Publications
Filter by
1690 publications found
-
Working Paper No. 567
June 01, 2009
Revisiting (and Connecting) Marglin-Bhaduri and Minsky
AbstractMany heterodox strands of thought share both a concern with the study of different phases or growth regimes in the history of capitalism and the use of formal short-run models as an analytical tool. The authors of this new working paper suggest (1) that this strategy is potentially misleading, and (2) that the stock-flow consistent […]
Download Working Paper No. 567 PDF (571.01 KB) -
Policy Notes No. 8
June 01, 2009
Some Simple Observations on the Reform of the International Monetary System
AbstractThe demand for reform of the financial system has focused on the dollar’s loss of international purchasing power (the Triffin dilemma) and its substitution by an international reserve currency that is not a national currency. The problem, however, is not the particular asset that serves as the international currency but rather the operation of the […]
Download Policy Note 2009/8 PDF (81.94 KB) -
Policy Notes No. 7
May 28, 2009
“Enforced Indebtedness” and Capital Adequacy Requirements
AbstractThe capital adequacy requirements for banks, enshrined in international banking regulations, are based on a fallacy of composition—namely, the notion that an individual firm can choose the structure of its financial liabilities without affecting the financial liabilities of other firms. In practice, says author Jan Toporowski, capital adequacy regulations for banks are a way of […]
Download Policy Note 2009/7 PDF (83.40 KB) -
Working Paper No. 566
May 20, 2009
Caste and Wealth Inequality in India
AbstractIn this paper, we conduct the novel exercise of analyzing the relationship between overall wealth inequality and caste divisions in India using nationally representative surveys on household wealth conducted during 1991–92 and 2002–03. According to our findings, the groups in India that are generally considered disadvantaged (known as Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes) have, as […]
Download Working Paper No. 566 PDF (177.48 KB) -
Working Paper No. 565
May 19, 2009
Housing Inequality in the United States
AbstractIn recent years, as the homeownership rate in the United States reached its highest level in history, homeownership itself remained unevenly distributed, particularly along racial and ethnic lines. By using data from the 2000 Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) and 2006 American Community Survey (ACS) to study the trajectory into homeownership of black, Asian, […]
Download Working Paper No. 565 PDF (247.13 KB) -
Working Paper No. 564
May 14, 2009
New Consensus Macroeconomics: A Critical Appraisal
AbstractThis paper is concerned with the New Consensus Macroeconomics (NCM) in the case of an open economy. It outlines and explains briefly the main elements of and way of thinking about the macroeconomy from the standpoint of both its theoretical and its policy dimensions. There are a few problems with this particular theoretical framework. We […]
Download Working Paper No. 564 PDF (237.43 KB) -
Working Paper No. 563
May 13, 2009
Whither New Consensus Macroeconomics?
AbstractIn the face of the dramatic economic events of recent months and the inability of academics and policymakers to prevent them, the New Consensus Macroeconomics (NCM) model has been the subject of several criticisms. This paper considers one of the main criticisms lodged against the NCM model, namely, the absence of any essential role for […]
Download Working Paper No. 563 PDF (193.84 KB) -
Policy Notes No. 6
May 11, 2009
The “Unintended Consequences” Game
AbstractA simple consideration of history tells us that each new piece of legislation contains loopholes that benefit a new class of entrepreneurs; some of these loopholes are small, but others are such that one could drive a bullion-laden truck through them. In this new Policy Note, Martin Shubik suggests creating a “war gaming group” to […]
Download Policy Note 2009/6 PDF (46.67 KB) -
Working Paper No. 562
May 08, 2009
The Current Economic and Financial Crisis
AbstractWidespread economic recessions and protracted financial crises have been documented as setting back gender equality and other development goals in the past. In the midst of the current global crisis—often referred to as “the Great Recession”—there is grave concern that progress made in poverty reduction and women’s equality will be reversed. Indeed, for many developing […]
Download Working Paper No. 562 PDF (202.47 KB) -
Working Paper No. 561
May 06, 2009
The Return of the State: The New Investment Paradigm
AbstractTo save America—indeed, the global economy as a whole—the private/public sector balance has to shift, and the neoliberal economic model on which the country has been based for the past 25 years has to be modified. In this new working paper, Marshall Auerback details why the role of the state needs to be reemphasized. The […]
Download Working Paper No. 561 PDF (203.85 KB) -
Policy Notes No. 5
April 09, 2009
A Proposal for a Federal Employment Reserve Authority
AbstractThere is already considerable talk about the possible need for a massive public works program in response to the deepening recession and rising unemployment; however, an ad hoc emergency approach is going to waste billions of dollars by mismatching skills and needs. In this new Policy Note, Martin Shubik of Yale University outlines a proposal […]
Download Policy Note 2009/5 PDF (133.88 KB) -
Strategic Analysis
April 09, 2009
Recent Rise in Federal Government and Federal Reserve Liabilities: Antidote to a Speculative Hangover
AbstractFederal government and Federal Reserve (Fed) liabilities rose sharply in 2008. Who holds these new liabilities, and what effects will they have on the economy? Some economists and politicians warn of impending inflation. In this new Strategic Analysis, the Levy Institute’s Macro-Modeling Team focuses on one positive effect—a badly needed improvement of private sector balance […]
Download Strategic Analysis, April 2009 PDF (369.83 KB) -
Research Project Report
April 09, 2009
