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  Working Paper No. 333

  Toward a Population History of the Second Generation

  Past-present comparisons of second-generation progress are often plagued by vague references to the baseline, the past. This essay seeks to contribute some specificity to the understanding of second generations past for the sake of comparison and as a contribution to historical understanding in its own right. First, it defines the older second-generation groups that make […]
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  Working Paper No. 332

  Contradictions Coming Home to Roost?

  It is widely believed that the current economic slowdown will be mild and temporary in nature, the result of a momentary wobble in the stock market. This paper argues that the slowdown stands to be more deep-seated, owing to contradictions in the existing process of aggregate demand generation. These contradictions are the result of deterioration […]
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  Public Policy Brief No. 64

  Campaign Contributions, Policy Decisions, and Election Outcomes

  Proposals for campaign finance reform are essentially based on the belief that political influence can be bought with financial donations to a candidate’s campaign. But do contributions really influence the decisions of legislators once they are in office? In this brief, Christopher Magee examines the link between campaign donations and legislators’ actions. His results suggest […]
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  Policy Notes No. 6

  Killing Social Security Softly with Faux Kindness

  The President’s commission claims that the Social Security program is “unsustainable” and requires a complete “overhaul.” It also claims that the program is a bad deal for women and minorities. However, any honest accounting of all Social Security benefits finds that the program is a good deal for disadvantaged groups. Social Security will become a […]
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  Report No. 2

  Report June 2001

  At the Annual Hyman P. Minsky Conference, summarized in this issue, participants discussed changes in the financial structure and their impact on the financial market and on policy, the current state of the American economy and the ability of monetary and/or fiscal policy to stem what appears to be a slowdown, and the causes of […]
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  Working Paper No. 331

  Skills, Computerization, and Earnings in the Postwar US Economy

  Using both time-series and pooled cross-section, time-series data for 44 industries in the United States over the period 1947–97, the authors find no evidence to support the idea that the growth of skills or educational attainment had any statistically significant effect on growth of earnings. However, earnings growth is found to be positively related to […]
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  Working Paper No. 330

  Is Wealth Becoming More Polarized in the United States?

  Recent work has documented a rising degree of wealth inequality in the United States between 1983 and 1998. In this paper we look at another dimension of the distribution: polarization. Using techniques developed by Esteban and Ray (1994) and extended by D’Ambrosia (2001), we examine whether a similar pattern exists with regard to trends in […]
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  Working Paper No. 329

  Reporting of Two or More Races in the 1999 American Community Survey

  This study presents data on race, collected at selected sites throughout the country for the 1999 American Community Survey (ACS). In particular, the distribution of the population by race and Hispanic or Latino origin is examined, as are the reporting of multiple races, number of races, and major race combinations and the extent to which […]
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  Working Paper No. 328

  On the “Burden” of German Unification

  This paper investigates the causes of western Germany’s remarkably poor performance since 1992. The paper challenges the view that the poor record of the nineties, particularly the marked deterioration in public finances since unification, might be largely attributable to unification. Instead, the analysis highlights the role of ill-timed and overly ambitious fiscal consolidation in conjunction […]
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  Policy Notes No. 5

  The Backward Art of Tax Cutting

  This policy note examines the case for large tax cuts, focusing on the issues surrounding the purpose and overall size of the needed cut. Although Congress has passed a significant package of tax relief, many have worried that the budget surplus on which it was based will never appear. Thus, some have advocated “triggers” to […]
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  Conference Proceedings

  11th Annual Hyman P. Minsky Conference on Financial Structure

  The 11th annual Minsky conference, held April 26–27, 2001, at the Levy Institute’s research and conference center on the campus of Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, centered on the slowdown in the United States and its implications for world economic growth, options for stabilization policy, and the dynamics of global financial crises. The conference […]
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  Policy Notes No. 4

  Put Your Chips on 35

  According to Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, we live in a time “profoundly different from the typical postwar business cycle.” Our experiences have “defied conventional wisdom” and mark ”veritable shifts in the tectonic plates of technology.” Evidently, the law of supply and demand has been repealed. This is the theme of “Put your chips on […]