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1681 publications found

  • Public Policy Brief No. 59 February 03, 2000

    Financing Long-Term Care

    Walter M. Cadette
    Abstract

    The nation is not prepared to deal with the jump in expenditures for long-term care that will come with the aging of the baby-boom generation. Only a small part of that care is paid for privately (out-of-pocket or through private insurance). Most is financed through Medicaid, the program that is intended to ensure medical care […]

    Download Public Policy Brief No. 59, 2000 PDF (141.21 KB)
  • Working Paper No. 295 February 01, 2000

    Is There a Skills Crisis?

    Michael J. Handel
    Abstract

    Many economists and other social scientists and policy makers believe that the growth in inequality in the last two decades reflects mostly an imbalance between the demand for and the supply of employee skills driven by technological change, particularly the spread of computers. However, the empirical basis for this belief is not strong. The growth […]

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  • Working Paper No. 294 February 01, 2000

    The Brazilian Crisis

    Jan Kregel
    Abstract

    This paper argues that the Brazilian crisis differs from the standard Minsky crisis in that it is Brazil’s government that is engaging in Ponzi financing while private sector balance sheets are relatively robust. However, attempts to stabilize the economy through high interest rates and expenditure cuts may quickly produce private sector fragility. This is the […]

    Download Working Paper No. 294 PDF (36.33 KB)
  • Policy Notes No. 1 January 01, 2000

    Explaining the US Trade Deficit

    Anwar M. Shaikh
    Abstract

    Conventional theory makes the curious assumption that, in international trade, movements in the real exchange rate negate cost differences so as to make all countries equally competitive. But quite the contrary, it is absolute cost advantages that determine competition between countries, just as they determine the relative price of two sets of goods within one […]

    Download Policy Note 2000/1 PDF (93.38 KB)
  • Strategic Analysis January 01, 2000

    Interim Report

    Wynne Godley
    Abstract

    If the United States’ balance of trade does not improve, the country could eventually find itself in a “debt trap,” the author says. The aim of this paper, the second in a series offering Godley’s strategic analysis, is to display what seems reasonably likely to happen if world output recovers but otherwise past trends, policies, […]

    Download Strategic Analysis, January 2000 PDF (346.89 KB)
  • Public Policy Brief No. 58 December 10, 1999

    A New Approach to Tax-Exempt Bonds

    Edward V. Regan
    Abstract

    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 […]

    Download Public Policy Brief No. 58, 1999 PDF (137.88 KB)
  • Public Policy Brief No. 57 December 09, 1999

    Do Institutions Affect the Wage Structure?

    Oren Levin-Waldman
    Abstract

    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 […]

    Download Public Policy Brief No. 57, 1999 PDF (140.34 KB)
  • Working Paper No. 293 December 01, 1999

    Employment Inequalities

    Andrew Glyn, and Wiemer Salverda
    Abstract

    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 December 01, 1999

    Why Do Political Action Committees Give Money to Candidates?

    Christopher Magee
    Abstract

    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 December 01, 1999

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

    Jamee K. Moudud, and Ajit Zacharias
    Abstract

    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 […]

    Download Working Paper No. 291 PDF (401.78 KB)
  • Working Paper No. 290 December 01, 1999

    Finance in a Classical and Harrodian Cyclical Growth Model

    Jamee K. Moudud
    Abstract

    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 […]

    Download Working Paper No. 290 PDF (362.51 KB)
  • Book Series December 01, 1999

    Modernizing Financial Systems

    Dimitri B. Papadimitriou
    Abstract

    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 […]

  • Public Policy Brief No. 56 November 02, 1999

    Risk Reduction in the New Financial Architecture

    Martin Mayer
    Abstract

    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 […]

    Download Public Policy Brief No. 56, 1999 PDF (183.57 KB)
  • Working Paper No. 289 November 01, 1999

    New Perspectives on the Guaranteed Income

    Karl Widerquist
    Abstract

    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 […]

    Download Working Paper No. 289 PDF (42.58 KB)
  • Working Paper No. 288 November 01, 1999

    Is There a Wage Payoff to Innovative Work Practices?

    Maury Gittleman
    Abstract

    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 […]

    Download Working Paper No. 288 PDF (54.47 KB)
  • Working Paper No. 287 November 01, 1999

    Functional Finance

    Stephanie A. Kelton
    Abstract

    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 […]

    Download Working Paper No. 287 PDF (412.74 KB)
  • Working Paper No. 286 November 01, 1999

    The History of Wage Inequality in America, 1820 to 1970

    Robert A. Margo
    Abstract

    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 […]

    Download Working Paper No. 286 PDF (230.78 KB)
  • Working Paper No. 282 October 01, 1999

    The Economic and Monetary Union

    Philip Arestis, and Malcolm Sawyer
    Abstract

    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 […]

    Download Working Paper No. 282 PDF (78.87 KB)
  • Policy Notes No. 10 October 01, 1999

    Social Security Privatization

    Walter M. Cadette
    Abstract

    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?

    Download Policy Note 1999/10 PDF (60.06 KB)
  • Working Paper No. 285 October 01, 1999

    Computers and the Wage Structure

    Michael J. Handel
    Abstract

    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 […]

    Download Working Paper No. 285 PDF (79.25 KB)
  • Working Paper No. 284 October 01, 1999

    The Distribution of Wages

    Conchita D’Ambrosio
    Abstract

    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 […]

    Download Working Paper No. 284 PDF (2.39 MB)
  • Working Paper No. 283 October 01, 1999

    Financing Long-Term Care

    Walter M. Cadette
    Abstract

    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 […]

    Download Working Paper No. 283 PDF (206.20 KB)
  • Working Paper No. 281 September 01, 1999

    Open Economy Macroeconomics Using Models of Closed Systems

    Wynne Godley
    Abstract

    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 […]

    Download Working Paper No. 281 PDF (127.76 KB)
  • Working Paper No. 280 September 01, 1999

    The Rhetorical Evolution of the Minimum Wage

    Oren Levin-Waldman
    Abstract

    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 […]

    Download Working Paper No. 280 PDF (52.21 KB)

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Blithewood
Bard College
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504-5000
845-758-7700
The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, founded in 1986 through the generous support of Bard College trustee Leon Levy, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, public policy research organization. The Levy Institute is independent of any political or other affiliation, and encourages diversity of opinion in the examination of economic policy issues while striving to transform ideological arguments into informed debate.