Publications

326 publications found, searching for 'Economic Policy for the 21st Century '

• Policy Notes April 21, 2025

  Remembering Pope Francis’s Call for a Universal Basic Wage

  Pavlina R. Tcherneva
  Abstract

  On April 21, 2025, a day after Easter Sunday, the world mourned the passing of His Holiness Pope Francis. Five years earlier, on Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020—amid the devastating COVID-19 pandemic—he issued a powerful plea for economic justice, urging leaders to address the deepening crisis of insecurity faced by workers. His call for a universal […]

• Policy Notes April 21, 2025

  Trump’s Tariffs: Ending Globalization

  Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, Giuliano Toshiro Yajima, and Gennaro Zezza
  Abstract

  The Trump administration is reintroducing a number of 40-year-old, Reagan-era economic and military policies, but is particularly preoccupied with the imposition of tariffs for all of the country’s imports. Trump, in his inaugural address, placed significant emphasis on what the imposition of tariffs would represent, in his view: “Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich […]

• Working Paper No. 1080 April 04, 2025

  Protecting Social Security: The Case Against Extending the Full Retirement Age

  Edward Lane
  Abstract

  The Social Security “full retirement age” (FRA) is the age at which retirement income benefits are available without reduction for early commencement. Presently, that age is 67 for those born in 1960 or later. This paper is about the unfair and unnecessary threat to reduce Social Security retirement income benefits (Romig 2023) by extending the […]

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• Working Paper No. 1078 April 01, 2025

  “A Concentration of Private Power without Equal in History”

  William Van Lear, and Daniel Hutchinson
  Abstract

  This manuscript presents a detailed summary and reassessment of the 1941 final report of the Temporary National Economic Committee (TNEC). We portion the manuscript into four major parts: background, major themes, assessment of the report, and additional analysis and reflection. In the first section, we cover what compelled the government’s investigation and we identify the […]

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• Public Policy Brief No. 158 March 04, 2025

  That “Vision Thing”: Formulating a Winning Policy Agenda

  Pavlina R. Tcherneva, and L. Randall Wray
  Abstract

  For a PDF version of this Public Policy Brief, please click here. There are many ways to lose a presidential election, and pundits have come up with a long list: President Biden hung on too long; voters still weren’t ready for a female of color—too many are racist and sexist; too many leftists supported third […]

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• Working Paper No. 1074 December 24, 2024

  Political Conflict, Green Capabilities, and Growth Patterns in a Kaleckian Small Open Economy

  José Eduardo Alatorre, Gabriel Porcile, Julia Juarez, and Juan Carlos Moreno-Brid
  Abstract

  The paper presents a Kaleckian extended model exploring sustainable development, defined as growth that is economically stable, socially inclusive, and environmentally respectful. The model links CO2 emission trends with public investments in green capabilities, represented by the share of renewables in total energy supply. It incorporates three key actors: green capitalists (G), brown capitalists (B), […]

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• Working Paper No. 1073 December 18, 2024

  Frankenstein in Fact and Fiction

  Robert Skidelsky
  Abstract

  This paper is based on remarks delivered at the EDI Keynote Lecture at Bard College, November 19th, 2024: ‘Frankenstein in Fact and Fiction.’ View a recording of the lecture on YouTube. As we all know, Frankenstein was the scientist in Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel of the same name, who invented a human machine—intended to be a […]

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• Working Paper No. 1070 December 10, 2024

  Notes on Money as Technology

  Raúl A. Carrillo
  Abstract

  Originally issued as EDI Working Paper No. 20, June 2024 Scholars and affiliates of the Levy Economics Institute have long demonstrated a granular understanding of the “operations” of money, which entails understanding the financial system’s law and technology (Grey 2019, Tymoigne 2014, Fullwiler 2010, Bell and Wray 2002-3, Bell 2000). During the dot-com bubble, many […]

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• Policy Notes November 07, 2024

  Trump Wins While Americans Vote for Progressive Policies

  Pavlina R. Tcherneva
  Abstract

  On November 5, 2024, American voters sent Donald Trump back to the White House. In 2020, he lost his bid for reelection to Joe Biden, after winning in 2016 against Hillary Clinton (but only thanks to the electoral college). This time, however, Trump won the popular vote. All the new energy that surrounded the Harris-Walz campaign […]

