Publications

Examinations of the policy aspects of contemporary economic issues

169 publications found, searching for 'Public Policy Brief '

• Public Policy Brief No. 47
  December 09, 1998

  Regulating HMOs

  Walter M. Cadette
  Abstract

  HMO medicine sets up an inevitable conflict between the physicians’ traditional fiduciary role and the financial interests of the health plan and its physicians. Regulatory interventions, such as the formulation…more

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 47, 1998 PDF (177.36 KB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 46
  November 08, 1998

  Self-Reliance and Poverty

  Andrew Bershadker and Robert Haveman
  Abstract

  The United States’ official poverty measure defines the poor in terms of a family’s actual, yearly cash income relative to an estimate of the income needed to sustain a minimally…more

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 46, 1998 PDF (176.66 KB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 45
  October 07, 1998

  Did the Clinton Rising Tide Raise All Boats?

  Marc-André Pigeon and L. Randall Wray
  Abstract

  During the recent robust expansion only 700,000 of the almost 12 million jobs created went to the half of the population that does not have at least some college education….more

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 45, 1998 PDF (244.77 KB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 44
  September 06, 1998

  The Asian Disease: Plausible Diagnoses, Possible Remedies

  Martin Mayer
  Abstract

  Asia presents a cumulation of apparently rational decisions that produced disastrous results—a textbook illustration of “financial instability” developing from the economics of euphoria. A combination of factors produced the crisis…more

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 44, 1998 PDF (156.72 KB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 43
  September 05, 1998

  How Big Should the Public Capital Stock Be?

  David Alan Aschauer
  Abstract

  Investment in infrastructure is necessary for a strong, flexible, and growing economy. However, the relationship between public capital and economic growth is not linear. At a certain level, the tax…more

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 43, 1998 PDF (216.39 KB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 42
  August 04, 1998

  Automatic Adjustment of the Minimum Wage

  Oren Levin-Waldman
  Abstract

  The fact that every change in the minimum wage requires an act of Congress means that debate over the wisdom of having a minimum is repeatedly returned to the political…more

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 42, 1998 PDF (149.97 KB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 41
  July 03, 1998

  Side Effects of Progress

  Edward N. Wolff
  Abstract

  Why does a dynamic growing economy have a persistent long-term unemployment problem? Research Associates Baumol and Wolff have isolated one cause. Although technological change, the engine of growth and economic…more

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 41, 1998 PDF (162.02 KB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 40
  May 02, 1998

  Overcoming America’s Infrastructure Deficit

  Walter M. Cadette and S. Jay Levy
  Abstract

  Condemned bridges, dilapidated school buildings, contaminated water supplies, and other infrastructure shortcomings threaten American growth, productivity, and prosperity. The authors of this brief propose a plan for financing infrastructure projects…more

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 40, 1998 PDF (5.25 MB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 39
  May 01, 1998

  The Unmeasured Labor Force

  Barry Bluestone and Stephen Rose
  Abstract

  Is the current labor market as tight as official statistics would seem to indicate? If incumbent workers increase their hours of work, it is irrelevant to the unemployment rate, but…more

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 39, 1998 PDF (388.31 KB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 38
  December 11, 1997

  Who Pays for Disinflation?

  Willem Thorbecke
  Abstract

  Using theoretical predictions, econometric results, and the example of the Volcker disinflation, Willem Thorbecke establishes that through disinflation’s burden on the durable goods and construction industries, small firms, and low-wage…more

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 38, 1997 PDF (154.75 KB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 37
  December 10, 1997

  Investment in Innovation

  Mary O’Sullivan
  Abstract

  Since the 1970s corporate America has become obsessed with shedding employees to cut costs and with distributing revenue to stockholders. However, the way for it to regain its competitive edge…more

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 37, 1997 PDF (209.27 KB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 36
  October 09, 1997

