Publications
Filter by
1681 publications found
-
Working Paper No. 670
May 18, 2011
The Product Space
AbstractIn this paper we look at the economic development of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in the context of structural transformation. We use Hidalgo et al.’s (2007) concept of product space to show the evolution of the region’s productive structure, and discuss the opportunities for growth and diversification. The majority of SSA countries are trapped in the export of unsophisticated, […]
Download Working Paper No. 670 PDF (4.04 MB) -
One-Pager No. 9
May 17, 2011
Did Problems with SSDI Cause the Output-Jobs Disconnect?
AbstractThe slow recovery of the job market after the recessions of 2001 and 2007–09 has fostered concerns that the link between output growth and job creation has been severed. Between 2000 and 2010, the employment rate for males plunged from 71.9 to 63.7 percent—a decline that can be accounted for almost entirely by a fall […]
Download One-Pager No. 9 PDF (307.59 KB) -
Working Paper No. 669
May 17, 2011
Race, Power, and the Subprime/Foreclosure Crisis
AbstractEconomists’ principal explanations of the subprime crisis differ from those developed by noneconomists in that the latter see it as rooted in the US legacy of racial/ethnic inequality, and especially in racial residential segregation, whereas the former ignore race. This paper traces this disjuncture to two sources. What is missing in the social science view […]
Download Working Paper No. 669 PDF (1.72 MB) -
Policy Notes No. 4
May 12, 2011
Was Keynes’s Monetary Policy, Ã Outrance in the Treatise, a Forerunnner of ZIRP and QE? Did He Change His Mind in the General Theory?
AbstractAt the end of 1930, as the 1929 US stock market crash was starting to have an impact on the real economy in the form of falling commodity prices, falling output, and rising unemployment, John Maynard Keynes, in the concluding chapters of his Treatise on Money, launched a challenge to monetary authorities to take “deliberate […]
Download Policy Note 2011/4 PDF (354.38 KB) -
Policy Notes No. 4
May 12, 2011
Μια ανάλυση της εξέλιξης των απόψεων του Κέινς για τη νομισματική πολιτική—από τη «Πραγματεία για το Χρήμα» στη «Γενική Θεωρία»
AbstractΠρος το τέλος του 1930, καθώς το κραχ του Χρηματιστηρίου της Νέας Υόρκης το 1929 είχε αρχίσει να έχει αντίκτυπο στην πραγματική οικονομία των ΗΠΑ πτώση στις τιμές των εμπορευμάτων, μείωση της παραγωγής και αύξηση της ανεργίας ο Τζον Μέιναρντ Κέινς, στα τελευταία κεφάλαια του βιβλίου του «Η Πραγματεία για το Χρήμα» προκαλούσε τις νομισματικές […]
Download Σημειωματα Πολιτικής 2011/4 PDF (1.30 MB) -
Policy Notes No. 3
May 12, 2011
A Modest Proposal for Overcoming the Euro Crisis
AbstractThis “Modest Proposal” by authors Varoufakis and Holland outlines a three-pronged, comprehensive solution to the eurozone crisis that simultaneously addresses the three main dimensions of the current crisis in the eurozone (sovereign debt, banking, and underinvestment), restructures both a share of sovereign debt and that of banks, and does not involve a fiscal transfer of […]
Download Policy Note 2011/3 PDF (445.87 KB) -
Policy Notes No. 2
May 04, 2011
Is the Federal Debt Unsustainable?
AbstractBy general agreement, the federal budget is on an “unsustainable path.” Try typing the phrase into Google News: 19 of the first 20 hits refer to the federal debt. But what does this actually mean? One suspects that some who use the phrase are guided by vague fears, or even that they don’t quite know […]
Download Policy Note 2011/2 PDF (784.34 KB) -
Working Paper No. 668
May 02, 2011
The Freedom Budget at 45
AbstractForty-five years ago, the A. Philip Randolph Institute issued “The Freedom Budget,” in which a program for economic transformation was proposed that included a job guarantee for everyone ready and willing to work, a guaranteed income for those unable to work or those who should not be working, and a living wage to lift the […]
Download Working Paper No. 668 PDF (270.30 KB) -
Working Paper No. 667
April 20, 2011
The Levy Institute Measure of Economic Well-Being, Great Britain, 1995 and 2005
AbstractWe construct estimates of the Levy Institute Measure of Economic Well-Being for Great Britain for the years 1995 and 2005. We also produce estimates of the official British measures HBAI (from the Department for Work and Pensions annual report titled “Households below Average Income”) and ROI (from the Office of National Statistics Redistribution of Income […]
Download Working Paper No. 667 PDF (1.01 MB) -
Working Paper No. 666
April 20, 2011
Hegemonic Currencies during the Crisis
AbstractThis paper suggests that the dollar is not threatened as the hegemonic international currency, and that most analysts are incapable of understanding the resilience of the dollar, not only because they ignore the theories of monetary hegemonic stability or what, more recently, has been termed the geography of money; but also as a result of […]
Download Working Paper No. 666 PDF (268.03 KB) -
Research Project Report
April 12, 2011
Minsky on the Reregulation and Restructuring of the Financial System
AbstractThis monograph is part of the Institute’s ongoing research program on Financial Instability and the Reregulation of Financial Institutions and Markets, funded by the Ford Foundation. This program’s purpose is to investigate the causes and development of the recent financial crisis from the point of view of the late financial economist and Levy Distinguished Scholar […]
Download Research Project Report, April 12, 2011 PDF (3.24 MB) -
Public Policy Brief No. 118
April 11, 2011
Will the Recovery Continue?
