functional Finance
AbstractThis paper examines the views of Hyman Minsky and Abba Lerner on the functional finance approach to fiscal policy. It argues that the main principles of functional finance were relatively widely held in the immediate postwar period. However, with the rise of the Phillips curve, the return of the Quantity Theory, the development of the […]
Download Working Paper No. 900 PDF (150.98 KB) -
Working Paper No. 898
October 12, 2017
Corporate Tax Incidence in India
AbstractThe paper attempts to measure the incidence of corporate income tax in India under a general equilibrium setting. Using seemingly uncorrelated regression coefficients and dynamic panel estimates, we tried to analyze both the relative burden of corporate tax borne by capital and labor and the efficiency effects of corporate income tax. The data for the […]
Download Working Paper No. 898 PDF (252.12 KB) -
Policy Notes No. 2
July 07, 2017
The Concert of Interests in the Age of Trump
AbstractIf the Trump administration is to fulfill its campaign promises to this age’s “forgotten” men and women, Director of Research Jan Kregel argues, it should embrace the broader lesson of the 1930s: that government regulation and fiscal policy are crucial in addressing changes in the economic and financial structure that have exacerbated the problems faced […]
Download Policy Note 2017/2 PDF (190.65 KB) -
Strategic Analysis
April 14, 2017
The Trump Effect: Is This Time Different?
AbstractFrom a macroeconomic point of view, 2016 was an ordinary year in the post–Great Recession period. As in prior years, the conventional forecasts predicted that this would be the year the economy would finally escape from the “new normal” of secular stagnation. But just as in every previous year, the forecasts were confounded by the […]
Download Strategic Analysis, April 2017 PDF (403.41 KB) -
Policy Notes No. 1
April 06, 2017
Inequality Update: Who Gains When Income Grows?
AbstractSince the 1980s, economic recoveries in the United States have been delivering the vast majority of income growth to the wealthiest households. This policy note updates the analysis in One-Pager No. 47 and Policy Note 2015/4 with the latest data through 2015, looking at the distribution of average income growth (with and without capital gains) […]
Download Policy Note 2017/1 PDF (395.43 KB) -
Working Paper No. 883
February 24, 2017
Fiscal Policy, Economic Growth and Innovation
AbstractThis paper analyzes the effectiveness of public expenditures on economic growth within the analytical framework of comprehensive Neo-Schumpeterian economics. Using a fixed-effects model for G20 countries, the paper investigates the links between the specific categories of public expenditures and economic growth, captured in human capital formation, defense, infrastructure development, and technological innovation. The results reveal […]
Download Working Paper No. 883 PDF (209.20 KB) -
Public Policy Brief No. 143
February 07, 2017
Brazil Still in Troubled Waters
AbstractSince inheriting the Brazilian presidency five months ago, the new Temer administration has successfully ratified a constitutional amendment imposing a radical, two-decades-long public spending freeze, purportedly aimed at sparking an increase in business confidence and investment. In this policy brief, Fernando Cardim de Carvalho explains why this fiscal strategy is based not only on a […]
Download Public Policy Brief No. 143, 2017 PDF (340.91 KB)