Search

4190 results found

• 

  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 […]
• 

  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 […]
• 

  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 […]
• 

  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 […]
• 

  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 […]
• 

  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 […]
• 

  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 […]
• 

  Public Policy Brief Highlight No. 63

  The Future of the Euro

  This brief provides a detailed description of the Stability and Growth Pact, an agreement entered into by the member states of the European Union that has far-reaching implications for the long-run value of the euro, and therefore, on the real economy in terms of output growth and employment. Yet despite the fact that the pact […]
• 

  Working Paper No. 327

  Part-year Operation in 19th Century American Manufacturing

  Using unpublished data contained in samples from the manuscripts of the 1870 and 1880 censuses of manufactures—the earliest comprehensive estimates available—this study examines the extent and correlates of part-year manufacturing during the late 19th century. While the typical manufacturing plant operated full-time, part-year operation was not uncommon; its likelihood of this varied across industries and […]
• 

  Working Paper No. 326

  Making EMU Work

  This paper investigates the lessons learned from Europe’s convergence process of the 1990s. The paper challenges the conventional focus on labour market institutions and “structural rigidities” as the root cause of Europe’s poor employment record. Instead, it is argued that macroeconomic demand management, particularly monetary policy, played the key role. Concentrating on Germany, the analysis […]
• 

  Working Paper No. 325

  Endogenous Money in a Coherent Stock-flow Framework

  A method advocated by Wynne Godley to model monetary macroeconomics, is presented. The method, based on a transactions matrix, essentially makes sure that every flow goes somewhere and comes from somewhere, so that there are no black holes. The method is put to use for several purposes: to illustrate the monetary circuit of credit money; […]
• 

  Working Paper No. 324

  The Causes of Euro Instability

  This paper examines the causes of the general decline in the value of the euro. First, it assesses the various explanations proffered in existing literature, and then it offers a more satisfactory one. The argument prevalent in the literature that the decline in value of the euro is due to “US strength” rather than to […]