Publications

1681 publications found

• Policy Notes No. 6 September 03, 2003

  Is International Growth the Way Out of US Current Account Deficits?

  Claudio H. Dos Santos, Anwar M. Shaikh, and Gennaro Zezza
  Abstract

  The current account deficit of the United States has been growing steadily as a share of GDP for more than a decade. It is now at an all-time high, over 5 percent of GDP. This steady deterioration has been greeted with an increasing amount of concern (U.S Trade Deficit Review Commission 2000; Brookings Papers 2001; […]

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• Policy Notes No. 5 September 02, 2003

  Deflation Worries

  L. Randall Wray
  Abstract

  For the first time since the 1930s, many worry that the world’s economy faces the prospect of deflation—accompanied by massive job losses—on a global scale. In a rather hopeful sign, policymakers from Euroland to Japan to America all seem to recognize the threat that falling prices pose to markets. Given the singleminded pursuit of deflationary […]

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• Working Paper No. 386 September 01, 2003

  Household Wealth, Public Consumption, and Economic Well-Being in the United States

  Asena Caner, Edward N. Wolff, and Ajit Zacharias
  Abstract

  *Preliminary draft. Please do not quote or cite without permission. Standard official measures of economic well-being are based on money income. The general consensus is that such measures are seriously flawed because they ignore several crucial determinants of well-being. We examine two such determinants–household wealth and public consumption–in the context of the United States. Our […]

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• Working Paper No. 391 September 01, 2003

  Aggregate Demand, Conflict, and Capacity in the Inflationary Process

  Philip Arestis, and Malcolm Sawyer
  Abstract

  The dominant view relating to unemployment and inflation is that inflation will be constant at a level of unemployment (the nonaccelerating inflation rate of unemployment, NAIRU) determined on the supply side of the economy (and in the labor market in particular). Further, the economy will tend to converge to (or oscillate around) that level of […]

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• Working Paper No. 390 September 01, 2003

  Savings of Entrepreneurs

  Asena Caner
  Abstract

  Previous work on entrepreneurship and wealth has documented that entrepreneurial households are wealthier and have higher wealth mobility. However, the literature has not paid attention to the components of wealth change. Furthermore, endogeneity problems in the measurement of the interaction between saving rates and entrepreneurship are not well addressed.In this paper, by reexamining the relationship […]

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• Working Paper No. 389 September 01, 2003

  Do Workers with Low Lifetime Earnings Really Have Low Earnings Every Year?

  Thomas L. Hungerford
  Abstract

  When it comes to retirement income policy, there is a general perception that workers have full 40-year working careers before retiring. Further, it is generally assumed that workers with low lifetime earnings have low earnings in each year during a normal working career. The basic research question is why do some workers have low lifetime […]

  Download Working Paper No. 389 PDF (333.12 KB)
• Working Paper No. 388 September 01, 2003

  Inflation Targeting

  Philip Arestis, and Malcolm Sawyer
  Abstract

  Since the early 1990s, a number of countries have adopted Inflation Targeting (IT) in an effort to reduce inflation. Most literature has praised IT as a superior framework of monetary policy. We suggest that IT is a major policy prescription closely associated with the New Consensus Macroeconomics (NCM). Focusing mainly on the IT aspects of […]

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• Working Paper No. 387 September 01, 2003

  Measures of the Real GDP of US Trading Partners

  Claudio H. Dos Santos, Anwar M. Shaikh, and Gennaro Zezza
  Abstract

  This paper provides the details of the construction of new quarterly measures of the real GDPs of the 36 trading partners that are taken into consideration by the Federal Reserve in its "broad exchange rate" indexes. These new measures have some important advantages. First, they allow the construction of various income aggregates and sub-aggregates, which […]

  Download Working Paper No. 387 PDF (2.69 MB)
• Policy Notes No. 4 August 20, 2003

  Pushing Germany Off the Cliff Edge

  Jörg Bibow
  Abstract

  Germany’s fiscal crisis cannot be attributed to unification per se; it arose as a consequence of ill-guided macroeconomic policies pursued in response to that event. Many structural problems that popped up along the way were mere symptoms of persistent macroeconomic mismanagement and protracted stagnation. Since Germany provided the blueprint for Europe’s stability-oriented macroeconomic policy regime, […]

  Download Policy Note 2003/4 PDF (312.60 KB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 73 August 03, 2003

  Asset and Debt Deflation in the United States

  Philip Arestis, and Elias Karakitsos
  Abstract

  In an asset and debt deflation, the process of reducing debt by saving and curtailing spending takes a long time, say authors Philip Arestis and Elias Karakitsos. Current imbalances and poor prospects for spending in the private sector affect the balance sheets of the commercial banks. The downward spiral between the banks and the private […]

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 73, 2003 PDF (362.30 KB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 72 August 02, 2003

  What Is the American Model Really About?

