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1681 publications found

  • Working Paper No. 586 February 18, 2010

    Is This the Minsky Moment for Reform of Financial Regulation?

    Jan Kregel
    Abstract

    The current financial crisis has been characterized as a “Minsky” moment, and as such provides the conditions required for a reregulation of the financial system similar to that of the New Deal banking reforms of the 1930s. However, Minsky’s theory was not one that dealt in moments but rather in systemic, structural changes in the […]

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  • Working Paper No. 585 February 12, 2010

    Is Reregulation of the Financial System an Oxymoron?

    Jan Kregel
    Abstract

    The extension of the subprime mortgage crisis to a global financial meltdown led to calls for fundamental reregulation of the United States financial system. However, that reregulation has been slow in implementation and the proposals under discussion are far from fundamental. One explanation for this delay is the fact that many of the difficulties stemmed […]

    Download Working Paper No. 585 PDF (131.02 KB)
  • Working Paper No. 584 February 03, 2010

    The Global Crisis and the Future of the Dollar: Toward Bretton Woods III?

    Jörg Bibow
    Abstract

    This paper investigates the United States dollar’s role as the international currency of choice as a key contributing factor in critical global developments that led to the crisis of 2007–09, and considers the future role of the dollar as the global economy emerges from that crisis. It is argued that the dollar is likely to […]

    Download Working Paper No. 584 PDF (598.75 KB)
  • Public Policy Brief No. 108 February 01, 2010

    Why President Obama Should Care About “Care”: An Effective and Equitable Investment Strategy for Job Creation

    Rania Antonopoulos, Ajit Zacharias, Thomas Masterson, and Kijong Kim
    Abstract

    In his State of the Union address President Obama acknowledged that “our most urgent task is job creation”—that a move toward full employment will lay the foundation for long-term economic growth and ensure that the federal government creates the necessary conditions for businesses to expand and hire more workers. According to a new study by […]

    Download Public Policy Brief No. 108, 2010 PDF (647.98 KB)
  • Public Policy Brief No. 107 January 22, 2010

    No Going Back: Why We Cannot Restore Glass-Steagall’s Segregation of Banking and Finance

    Jan Kregel
    Abstract

    The purpose of the 1933 Banking Act—aka Glass-Steagall—was to prevent the exposure of commercial banks to the risks of investment banking and to ensure stability of the financial system. A proposed solution to the current financial crisis is to return to the basic tenets of this New Deal legislation. Senior Scholar Jan Kregel provides an […]

    Download Public Policy Brief No. 107, 2010 PDF (215.03 KB)
  • Book Series January 05, 2010

    Unpaid Work and the Economy

    Rania Antonopoulos, and Indira Hirway
    Abstract

    This volume offers both theoretical and policy-oriented examinations of the value of unpaid work, usually unacknowledged but increasingly recognized as an organic component of the economy. Particularly in developing countries, much of the provisioning of basic needs occurs beyond the boundaries of market transactions. This book reveals a need to incorporate unpaid work in economic […]

  • Policy Notes No. 11 December 22, 2009

    Observations on the Problem of “Too Big to Fail/Save/Resolve”

    Jan Kregel
    Abstract

    Past experience suggests that multifunctional banking is the leading source of financial crisis, while large bank size contributes to contagion and systemic risk. This indicates that resolving large banks will not solve the problems associated with multifunctional banking—a conclusion reached after every financial crisis, and one that should apply to the present crisis as well. […]

    Download Policy Note 2009/11 PDF (100.24 KB)
  • Strategic Analysis December 03, 2009

    Sustaining Recovery: Medium-term Prospects and Policies for the US Economy

    Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, and Gennaro Zezza
    Abstract

    Though recent market activity and housing reports give some warrant for optimism, United States economic growth was only 2.8 percent in the third quarter, and the unemployment rate is still very high. In their new Strategic Analysis, the Levy Institute’s Macro-Modeling Team project that high unemployment will continue to be a problem if fiscal stimulus […]

    Download Strategic Analysis, December 2009 PDF (2.30 MB)
  • Public Policy Brief No. 106 November 17, 2009

    Can Euroland Survive?

