Search

4190 results found

• 

  Working Paper No. 237

  Speed of Technical Progress and Length of the Average Interjob Period

  The mean duration of unemployment approximately doubled in the United States between the early 1950s and the mid-1990s, with most of the increase occurring since the early 1970s. Using a simple model linking the average duration of unemployment with the speed of technical change, and aggregate time-series data, the authors find strong evidence that both […]
• 

  Working Paper No. 236

  An Important Inconsistency at the Heart of the Standard Macroeconomic Model

  The standard neoclassical model is the foundation of most mainstream macroeconomics. Its basic structure dominates the analyis of macroeconomic phenomena, the teaching of the subject, and even the formation of economic policy. And, of course, the modern quantity theory of money and its attendant monetarist prescriptions are grounded in the model’s strict separation between real […]
• 

  Working Paper No. 235

  East Asia Is Not Mexico

  What was different about the collapse of the Asian emerging markets in 1997? The free fall of the Mexican peso and the collapse of the Mexican Bolsa produced a “Tequila effect” that spread through most of South America. But it did not create a sell-off in the global financial markets similar to that which occurred […]
• 

  Public Policy Brief No. 39

  The Unmeasured Labor Force

  Is the current labor market as tight as official statistics would seem to indicate? If incumbent workers increase their hours of work, it is irrelevant to the unemployment rate, but hardly irrelevant to the level of labor supply. The authors of this brief find that job insecurity and stagnating wages have made Americans willing to […]
• 

  Policy Notes No. 5

  The Fed Should Lower Interest Rates More

  Some analysts have argued against monetary ease, fearing that it might fuel a speculative boom. Alas, given the recent substantial “market correction,” this objection may safely be put away.
• 

  Report No. 2

  Report May 1998

  Alice M. Rivlin, vice chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and other participants at the Levy Institute’s annual Minsky conference on financial structure discuss the causes and worldwide effects of the Asian crisis and policies to prevent similar crises in the future. Contents: Editorial Can We Grow Faster? (Stephanie Bell […]
• 

  Working Paper No. 234

  Yes, “It” Did Happen Again

  The title of Visiting Senior Scholar Jan Kregel’s working paper is a reference to Hyman P. Minsky’s book Can “It” Happen Again? The Minskian “it” is the debt deflation scenario that led to the Great Depression, and Kregel makes the case that the recent Asian crisis is just such a scenario. Minsky defined three types […]
• 

  Working Paper No. 233

  Public Capital and Economic Growth

  Empirical research largely suggests that there is a positive role for public capital and a negative role for taxation and debt, and the effectiveness of public capital depends critically on its efficiency. Research Associate David Alan Aschauer develops a common framework to investigate the importance of three aspects of public capital: how much you have, […]
• 

  Working Paper No. 232

  The Asian Disease

  The Asian crisis is a textbook case of the “financial instability hypothesis” first expressed in 1966 by the late Hyman P. Minsky. Minsky’s “hypothesis” was proposed to explain instability in a large, insulated, developed economy. Despite its intuitive appeal, it was not widely accepted among financial economists (Charles Kindleberger being a notable exception) because, they […]
• 

  Working Paper No. 231

  The Hierarchy of Money

  This paper attempts to bring together several of Hyman P. Minsky’s insights in order to suggest a relationship between the state’s ability to tax and the money of the economy. Minsky recognized that money represents an IOU or promise to pay and that “acceptability” is its important feature. He further recognized that the State can […]
• 

  Policy Notes No. 4

  Small Business and the New Welfare

  To what extent have small businesses hired former welfare recipients and what might induce them to hire more? The Levy Institute conducts a national survey of small firms in many industries to find out.
• 

  Press Release

  Levy Bulletin on Asian Financial Crisis Cites Need for IMF Funding and Importance of International Trade in Restoring Financial Stability