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A grand bargain
In this morning’s Wall Street Journal, Princeton’s Alan Blinder suggests a way to increase fiscal stimulus, deliver aid to those who need it most and avoid increasing federal deficits–all at the same time. Here’s his plan, in his own words: Let the upper-income tax cuts expire on schedule at year end. That would save the [...]
Blog
Are deficits EVER a problem?
Paul Krugman and James K. Galbraith agree that this is a time for fiscal stimulus, not austerity. But they differ on a larger question: do government deficits ever matter? Or is the government so special–by virtue of its ability to create money out of thin air–that its spending can exceed income forever, by any amount? In [...]
Blog
School matters (and so does school spending)
The Harlem Children’s Zone is an organization bent on addressing all the problems of poor families in its Manhattan catchment area. The project involves many government and nonprofit programs and services that aim to improve the environment for disadvantaged kids outside of school. Established in 1997, it also includes a network of charter schools called, [...]
Blog
A good mood based on a bad policy
The sudden turn in the mood in Europe regarding the prospects of the global economy needs commenting. In this context, most European governments announced drastic cuts in government expenses in an effort to avoid following Greece to the precipice of default. It coincides with the outcome of the G20 deliberations a few days ago that [...]
Blog
We’ve had the tragedy. Is this the farce?
The Wall Street Journal reports on signs that risky lending is once again on the upswing. For example: Credit-card issuers mailed 84.8 million offers of plastic to U.S. subprime borrowers in the first six months of this year, up from 43.7 million a year earlier, estimates research firm Synovate. Nearly 8% of loans for new [...]
Blog
A Greek glimmer
A Wall Street Journal “Heard on the Street” item plays up the early good news from Greece’s austerity program: In the first half, Greece’s budget deficit came in at €9.6 billion, down 46% from the same period of 2009, the Finance Ministry said this week. Revenues rose 7.2%, while spending fell by 12.8%. Revenue growth [...]
Policy Notes No. 1
Economic Policy for the Real World
The nation’s economic challenges are daunting. Restoring robust American prosperity and widespread economic opportunity will not be easy. But, as Hyman Minsky stressed, “Economic systems are not natural systems…. Policy can change both the details and the overall character of the economy.” It’s clear that what we are now facing is not simply a cyclical […]
Conference Proceedings
19th Annual Hyman P. Minsky Conference on the State of the US and World Economies
A conference organized by the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College with support from the . On April 14–16, more than 200 policymakers, economists, and analysts from government, industry, and academia gathered at the NYC headquarters of the Ford Foundation for the Levy Institute’s annual Minsky conference on the state of the US and world economies. […]
Press Release
Government Response to Financial Crisis Prevented Second Great Depression, but Recovery Faces Extreme Limitations, New Study from Levy Economics Institute Says
Blog
Better treatment for R&D?
A post in the Wall Street Journal’s Real Time Economics blog notes that counting research and development as investment rather than as an expense would have increased gross domestic product by 2.7 percent between 1998 and 2007 (they refer to new numbers from the BEA). If this were standard national accounting practice, then measured GDP would [...]
Blog
How did Greece get into this mess?
People often say that the problem in Greece is profligacy. Greece, the story goes, is a nation living beyond its means. Reading the press, in fact, one gets the impression that Greeks must enjoy one of the highest standards of living in Europe while making the frugal Germans pick up the tab. In reality, Greece [...]
Working Paper No. 605
Detecting Ponzi Finance
Different frameworks of analysis lead to different conceptions of financial instability and financial fragility. On one side, the static approach conceptualizes financial instability as an unfortunate byproduct of capitalism that results from unpredictable random forces that no one can do anything about except prepare for through adequate loss reserves, capital, and liquidation buffers. On the […]