    Stephanie A. Kelton, and L. Randall Wray
    Abstract

    Social unrest across Europe is growing as Euroland’s economy collapses faster than the United States’, the result of falling exports and a weaker fiscal response. The controversial title of this brief is based on a belief that the nature of the euro itself limits Euroland’s fiscal policy space. The nations that have adopted the euro […]

    Download Public Policy Brief No. 106, 2009 PDF (1.07 MB)
  • Research Project Report November 16, 2009

    Has Progress Been Made in Alleviating Racial Economic Inequality?

    Edward N. Wolff, Ajit Zacharias, and Thomas Masterson
    Abstract

    Reports of a postracial society may be premature. Studies continue to show wide racial gaps in income and, especially, wealth; although there is some evidence that income gaps have shrunk over the past half century, wealth inequality is large and persistent. In this report, the authors examine trends in economic well-being between 1959 and 2007 […]

    Download LIMEW Report, November 2009 PDF (223.92 KB)
  • Working Paper No. 583 November 08, 2009

    The Euro and Its Guardian of Stability

    Jörg Bibow
    Abstract

    This paper investigates why Europe fared particularly poorly in the global economic crisis that began in August 2007. It questions the self-portrait of Europe as the victim of external shocks, pushed off track by reckless policies pursued elsewhere. It argues instead that Europe had not only contributed handsomely to the buildup of global imbalances since […]

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  • Working Paper No. 582 November 04, 2009

    Minsky Moments, Russell Chickens, and Gray Swans

    Alessandro Vercelli
    Abstract

    The recent revival of Hyman P. Minsky’s ideas among policymakers, economists, bankers, financial institutions, and the mass media, synchronized with the increasing gravity of the subprime financial crisis, demands a reappraisal of the meaning and scope of the “financial instability hypothesis” (FIH). We argue that we need a broader approach than that conventionally pursued, in […]

    Download Working Paper No. 582 PDF (314.47 KB)
  • Public Policy Brief No. 105 October 28, 2009

    It Isn’t Working: Time for More Radical Policies

    L. Randall Wray
    Abstract

    The Obama administration has implemented several policies to “jump-start” the American economy—efforts that have largely focused on preserving the financial interests of major banks. The authors of this new policy brief believe that maintaining the status quo is not the solution, since it overlooks the debt problems of households and nonfinancial businesses—and re-creating the financial […]

    Download Public Policy Brief No. 105, 2009 PDF (485.78 KB)
  • Policy Notes No. 10 October 15, 2009

    Fiscal Stimulus, Job Creation, and the Economy

    Dimitri B. Papadimitriou
    Abstract

    As the nation watches the impact of the recent stimulus bill on job creation and economic growth, a group of academics continues to dispute the notion that the fiscal and job creation programs of the New Deal helped end the Depression. The work of these revisionist scholars has led to a public discourse that has […]

    Download Policy Note 2009/10 PDF (179.12 KB)
  • Working Paper No. 581 October 14, 2009

    Lessons from the New Deal

    Dimitri B. Papadimitriou
    Abstract

    Since the current recession began in December 2007, New Deal legislation and its effectiveness have been at the center of a lively debate in Washington. This paper emphasizes some key facts about two kinds of policy that were important during the Great Depression and have since become the focus of criticism by new New Deal […]

    Download Working Paper No. 581 PDF (158.94 KB)
  • Working Paper No. 580 October 13, 2009

    An Alternative View of Finance, Saving, Deficits, and Liquidity

    L. Randall Wray
    Abstract

    This paper contrasts the orthodox approach with an alternative view on finance, saving, deficits, and liquidity. The conventional view on the cause of the current global financial crisis points first to excessive United States trade deficits that are supposed to have “soaked up” global savings. Worse, this policy was ultimately unsustainable because it was inevitable […]

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  • Working Paper No. 579 October 12, 2009

