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Public Policy Brief No. 4Public Infrastructure Investment: A Bridge to Productivity Growth?
This brief presents contrasting views on the effects of public infrastructure investment on private sector productivity. David Alan Aschauer states that the slower rate of productivity growth since the early 1970s—coupled with an aging population, the declining proportion of workers to the total population, and other demographic factors—poses a dilemma for policymakers interested in strengthening […] -
Working Paper No. 85The Relationship between Public and Private Investment
The relationship between government spending and aggregates such as output, employment, and prices has been the subject of many theoretical and empirical studies. Recently, however, interest has shifted to government spending on the provision of public capital (measured as fixed, nonresidential government capital) and various indicators of economic performance. Hence, government spending is now recognized […] -
Working Paper No. 84
Migration of Talent
In this paper, Rao tackles the reasons behind the increasing number and share of foreign students enrolled in Ph.D. economics programs in the U.S. The conventional argument of comparative advantage in U.S. graduate economics education fails to stand up under closer scrutiny. In addition to not explaining the actual and relative decline of American students […] -
Public Policy Brief No. 3
Community Development Banking
This brief proposes that the establishment of a nationwide system of community development banks (CDBs) would advance the capital development of the economy. The proposal is based on the notion that a critical function of the financial system is not being adequately performed by existing institutions for low-income citizens, inner-city minorities, and entrepreneurs who seek […] -
Public Policy Brief No. 3
Τραπεζικό σύστημα κοινοτικής ανάπτυξης
Το κείμενο προτείνει την εγκαθίδρυση ενός εθνικού συστήματος τραπεζών κοινοτικής ανάπτυξης για την προώθηση της κεφαλαιακής ανάπτυξης της οικονομίας. Η πρόταση βασίζεται στην άποψη ότι η υπάρχουσα χρηματοπιστωτική δομή είναι ιδιαίτερα αδύναμη όσον αφορά την εξυπηρέτηση ατόμων με χαμηλό εισόδημα, μειονότητες σε υποβαθμισμένες περιοχές του κέντρου και της πόλης, και μικρές και νεοσύστατες επιχειρήσεις. Οι […] -
Working Paper No. 83
Community Development Banks
The Clinton/Gore proposal for the creation of a network of 100 community development banks (CDBs) to revitalize communities is bold, and will contribute to the success of the U.S. economy. Banks are essential institutions in any community, and the establishment of a bank is often a prerequisite for the investment process. For this reason, the […] -
Working Paper No. 82
Job Quality and Labor Market Segmentation in the 1980s
The authors examine the effects of employment restructuring in the 1980s on white, black, and Hispanic men and women within a labor market segmentation framework. Cluster analysis is used to determine whether jobs can be grouped into a small number of relatively homogeneous clusters on the basis of differences in job quality. With data centered […] -
Book SeriesFinancial Conditions and Macroeconomic Performance
This collection of papers on financial instability and its impact on macroeconomic performance honors Hyman P. Minsky and his lifelong work. The papers consider the clear and disturbing sequence of events described in Minsky’s definitive analysis: boom, government intervention to prevent debt contraction, new boom that causes progressive buildup of new debt and eventually leaves […] -
Working Paper No. 81
The Impact of Profitability, Financial Fragility, and Competitive Regime Shifts on Investment Demand
Crotty and Goldstein have developed a hybrid post-Keynesian/ neo-Schumpeterian theory of investment demand. In this micro-founded theory of accumulation, the optimal investment decision depends on the level of expected profitability, the degree of competition, and the degree of financial fragility. Its core assumptions are: i)the future is unknowable in principle, ii) physical capital is ii) […] -
Public Policy Brief No. 2
An Economic Assessment: Contained Depression or the Foothills of Recovery?
Robert Barbera and David A. Levy offer contrasting assessments of the United States’ economy during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Barbera suggests that the behavior of the economy was typical for the early part of a recessionary stage in a standard business cycle: policymakers and business leaders, believing the downturn to be temporary, prolong […] -
Working Paper No. 80
Growth and Structural Change in China-US Trade
Since the resumption of China-U.S. trade in 1972, and in particular since the establishment of diplomatic relations in early 1979, trade between the two countries has increased dramatically. By 1990, the United States was China’s third-largest trading partner, accounting for 10.2% of China’s total trade, 12.4% of Chinese imports, and 10.1% of total foreign investment. […] -
Working Paper No. 79
The Investment Decision of the Post Keynesian Firm
In this paper, Crotty and Goldstein undertake the formulation of a model of enterprise investment decision that can provide a microeconomic foundation for the Keynes-Minsky macromodels developed by Delli Gatti & Gallegati, Jarsulic, Semmler and others. The authors address the difficulties inherent in the formulation of an investmes theory in which the future is unknowable, […]