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  Public Policy Brief No. 57

  Do Institutions Affect the Wage Structure?

  Union strength is capable of boosting wages for workers at the low end of the income scale. Even when differences in education and industry type are accounted for, workers in right-to-work states have a greater probability of earning close to the minimum wage than workers in states with relatively high union density. The decline of […]
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  Public Policy Brief Highlight No. 58

  A New Approach to Tax-Exempt Bonds

  The current system of tax-exempt bond financing is inefficient and inequitable because a large portion of the federal subsidy provided by the tax exemption does not reach state and local governments and accrues instead to the wealthiest investors. In addition, the current system excludes large institutional investors, both domestic and foreign, with their huge pools […]
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  Public Policy Brief Highlight No. 57

  Do Institutions Affect the Wage Structure?

  Union strength is capable of boosting wages for workers at the low end of the income scale. Even when differences in education and industry type are accounted for, workers in right-to-work states have a greater probability of earning close to the minimum wage than workers in states with relatively high union density. The decline of […]
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  Working Paper No. 293

  Employment Inequalities

  This paper documents the employment disadvantage faced by the less qualified part of the labor force and examines the factors that influence the differing extent of this disadvantage across OECD countries. We argue that employment rates for quartiles of the population ranked by educational qualification provide the best measure of employment disadvantage. We show that […]
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  Working Paper No. 292

  Why Do Political Action Committees Give Money to Candidates?

  This paper examines political action committees’ motivations for giving campaign contributions to candidates for political office. First, the paper estimates the effect of campaign contributions received by candidates on the outcomes of the 1996 elections to the United States House of Representatives. Next, the paper uses a Congressional Quarterly survey of candidates’ policy positions to […]
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  Working Paper No. 291

  The Social Wage, Welfare Policy, and the Phases of Capital Accumulation

  This paper addresses two broad questions. The first one relates to the economic rationale for the existence of the welfare state. To address this question, we review the marginalist arguments and then counterpose a historical and institutional analysis of the rise of the US welfare state. The second question concerns the macroeconomic impacts of welfare […]
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  Working Paper No. 290

  Finance in a Classical and Harrodian Cyclical Growth Model

  This paper is an extension of an earlier working paper (“Finance and the Macroeconomic Process in a Classical Growth and Cycles Model,” Working Paper No. 253). The basic structure of the model remains unchanged in that it is based on a social accounting matrix (SAM) with endogenous money. Investment in circulating capital adds to output […]
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  Book Series

  Modernizing Financial Systems

  Since the 1980s many changes have taken place in the financial system in the United States and to some extent in other countries—uniform capital requirements have been instituted, regulations have been eased, and market share consolidation of firms in the financial services business has been allowed. But more substantive reforms are necessary to avert crises […]
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  Public Policy Brief Highlight No. 56

  Risk Reduction in the New Financial Architecture

  The causes for the instability that has marked the financial system over the past decade lie deep in the economic theory that urges easy and efficient substitution of one piece of paper for another, in the technology-driven tight articulation of receipts and payments, and in the growth of leverage that diminishes the creditworthiness of major […]
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  Public Policy Brief No. 56

  Risk Reduction in the New Financial Architecture

  The causes for the instability that has marked the financial system over the past decade lie deep in the economic theory that urges easy and efficient substitution of one piece of paper for another, in the technology-driven tight articulation of receipts and payments, and in the growth of leverage that diminishes the creditworthiness of major […]
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  Working Paper No. 289

  New Perspectives on the Guaranteed Income

  Renewed interest in a guaranteed income is evident from the number of books that have been published on the topic in the 1990s. This paper compares seven of those books. They are: Arguing for Basic Income: Ethical Foundations for a Radical Reform, edited by Philippe Van Parijs; Real Freedom for All: What (If Anything) Can […]
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  Working Paper No. 288

  Is There a Wage Payoff to Innovative Work Practices?

  During the 1980s, wage inequality increased dramatically and the American economy lost many high wage, low- to medium-skill jobs, which had provided middle class incomes to less skilled workers. Increasingly, less skilled workers seemed restricted to low wage jobs lacking union or other institutional protections. Although “good” jobs for less skilled workers are unlikely to […]