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Summary No. 2Summary Spring 2001
A special feature by Senior Scholar Edward N. Wolff focuses on the inequality in the distribution of income and wealth—and what can be done about it. Contents: The Rich Get Richer (Special feature by Edward N. Wolff) · Is there a Skills Crisis? · Testing Profit Rate Equalization · The Markets versus the ECB […] -
Summary No. 1
Summary Winter 2000–2001
A special project report by Senior Scholar Joel Perlmann outlines research he has been conducting on immigration, ethnic assimilation, and social mobility in America. Summaries of the sessions held at a related conference on multiraciality also appear in this issue. Contents: Conference on multiraciality and the 2000 Census · Project Report: Ethnicity, Assimilation, and […] -
Public Policy Brief No. 62Is There a Skills Crisis?
Despite seven years of economic growth a large gap exists in the wages earned by workers at the top of the earnings scale and those at the bottom. The leading explanation for this growth in wage inequality continues to be the skills-mismatch theory. This theory in part posits that gains in technology have resulted in […] -
Public Policy Brief Highlight No. 62Is There a Skills Crisis?
Despite seven years of economic growth a large gap exists in the wages earned by workers at the top of the earnings scale and those at the bottom. The leading explanation for this growth in wage inequality continues to be the skills-mismatch theory. This theory in part posits that gains in technology have resulted in […] -
Working Paper No. 319Compensatory Inter Vivos Gifts
Empirical studies of intergenerational transfers usually find that bequests are equally divided among heirs while inter vivos gifts tend to be compensatory. Using the 1992 and 1994 waves of the Health and Retirement Study, we find that only 4 percent of parents who give divide their gifts equally among their children. Estimating probit models using […] -
Working Paper No. 318
Origins of the GATT
Fiftieth-anniversary explanations for the efficacy of the GATT imply that the institution’s longevity is testimony to the free trade principles upon which it is based. In this light, the predominantly American architects of the system figure as free trade visionaries who benevolently imposed postwar institutions of international cooperation on their war-torn allies. This paper takes […] -
Report No. 4
Report December 2000
The Federal Reserve has raised interest rates six times over the past 12 months in an effort to slow economic growth, arguing that the economy is overheated and that the low unemployment rate will lead to inflation as workers in scant supply begin to demand higher salaries. A new Levy Institute Policy Note, summarized in […] -
Public Policy Brief No. 61
Whither the Welfare State?
The idea that saving is the force driving private investment and economic growth has become ever more entrenched in mainstream economic thought as well as in the minds of policymakers and the general public. Even though the empirical evidence that increased household saving will directly stimulate private investment and economic growth is scant, the idea […] -
Public Policy Brief Highlight No. 61
Whither the Welfare State?
The idea that saving is the force driving private investment and economic growth has become ever more entrenched in mainstream economic thought as well as in the minds of policymakers and the general public. Even though the empirical evidence that increased household saving will directly stimulate private investment and economic growth is scant, the idea […] -
Working Paper No. 317
Productivity in Manufacturing and the Length of the Working Day
Data from the manuscript census of manufacturing are used to estimate the effects of the length of the working day on output and wages. We find that the elasticity of output with respect to daily hours worked was positive but less than one—implying diminishing returns to increases in working hours. When the annual number of […] -
Working Paper No. 316
Harrod versus Thirlwall
This paper contrasts the different approaches to export-led growth used by Harrod and Thirlwall. It argues that, unlike Thirlwall’s model, Harrod emphasized the importance of both demand- and supply-sides in his analysis of growth. The fundamental difference between the two authors lies in their differing characterizations of the long run. While both authors assume unemployment, […] -
Conference Proceedings
The Macrodynamics of Inequality in the Industrialized and Developing Countries
Undertaken in conjunction with the University of Texas Inequality Project and supported by the Ford Foundation, this conference afforded participants an opportunity to exchange new ideas and research results on the measurement of inequality, and the relationship between inequality and unemployment, economic growth, and economic development. The conference was held October 28–29, 2000, at the […]