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• Policy Notes No. 1 October 11, 2024

  The Boy Who Cried Wolf About Government Debt

  Yeva Nersisyan, and L. Randall Wray
  Abstract

  In a New York Times editorial, David Leonhardt recounts Aesop’s apocryphal story about the boy and the wolf, warning that while deficit hawks have so far been wrong, the growing government debt will eventually bite. He reports the economic plans of both presidential candidates would add to the debt that will soon exceed GDP and grow to 130 percent of annual output under a President Harris, or 140 percent with a Trump presidency.

  The story of the boy and the wolf was a fable, although it was within the realm of possibility. The fable of the debt wolf is not. While there are real world wolves—Leonhardt mentions climate catastrophe and autocratic leaders, and the authors would add rising inequality and the concentration of economic and political power in the hands of billionaires—authors Yeva Nersisyan and L. Randall Wray assert, federal debt is not one of them.

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• Working Paper No. 1056 October 07, 2024

  Federal Tax Transfers and Demographic Transition: Balancing Equity and Efficiency

  Lekha S. Chakraborty, and Yadawendra Singh
  Abstract

  Against the backdrop of demographic transition in India, the study highlights the necessity of integrating the elderly population as a critical factor in formula-based intergovernmental fiscal transfers. The demographic transition, characterized by an increasing elderly population, imposes unique fiscal challenges on states, necessitating a revision of transfer formulas to ensure equitable and efficient resource distribution. […]

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• Working Paper No. 1054 June 28, 2024

  Gender-Responsive Public Financial Management: The Indian Chronology of Gender Budgeting

  Lekha S. Chakraborty
  Abstract

  Gender budgeting is a public financial management (PFM) tool, used to ensure accountability mechanisms. The analysis of “process” indicators of gender-responsive PFM (GRPFM) reveals that India has been successful in integrating a gender lens within the budget cycle, including in the financial planning and allocation, and in effective implementation. However, a legally mandated GRPFM would […]

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• Working Paper No. 1045 March 07, 2024

  Social Security and Gender Inequality

  Liudmila Malyshava, and B. Oak McCoy
  Abstract

  This inquiry examines the role of federal policy in gender inequality using the principles of institutional adjustment (Foster 1981; Bush 1987) in the context of the Veblenian dichotomy of habit formation. Specifically, the authors assert that Social Security, though exclusive at its inception in 1935, has undergone significant institutional adjustment. Today, Social Security plays a […]

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• Working Paper No. 1042 February 13, 2024

  Saving Social Security

  Edward Lane
  Abstract

  For more than 25 years, the Social Security Trust Fund was projected to run out of money in 2033 (give or take a few years), potentially causing benefits to be severely reduced in the absence of corrective legislative action. Today (February 2024), projections are made by the Social Security Administration that indicate that future benefits […]

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• Working Paper No. 1040 February 02, 2024

  COP28 and Environmental Federalism: Empirical Evidence from an Emerging Economy, India

  Lekha S. Chakraborty, Amandeep Kaur, Ranjan Kumar Mohanty, Divy Rangan, and Sanjana Das
  Abstract

  Against the backdrop of COP28, this paper investigates the impact of intergovernmental fiscal transfers (IGFT) on climate change commitments in India. Within the analytical framework of environmental federalism, we tested the evidence for the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) using a panel model covering 27 Indian states from 2003 to 2020. The results suggest a positive […]

• Working Paper No. 1041 February 02, 2024

  Amazon Green Recovery and Labor Market in Brazil

  Luiza Nassif Pires, Gilberto Tadeu Lima, Pedro Romero Marques, Tainari Taioka, and José Bergamin
  Abstract

  Announced in June 2021, the never-implemented Green Recovery Plan for the Brazilian Legal Amazon Region (GRP) would be a green transition initiative to be carried out by the state governments of the region. The GRP represented the first large-scale proposal aiming at the transition to a low-carbon economy in Brazil and offered a preliminary framework […]

