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  Working Paper No. 287

  Functional Finance

  The purpose of this paper is threefold. First, the theory of functional finance, as explicated by its originator, Abba Ptachya Lerner, is put forward; second, the reader is introduced to the use, standard in money and banking texts, of T-account balance sheet entries. Although no important conclusions will rest solely on the reader’s ability to […]
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  Working Paper No. 286

  The History of Wage Inequality in America, 1820 to 1970

  In recent decades the United States has experienced a pronounced widening of its wage structure. For the most part, analysis of the recent rise in wage inequality has taken place with the benefits of hindsight—that is, without placing recent changes in the wage structure in historical context. This paper presents such an historical context, by […]
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  Report No. 4

  Report November 1999

  In a Special Report, Distinguished Scholar Wynne Godley argues that the long expansion of the American economy has been propelled by forces that cannot be sustained into the medium term. These forces include a wholly exceptional rise in private expenditure relative to disposable income: at no time during the last 40 years has private expenditure […]
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  Working Paper No. 285

  Computers and the Wage Structure

  A leading explanation for the rapid growth in wage inequality in the United States in the last 20 years, consistent with both human capital and postindustrial theories, is that advanced technology has increased job skill requirements and reduced the demand for less skilled workers. Krueger’s 1993 study showing a wage premium associated with using computers […]
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  Working Paper No. 284

  The Distribution of Wages

  This paper presents a non-parametric procedure to analyze the effects of different factors on observed movements in any distribution. These effects are estimated by applying kernel density methods to weighted samples in order to obtain counterfactual distributions. The advantage of this approach is that it provides a direct means of investigating if these factors have […]
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  Working Paper No. 283

  Financing Long-Term Care

  The nation is ill-prepared to finance the quantum jump in long-term care spending that is on its way as the baby boom ages. By default rather than by design, Medicaid has become the main source of funds for long-term care. But reliance on Medicaid has fostered the institutionalization of the disabled elderly, has given rise […]
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  Working Paper No. 282

  The Economic and Monetary Union

  The euro was adopted as legal tender, albeit in a virtual form, by 11 countries of the European Union on January 1, 1999. The intention was that notes and coins denominated in euros would be introduced and the national currencies phased out during the first six months of that year, and that the euro would […]
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  Policy Notes No. 10

  Social Security Privatization

  Would privatization yield sufficient benefits to support low-income retirees and satisfy all others? Does a focus on private management of assets take attention away from the real issues in the future of Social Security?
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  Working Paper No. 281

  Open Economy Macroeconomics Using Models of Closed Systems

  The following paper presents a series of two-country models, each of which makes up a whole world. The models are all based on a rigorous and watertight system of stock and flow accounts and can be used to generate numerical simulations of the way in which of the whole system evolves through time on various […]
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  Working Paper No. 280

  The Rhetorical Evolution of the Minimum Wage

  The concept of the minimum wage has undergone several rhetorical permutations. Originally conceived as a living wage, which would function as a family wage, it ultimately became a matter of macroeconomic policy, the goals of which were to achieve greater efficiency and in some case economic development. In recent years, the rhetoric has narrowed to […]
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  Working Paper No. 279

  Monetary Policy in an Era of Capital Market Inflation

  The theory of capital market inflation argues that the values of long-term securities markets are determined by a disequilibrium inflow of funds into those markets. The resulting overcapitalization of companies leads to increased fragility of banking and undermines monetary policy and stable relationships between short- and long-term interests rates, such as that postulated by Keynes […]
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  Policy Notes No. 9

  1999 Levy Institute Survey of Small Business

  Modest sales expectations and limited access to bank credit may be curtailing small businesses’ plans for hiring and capital investment.