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Examinations of the policy aspects of contemporary economic issues
169 publications found, searching for 'Public Policy Brief '
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Public Policy Brief No. 95August 29, 2008
Shaky Foundations: Policy Lessons from America’s Historic Housing Crash
AbstractA bursting asset bubble inevitably requires central bank action, usually when it is already too late and with adverse spillover effects. In this sense, the Federal Reserve and other central…more
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Public Policy Brief No. 94April 01, 2008
Financial Markets Meltdown
AbstractIn this new Public Policy Brief, Senior Scholar L. Randall Wray explains today’s complex and fragile financial system, and how the seeds of crisis were sown by lax oversight, deregulation,…more
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Public Policy Brief No. 93January 08, 2008
Minsky’s Cushions of Safety
AbstractIn this brief, Senior Scholar Jan Kregel reviews Hyman P. Minsky’s concept of financial fragility—in short, that the structure of a capitalist economy becomes more fragile over a period of…more
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Public Policy Brief No. 92October 26, 2007
The US Credit Crunch of 2007
AbstractIt is now clear that most economists underestimated the widening economic impact of the credit crunch that has shaken American financial markets since at least mid-July. A credit crunch is…more
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Public Policy Brief No. 91October 09, 2007
Globalization and the Changing Trade Debate
AbstractThe failure of the Doha Development Round of World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations in July 2006 was the first major collapse of a multilateral trade round since World War II….more
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Public Policy Brief No. 90July 03, 2007
Cracks in the Foundations of Growth
AbstractWith economic growth having cooled to less than 1 percent in the first quarter of 2007, the economy can ill afford a slump in consumption by the American household. But…more
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Public Policy Brief No. 89January 31, 2007
The Economics of Outsourcing
AbstractAccording to Research Associate Thomas I. Palley, global outsourcing represents a new economic challenge that calls for a new set of institutions. In this brief, he expands upon the problems…more
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Public Policy Brief No. 88November 30, 2006
US Household Deficit Spending
AbstractOver the past decade, deficit spending by consumers has supported the United States economy. Research Associate Robert Parenteau analyzes the financial balance of American households and finds that the pace…more
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Public Policy Brief No. 87November 29, 2006
Maastricht 2042 and the Fate of Europe
AbstractUnemployment in the European Union (EU) is a serious problem that threatens to disrupt the integration of accession countries, the character of individual countries, and the continued existence of the…more
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Public Policy Brief No. 86October 18, 2006
Rethinking Trade and Trade Policy
AbstractThe theory of comparative advantage says that there are gains from trade for the global economy as a whole. In this second brief of a three-part study of the international…more
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Public Policy Brief No. 85June 11, 2006
The Fallacy of the Revised Bretton Woods Hypothesis
AbstractThe stability of the international financial system is in doubt. Analysis of the system has focused mainly on the sustainability of financing the American trade deficit and has failed to…more
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Public Policy Brief No. 84May 20, 2006
Can Basel II Enhance Financial Stability?
AbstractEven as the United States enjoys an economic expansion, there is an undercurrent of concern among economic analysts who follow financial markets. Some feel that the expansion of the credit…more
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Public Policy Brief No. 83January 17, 2006
Reforming Deposit Insurance
AbstractThe Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) currently insures bank deposit balances up to $100,000. According to some observers, statutory protection creates moral hazard problems for insurers because it allows banks…more
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Public Policy Brief No. 82August 03, 2005
The Ownership Society
AbstractAs his new term begins, President George W. Bush has been trying to focus his domestic agenda on what he calls the “ownership society,” a sweeping vision of an America…more
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Public Policy Brief No. 81June 27, 2005
Breaking Out of the Deficit Trap
AbstractFor some time, Levy Institute scholars have been engaged with issues related to the current account, government, and private sector balances. We have argued that the existing imbalances in these…more
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Public Policy Brief No. 80December 21, 2004
The Fed and the New Monetary Consensus
AbstractThe 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…more
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Public Policy Brief No. 79August 01, 2004
The Case for Rate Hikes
AbstractFor 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…more
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Public Policy Brief No. 78June 03, 2004
The War on Poverty after 40 Years
AbstractTwenty 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,…more
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Public Policy Brief No. 77June 02, 2004
The Sustainability of Economic Recovery in the United States
AbstractA 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…more
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Public Policy Brief No. 76April 01, 2004
Asset Poverty in the United States
AbstractEconomic growth and a rising stock market in the 1990s gave the impression that everyone was accumulating wealth and asset poverty rates were declining. The impression was supported by the…more
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Public Policy Brief No. 75December 01, 2003
Is Financial Globalization Truly Global?
AbstractIn 2002 more than $1 trillion worth of new bonds was sold across international boundaries. The total stock of cross-border bond holdings was more than $9 trillion. Such lending, together…more
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Public Policy Brief No. 74November 01, 2003
Understanding Deflation
AbstractMost recent discussions of deflation seem to overlook the main dangers posed by a deflationary economy and appear to offer superficial solutions. In this brief, the authors argue that, barring…more
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Public Policy Brief No. 73August 03, 2003
Asset and Debt Deflation in the United States
AbstractIn an asset and debt deflation, the process of reducing debt by saving and curtailing spending takes a long time, say authors Philip Arestis and Elias Karakitsos. Current imbalances and…more
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Public Policy Brief No. 72August 02, 2003
What Is the American Model Really About?
AbstractThe “American Model” serves as a point of reference in discussions of economic policy around the world, especially in Europe. Many claim that the American version of the free market…more
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