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• Working Paper No. 1038 January 29, 2024

  Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren—90 Years Later

  Jörg Bibow
  Abstract

  This paper revisits Keynes’s (1930) essay titled “The economic possibilities for our grandchildren.” We discuss the three broader trends identified by Keynes that he expected would come to characterize the socio-economic evolution of advanced countries under individualistic capitalism: first, continued technological progress and capital accumulation as the main drivers of exponential growth in economic possibilities; […]

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• Working Paper No. 1037 January 10, 2024

  Markups, Profit Shares, and Cost-Push-Profit-Led Inflation

  Michalis Nikiforos, and Simon Grothe
  Abstract

  The post-pandemic surge in inflation was accompanied by a surge in the corporate share of profits. As a result, several economists and policy makers have given to it names such as “profit-led inflation” or “sellers’ inflation.” The present paper discusses the extent to which profit-led inflation, as an explanation for the recent surge in inflation, […]

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• Working Paper No. 1036 January 05, 2024

  The Estimation of Production Functions with Monetary Values

  Jesus Felipe, John McCombie, and Aashish Mehta
  Abstract

  For decades, the literature on the estimation of production functions has focused on the elimination of endogeneity biases through different estimation procedures to obtain the correct factor elasticities and other relevant parameters. Theoretical discussions of the problem correctly assume that production functions are relationships among physical inputs and output. However, in practice, they are most […]

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• One-Pager No. 71 December 14, 2023

  Has the Time Arrived for a Job Guarantee in Europe?

  Rania Antonopoulos
  Abstract

  In comparison to the policy responses in the aftermath of the 2008–9 global financial crisis, the reactions of EU policymakers to the combined shocks of the COVID-19 crisis and Ukraine-Russia conflict reveal a greater willingness to deploy public finance in support of the population. Yet, while this display of renewed solidarity is commendable, policymakers have […]

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• Working Paper No. 1033 November 20, 2023

  The Impact of Climate Change on the Palestinian Sectoral Reallocation of Labor

  Sameh Hallaq, and Yousuf Daas
  Abstract

  The research leverages yearly variations in climate variables, such as rainfall and temperature, across the West Bank from 1999 to 2018 to assess their influence on individuals' decisions to stay in the agricultural sector. The main findings suggest that an increase in rainfall in the previous year is associated with a higher proportion of workers […]

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• Working Paper No. 1032 October 16, 2023

  Applying OECD Policy Evaluation Criteria to Child Protection Schemes in India

  Lekha S. Chakraborty, Amandeep Kaur, Jitesh Yadav, and Balamuraly B
  Abstract

  The policy evaluation is a crucial component in analyzing the efficacy of public spending in translating the money spent into desired outcomes. Using OECD evaluation criteria, we analyzed the child protection schemes of Odisha to understand whether legal commitments on child protection are translated into fiscal commitments. The intergovernmental fiscal transfers and state-targeted programs for […]

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• Working Paper No. 1031 October 09, 2023

  A Stock-Flow Ecological Model from a Latin American Perspective

  Lorenzo Nalin, Giuliano Toshiro Yajima, Leonardo Rojas Rodriguez, Esteban Pérez-Caldentey, and José Eduardo Alatorre
  Abstract

  This study aims to develop an ecological stock-flow consistent (SFC) model based on the Latin American–stylized facts regarding economic, financial, and environmental features. We combine the macro-financial theoretical framework by Pérez-Caldentey et al. (2021, 2023) and the ecological modeling of Carnevali et al. (2020) and Dafermos et al. (2018). We discuss two scenarios that test […]

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• Working Paper No. 1023 July 14, 2023

  Climate Change and Fiscal Marksmanship

  Lekha S. Chakraborty, Amandeep Kaur, Ajay Narayan Jha, and Balamuraly B
  Abstract

  According to the theory of efficient markets, economic agents use all available information to form rational expectations. The rational expectations hypothesis asserts that information is scarce, the economic system generally does not waste information, and that expectations depend specifically on the structure of the entire system. Fiscal marksmanship—the accuracy of budgetary forecasting—can be one important […]

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