AbstractIn this brief, Research Scholar Greg Hannsgen and President Dimitri B. Papadimitriou focus on the risks and possibilities ahead for the US economy. Using a Keynesian approach and drawing from the commentary of other observers, they analyze publicly available data in order to assess the strength and durability of the expansion that probably began in […]
Download Public Policy Brief No. 118, 2011 PDF (1.40 MB) -
Public Policy Brief No. 117
April 05, 2011
It’s Time to Rein In the Fed
AbstractScott Fullwiler and Senior Scholar L. Randall Wray review the roles of the Federal Reserve and the Treasury in the context of quantitative easing, and find that the financial crisis has highlighted the limited oversight of Congress and the limited transparency of the Fed. And since a Fed promise is ultimately a Treasury promise that […]
Download Public Policy Brief No. 117, 2011 PDF (1.19 MB) -
Working Paper No. 665
April 04, 2011
Causes of Financial Instability
AbstractGiven the economy’s complex behavior and sudden transitions as evidenced in the 2007–08 crisis, agent-based models are widely considered a promising alternative to current macroeconomic practice dominated by DSGE models. Their failure is commonly interpreted as a failure to incorporate heterogeneous interacting agents. This paper explains that complex behavior and sudden transitions also arise from […]
Download Working Paper No. 665 PDF (393.16 KB) -
Working Paper No. 664
March 31, 2011
Can Portugal Escape Stagnation without Opting Out from the Eurozone?
AbstractThe creation of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) has not brought significant gains to the Portuguese economy in terms of real convergence with wealthier eurozone countries. We analyze the causes of the underperformance of the Portuguese economy in the last decade, discuss its growth prospects within the EMU, and make two proposals for urgent […]
Download Working Paper No. 664 PDF (605.67 KB) -
Working Paper No. 663
March 29, 2011
Quality of Match for Statistical Matches Used in the 1995 and 2005 LIMEW Estimates for Great Britain
AbstractThe quality of match of four statistical matches used in the LIMEW estimates for Great Britain for 1995 and 2005 is described. The first match combines the fifth (1995) wave of the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) with the 1995–96 Family Resources Survey (FRS). The second match combines the 1995 time-use module of the Office […]
Download Working Paper No. 663 PDF (329.99 KB) -
Working Paper No. 662
March 28, 2011
The Financial Crisis Viewed from the Perspective of the “Social Costs” Theory
AbstractThis paper examines the causes and consequences of the current global financial crisis. It largely relies on the work of Hyman Minsky, although analyses by John Kenneth Galbraith and Thorstein Veblen of the causes of the 1930s collapse are used to show similarities between the two crises. K.W. Kapp’s “social costs” theory is contrasted with […]
Download Working Paper No. 662 PDF (169.71 KB) -
Working Paper No. 661
March 26, 2011
Minsky’s Money Manager Capitalism and the Global Financial Crisis
AbstractThe world’s worst economic crisis since the 1930s is now well into its third year. All sorts of explanations have been proffered for the causes of the crisis, from lax regulation and oversight to excessive global liquidity. Unfortunately, these narratives do not take into account the systemic nature of the global crisis. This is why […]
Download Working Paper No. 661 PDF (149.04 KB) -
Working Paper No. 660
March 21, 2011
Financial Markets
AbstractThis paper provides a brief exposition of financial markets in Post Keynesian economics. Inspired by John Maynard Keynes’s path-breaking insights into the role of liquidity and finance in “monetary production economies,” Post Keynesian economics offers a refreshing alternative to mainstream (mis)conceptions in this area. We highlight the importance of liquidity—as provided by the financial system—to […]
Download Working Paper No. 660 PDF (149.00 KB) -
Working Paper No. 659
March 16, 2011
Minsky Crisis
AbstractStability is destabilizing. These three words concisely capture the insight that underlies Hyman Minsky’s analysis of the economy’s transformation over the entire postwar period. The basic thesis is that the dynamic forces of a capitalist economy are explosive and must be contained by institutional ceilings and floors. However, to the extent that these constraints achieve […]
Download Working Paper No. 659 PDF (177.86 KB) -
Working Paper No. 658
March 15, 2011
Keynes after 75 Years
AbstractIn this paper I first provide an overview of alternative approaches to money, contrasting the orthodox approach, in which money is neutral, at least in the long run; and the Marx-Veblen-Keynes approach, or the monetary theory of production. I then focus in more detail on two main categories: the orthodox approach that views money as […]
Download Working Paper No. 658 PDF (203.19 KB) -
Working Paper No. 657
March 12, 2011
What Does Norway Get Out Of Its Oil Fund, if Not More Strategic Infrastructure Investment?
AbstractFor the past generation Norway has supplied Europe and other regions with oil, taking payment in euros or dollars. It then sends nearly all this foreign exchange abroad, sequestering its oil-export receipts—which are in foreign currency—in the “oil fund,” to invest mainly in European and US stocks and bonds. The fund now exceeds $500 billion, […]
Download Working Paper No. 657 PDF (273.70 KB) -
Strategic Analysis
March 10, 2011
Jobless Recovery Is No Recovery: Prospects for the US Economy
AbstractThe US economy grew reasonably fast during the last quarter of 2010, and the general expectation is that satisfactory growth will continue in 2011–12. The expansion may, indeed, continue into 2013. But with large deficits in both the government and foreign sectors, satisfactory growth in the medium term cannot be achieved without a major, sustained […]
Download Strategic Analysis, March 2011 PDF (2.96 MB) -
Working Paper No. 656
March 05, 2011
Money in Finance
AbstractThis paper begins by defining, and distinguishing between, money and finance, and addresses alternative ways of financing spending. We next examine the role played by financial institutions (e.g., banks) in the provision of finance. The role of government as both regulator of private institutions and provider of finance is also discussed, and related topics such […]
Download Working Paper No. 656 PDF (169.85 KB)