Search

4204 results found

• 

  Strategic Analysis

  Getting Out of the Recession?

  Research Scholar Gennaro Zezza updates the Levy Institute’s previous Strategic Analysis (December 2009) and finds that the 2009 increase in public sector aggregate demand was a result of the fiscal stimulus, without which the recession would have been much deeper. He confirms that strong policy action is required to achieve full employment in the medium […]
• 

  Working Paper No. 589

  Recent Trends in Household Wealth in the United States: Rising Debt and the Middle-Class Squeeze—an Update to 2007

  I find here that the early and mid-aughts (2001 to 2007) witnessed both exploding debt and a consequent “middle-class squeeze.” Median wealth grew briskly in the late 1990s. It grew even faster in the aughts, while the inequality of net worth was up slightly. Indebtedness, which fell substantially during the late 1990s, skyrocketed in the […]
• 

  Working Paper No. 588

  Decomposition of the Black-White Wage Differential in the Physician Market

  This paper proposes a difference-in-differences strategy to decompose the contributions of various types of discrimination to the black-white wage differential. The proposed estimation strategy is implemented using data from the Young Physicians Survey. The results suggest that potential discrimination plays a small role in the racial wage gap among physicians. At most, discrimination lowers the […]
• 

  Working Paper No. 587

  The Global Financial Crisis and the Shift to Shadow Banking

  While most economists agree that the world is facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, there is little agreement as to what caused it. Some have argued that the financial instability we are witnessing is due to irrational exuberance of market participants, fraud, greed, too much regulation, et cetera. However, some Post Keynesian […]
• 

  Holiday from the eurozone would bankrupt Greece

  Friday, February 19, 2010 02:00. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010. From Mr Dimitri B. Papadimitriou Sir, Martin Feldstein (February 17) argues in favour of Greece taking a holiday from the eurozone. While his very thoughtful comment makes sense on the face of it, if implemented I believe it will bankrupt Greece absolutely. Under his […]
• 

  Working Paper No. 586

  Is This the Minsky Moment for Reform of Financial Regulation?

  The current financial crisis has been characterized as a “Minsky” moment, and as such provides the conditions required for a reregulation of the financial system similar to that of the New Deal banking reforms of the 1930s. However, Minsky’s theory was not one that dealt in moments but rather in systemic, structural changes in the […]
• 

  Working Paper No. 585

  Is Reregulation of the Financial System an Oxymoron?

  The extension of the subprime mortgage crisis to a global financial meltdown led to calls for fundamental reregulation of the United States financial system. However, that reregulation has been slow in implementation and the proposals under discussion are far from fundamental. One explanation for this delay is the fact that many of the difficulties stemmed […]
• 

  Working Paper No. 584

  The Global Crisis and the Future of the Dollar: Toward Bretton Woods III?

  This paper investigates the United States dollar’s role as the international currency of choice as a key contributing factor in critical global developments that led to the crisis of 2007–09, and considers the future role of the dollar as the global economy emerges from that crisis. It is argued that the dollar is likely to […]
• 

  Public Policy Brief No. 108

  Why President Obama Should Care About “Care”: An Effective and Equitable Investment Strategy for Job Creation

  In his State of the Union address President Obama acknowledged that “our most urgent task is job creation”—that a move toward full employment will lay the foundation for long-term economic growth and ensure that the federal government creates the necessary conditions for businesses to expand and hire more workers. According to a new study by […]
• 

  Public Policy Brief No. 107

  No Going Back: Why We Cannot Restore Glass-Steagall’s Segregation of Banking and Finance

  The purpose of the 1933 Banking Act—aka Glass-Steagall—was to prevent the exposure of commercial banks to the risks of investment banking and to ensure stability of the financial system. A proposed solution to the current financial crisis is to return to the basic tenets of this New Deal legislation. Senior Scholar Jan Kregel provides an […]
• 

  Report No. 1

  Report January 2010

  After unprecedented efforts by the Federal Reserve and Congress, and the adoption of “big government” policies, the financial system is more stable but the official unemployment level is 10.2 percent—and rising. According to the Institute’s latest Strategic Analysis, the nascent recovery is still very fragile, so a good policymaking strategy will require a clear assessment […]
• 

  Press Release

  Proposed Reforms May Not Reduce Systemic Risks of Large Financial Institutions, New Levy Study Says