New Estimates of Economic Inequality in America, 1959—2004
AbstractIn this latest LIMEW report, the authors present new evidence on the pattern of economic inequality in the United States that indicates higher inequality in 2004 than in 1959. According to the LIMEW, there was a surge in inequality between 1989 and 2000 that reflects the large increase in income from wealth for the top […]
Download LIMEW Report, April 2009 PDF (434.52 KB) -
Public Policy Brief No. 100
April 08, 2009
It’s That “Vision” Thing: Why the Bailouts Aren’t Working, and Why a New Financial System Is Needed
AbstractThe Federal Reserve’s response to the current financial crisis has been praised because it introduced a zero interest rate policy more rapidly than the Bank of Japan (during the Japanese crisis of the 1990s) and embraced massive “quantitative easing.” However, despite vast capital injections, the banking system is not lending in support of the private […]
Download Public Policy Brief No. 100, 2009 PDF (202.39 KB) -
Policy Notes No. 4
April 08, 2009
A Crisis in Coordination and Competence
AbstractThe ad hoc emergency approach to the current economic crisis has a great chance of wasting billions of dollars by mismatching skills and needs. According to Martin Shubik of Yale University, the current deepening recession needs a “quick fix” solution now, but a longer-fix solution must be put into place along with it. There is […]
Download Policy Note 2009/4 PDF (71.12 KB) -
Working Paper No. 560
April 06, 2009
The Social and Economic Importance of Full Employment
AbstractUnemployment was singled out by John Maynard Keynes as one of the principle faults of capitalism; the other is excessive inequality. Obviously, there is some link between these two faults: since most people living in capitalist economies must work for wages as a major source of their incomes, the inability to obtain a job means […]
Download Working Paper No. 560 PDF (109.37 KB) -
Strategic Analysis
April 02, 2009
A “People First” Strategy: Credit Cannot Flow When There Are No Creditworthy Borrowers or Profitable Projects
AbstractIn 1930, John Maynard Keynes wrote: “The world has been slow to realise that we are living this year in the shadow of one of the greatest economic catastrophes of modern history.” The same holds true today: we are in the shadow of a global catastrophe, and we need to come to grips with the […]
Download Strategic Analysis, April 2009 PDF (77.26 KB) -
Working Paper No. 559
April 02, 2009
Labor-market Performance in the OECD
AbstractIn this paper we assess the evolution of labor-market performance in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) over the last decade. We provide a survey of the literature dealing with labor-market performance in the OECD, finding that, while this literature tends to conclude that institutions are a key part of the story, the […]
Download Working Paper No. 559 PDF (387.55 KB) -
Working Paper No. 558
April 01, 2009
Managing the Impact of Volatility in International Capital Markets in an Uncertain World
AbstractInternational financial flows are the propagation mechanism for transmitting financial instability across borders; they are also the source of unsustainable external debt. Managing volatility thus requires institutions that promote domestic financial stability, ensure that domestic instability is contained, and guarantee that international institutions and rules of the game are not themselves a cause of volatility. […]
Download Working Paper No. 558 PDF (153.95 KB) -
Policy Notes No. 3
March 27, 2009
An Assessment of the Credit Crisis Solutions
AbstractAll of the various schemes that have been put forward to resolve the current credit crisis follow either the “business as usual” or the “good bank” model. The “business as usual” model takes different forms—insurance or guarantee of the assets or liabilities of the financial institutions, creation of a “bad bank” to buy toxic assets, […]
Download Policy Note 2009/3 PDF (179.89 KB) -
Policy Notes No. 2
March 25, 2009
What Role for Central Banks in View of the Current Crisis?
AbstractCentral banks have an aversion to bailing out speculators when asset bubbles burst, but ultimately, as custodians of the financial system, they have to do exactly that. Their actions are justified by the goal of protecting the economy from the bursting of bubbles; while their intention may be different, the result is the same: speculators, […]
Download Policy Note 2009/2 PDF (100.99 KB) -
Working Paper No. 557
March 19, 2009
Background Considerations to a Regulation of the US Financial System
AbstractUnited States financial regulation has traditionally made functional and institutional regulation roughly equivalent. However, the gradual shift away from Glass-Steagall and the introduction of the Financial Modernization Act (FMA) generated a disorderly mix of functions and products across institutions, creating regulatory gaps that contributed to the recent crisis. An analysis of this history suggests that […]
Download Working Paper No. 557 PDF (247.19 KB) -
Public Policy Brief No. 99
March 09, 2009
The Return of Big Government: Policy Advice for President Obama
AbstractIn the current global financial crisis, economists and policymakers have reembraced Big Government as a means of preventing the reoccurrence of a debt-deflation depression. The danger, however, is that policy may not downsize finance and replace money manager capitalism. According to Senior Scholar L. Randall Wray, we need a permanently larger fiscal presence, with more […]
Download Public Policy Brief No. 99, 2009 PDF (169.17 KB) -
Research Project Report
February 19, 2009
What Are the Long-Term Trends in Intergroup Economic Disparities?
AbstractOver the last half century, government policy has had an important hand in alleviating disparities among population subgroups in the United States; for example, special tax treatment for families with children has meant an improvement in the well-being of single mothers, and Medicare and Social Security have been the driving force in improving well-being among […]
Download LIMEW Report, February 2009 PDF (430.00 KB)