  Dangerous Metaphor: The Fiction of the Labor Market

  James K. Galbraith
  Abstract

  The concept of a labor market, responding to familiar underpinnings of supply and demand, completely colors thought on the relationship between employment, wages, and inflation, according to James K. Galbraith….more

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 36, 1997 PDF (95.66 KB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 35
  October 08, 1997

  Reflecting the Changing Face of America

  Joel Perlmann
  Abstract

  On the United States’ census form, American citizens are told they may list any ethnic ancestries with which they identify, but are instructed to “mark one only” in the question…more

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 35, 1997 PDF (6.14 MB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 34
  September 07, 1997

  Safeguarding Social Security

  Walter M. Cadette
  Abstract

  The falling ratio of workers to retirees in the United States has raised concerns about Social Security’s ability to continue to provide a base level of support for all retired…more

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 34, 1997 PDF (263.80 KB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 33
  August 06, 1997

  Is There a Trade-Off between Unemployment and Inequality?

  Rebecca M. Blank
  Abstract

  Rebecca M. Blank considers how the flexibility of American labor markets and the regulation and redistribution policies of European labor markets may determine employers’ responses to worldwide economic transformations that…more

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 33, 1997 PDF (122.96 KB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 32
  August 05, 1997

  What’s Missing from the Capital Gains Debate?

  Kris Feder and Michael Hudson
  Abstract

  The recent enactment of a capital gains tax cut resulted, according to the authors, from the absence of a true appreciation or consideration of the real beneficiaries of such a…more

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 32, 1997 PDF (116.86 KB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 31
  May 04, 1997

  A New Path from Welfare to Work

  Oren Levin-Waldman
  Abstract

  The author of this brief asks why welfare, workforce development, and unemployment insurance are operated as separate entities. If the goal of the new welfare law is to end dependency…more

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 31, 1997 PDF (132.69 KB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 30
  April 03, 1997

  Prescription for Health Care Policy

  Walter M. Cadette
  Abstract

  With health care delivery increasingly shaped by market and budgetary discipline, the provision of health care for all seems an ever-more-distant goal.The high cost of American health care is the…more

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 30, 1997 PDF (14.13 MB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 29
  February 02, 1997

  Institutional Failure and the American Worker

  David R. Howell
  Abstract

  David R. Howell argues that the collapse of low-skill wages in the United States cannot be explained by a skill mismatch resulting from a technology-driven decline in the demand for…more

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 29, 1997 PDF (9.24 MB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 28
  November 10, 1996

  Making Work Pay

  Barry Bluestone and Teresa Ghilarducci
  Abstract

  Barry Bluestone of the University of Massachusetts and Teresa Ghilarducci of the University of Notre Dame show that although the poverty rate for elderly Americans has declined over the past…more

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 28, 1996 PDF (153.74 KB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 27
  September 09, 1996

  Targeting Inflation

  Dimitri B. Papadimitriou and L. Randall Wray
  Abstract

  The targets for monetary policy adopted by the Fed in recent years have not proven to be closely correlated with inflation, leading some theorists and policymakers to advocate the use…more

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 27, 1996 PDF (278.01 KB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 26
  July 08, 1996

  Making Unemployment Insurance Work

  Oren Levin-Waldman
  Abstract

  What is needed to solve the problem of growing long-term unemployment is a two-tiered system that distinguishes between short-term and long-term unemployment. The system should continue to function as an…more

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 26, 1996 PDF (207.16 KB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 25
  April 05, 1996

  Capital Gains Taxes and Economic Growth

  Steven M. Fazzari
  Abstract

  This brief assesses the effect of a capital gains tax cut on firms’ decisions to undertake new investment projects and the possible effect of such projects on economic growth and…more

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 25, 1996 PDF (8.99 MB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 24
  February 04, 1996

  Revisiting Bretton Woods

  Raymond F. Mikesell
  Abstract

  Raymond F. Mikesell outlines the activities of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank over the course of their history and evaluates the organizations’ success in meeting their…more

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 24, 1996 PDF (169.77 KB)