    A Perspective on Minsky Moments

    Alessandro Vercelli
    Abstract

    This paper aims to help bridge the gap between theory and fact regarding the so-called “Minsky moments” by revisiting the “financial instability hypothesis” (FIH). We limit the analysis to the core of FIH—that is, to its strictly financial part. Our contribution builds on a reexamination of Minsky’s contributions in light of the subprime financial crisis. […]

    Download Working Paper No. 579 PDF (270.16 KB)
  • Policy Notes No. 9 October 05, 2009

    Banks Running Wild: The Subversion of Insurance by “Life Settlements” and Credit Default Swaps

    L. Randall Wray, and Marshall Auerback
    Abstract

    Oblivious to any lessons that might have been learned from the global financial mess it has created, Wall Street is looking for the next asset bubble. Perhaps in the market for death it has found a replacement for the collapsed markets in subprime mortgage–backed securities and credit default swaps (CDSs). Instead of making bets on […]

    Download Policy Note 2009/9 PDF (96.55 KB)
  • Working Paper No. 578 September 24, 2009

    Money Manager Capitalism and the Global Financial Crisis

    L. Randall Wray
    Abstract

    This paper applies Hyman Minsky’s approach to provide an analysis of the causes of the global financial crisis. Rather than finding the origins in recent developments, this paper links the crisis to the long-term transformation of the economy from a robust financial structure in the 1950s to the fragile one that existed at the beginning […]

    Download Working Paper No. 578 PDF (171.99 KB)
  • Working Paper No. 577 September 21, 2009

    Explaining the Gender Wage Gap in Georgia

    Tamar Khitarishvili
    Abstract

    This paper evaluates gender wage differentials in Georgia between 2000 and 2004. Using ordinary least squares, we find that the gender wage gap in Georgia is substantially higher than in other transition countries. Correcting for sample selection bias using the Heckman approach further increases the gender wage gap. The Blinder Oaxaca decomposition results suggest that […]

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  • Working Paper No. 576 September 09, 2009

    A Financial Sector Balance Approach and the Cyclical Dynamics of the US Economy

    Paolo Casadio, and Antonio Paradiso
    Abstract

    This paper investigates the relationship between asset markets and business cycles with regard to the US economy. We consider the Goldman Sachs approach (2003) developed to study the dynamics of financial balances. By means of a small econometric model we find that asset market dynamics are fundamental to determining the long-run financial sector balance dynamics. […]

    Download Working Paper No. 576 PDF (644.03 KB)
  • Working Paper No. 575 August 30, 2009

    Market Failure and Land Concentration

    Fatma Gül Unal
    Abstract

    Utilizing a 2002 household-level World Bank Survey for rural Turkey, this paper explores the link between concentration of land ownership and rural factor markets. We construct a unique index that measures market malfunctioning based on the neoclassical model linking land and labor endowments through factor markets to household income. We further test whether land ownership […]

    Download Working Paper No. 575 PDF (378.46 KB)
  • Public Policy Brief No. 104 August 28, 2009

    The New New Deal Fracas

    Dimitri B. Papadimitriou
    Abstract

    A wave of revisionist work claims that “anticompetitive” New Deal legislation such as the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) and the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) greatly slowed the recovery from the Depression; in this new public policy brief, President Dimitri B. Papadimitriou and Research Scholar Greg Hannsgen review these claims in light of current […]

    Download Public Policy Brief No. 104, 2009 PDF (130.77 KB)
  • Public Policy Brief No. 103 August 21, 2009

    Financial and Monetary Issues as the Crisis Unfolds

    James K. Galbraith
    Abstract

    A group of experts associated with the Economists for Peace and Security and the Initiative for Rethinking the Economy met recently in Paris to discuss financial and monetary issues; their viewpoints, summarized here by Senior Scholar James K. Galbraith, are largely at odds with the global political and economic establishment. Despite noting some success in […]

    Download Public Policy Brief No. 103, 2009 PDF (149.60 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.