  James K. Galbraith
  Abstract

  The “American Model” serves as a point of reference in discussions of economic policy around the world, especially in Europe. Many claim that the American version of the free market represents an ideal type—it is the highest form of capitalism. Senior Scholar James K. Galbraith argues, however, that the United States has relied heavily on […]

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 72, 2003 PDF (173.59 KB)
• Working Paper No. 385 July 01, 2003

  Macroeconomic Policies of the Economic Monetary Union

  Philip Arestis, and Malcolm Sawyer
  Abstract

  This paper presents two issues: first, an effort to decipher the theoretical and policy framework of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU); and second, an argument that the challenges to the EMU’s macroeconomic policies lie in their potential to achieve full employment and low inflation in the euro area. We conclude that the institutional and […]

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• Working Paper No. 384 July 01, 2003

  Minsky’s Acceleration Channel and the Role of Money

  Abstract

  Using Minsky (1986), this paper attempts to answer two questions: (1) How does policy affect real and nominal variables? and (2) How should monetary policy be conducted so as to improve the performance of the economy? Minsky asserted that rising interest rates, brought about by contractionary monetary policy, compromised the balance sheets of firms that […]

  Download Working Paper No. 384 PDF (142.06 KB)
• Working Paper No. 383 July 01, 2003

  Financial Sector Reforms in Developing Countries with Special Reference to Egypt

  Philip Arestis
  Abstract

  Financial reforms, and financial liberalization in particular, have been at the root of many recent cases of financial and banking crises. In several countries financial reforms allowed real interest rates to reach levels exceeding 20 percent per annum in some cases; in other cases, banking and financial crises led to currency crises. National governments either […]

• Policy Notes No. 3 June 01, 2003

  Caring for a Large Geriatric Generation

  Walter M. Cadette
  Abstract

  The time has more than come to begin planning seriously for the aging of the baby-boom generation. The need for planning goes beyond concerns about the solvency of Social Security and Medicare. Another crisis looms in the form of a huge bill for the care of baby boomers who in their old age will need […]

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• Working Paper No. 382 May 01, 2003

  The Case for Fiscal Policy

  Philip Arestis, and Malcolm Sawyer
  Abstract

  This paper reconsiders the case for the use of fiscal policy based on a “functional finance” approach that advocates the use of fiscal policy to secure high levels of demand in the context of private aggregate demand, which would otherwise be too low. This “functional finance” view means that any budget deficit should be seen […]

• Working Paper No. 381 May 01, 2003

  Reinventing Fiscal Policy

  Philip Arestis, and Malcolm Sawyer
  Abstract

  Recent developments in macroeconomic policy, in terms of both theory and practice, have elevated monetary policy while downgrading fiscal policy. Monetary policy has focused on the setting of interest rates as the key policy instrument, along with the adoption of inflation targets and the use of monetary policy to target inflation. Elsewhere, we have critically […]

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• Working Paper No. 380 May 01, 2003

  How Long Can the US Consumers Carry the Economy on Their Shoulders?

  Philip Arestis, and Elias Karakitsos
  Abstract

  The consumer has been on a tightrope since the bursting of the "new economy" bubble, as losses in equity markets have been partly offset by gains in real estate and fiscal support and mortgage refinancing have partly offset increased consumer cautiousness. The consumer will remain on a tightrope in the near future, but if the […]

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• Working Paper No. 379 May 01, 2003

  Is Europe Doomed to Stagnation?

  Jörg Bibow
  Abstract

  This paper challenges the view that external shocks caused Euroland’s 2001 slowdown and subsequent stagnation. Instead, the design of Euroland’s macro policymaking arrangements is found lacking in looking after sufficient domestic demand growth. In the event the ECB has failed on its stabilization role–a rather vital role given that fiscal policy is severely constrained by […]

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• Working Paper No. 378 May 01, 2003

  The Conditions for Sustainable US Recovery

  Philip Arestis, and Elias Karakitsos
  Abstract

  The anemic US economic recovery and the threat of a double-dip recession stem from the weakness of investment, due to excess capacity created in the euphoric years of the "new economy" bubble. The current imbalances in the corporate sector (i.e., the all-time-high indebtedness in the face of falling asset prices) are preventing investment from picking […]

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• Working Paper No. 376 April 01, 2003

  Mexicans Now, Italians Then

  Joel Perlmann
  Abstract

  This working paper continues earlier efforts to compare the experiences of today’s second-generation Mexican Americans with those of second-generation members of major immigrant groups of a century ago. Here the focus is on intermarriage. Contemporary data comes from 1998-2001 CPS data sets and historical data from the IPUMS data sets for 1920 and 1960. As […]

  Download Working Paper No. 376 PDF (193.90 KB)
• Working Paper No. 377 April 01, 2003

  Finance and Development

  Philip Arestis, Machiko Nissanke, and Howard Stein
  Abstract

  There are many recent worldwide examples of severe financial crises that are linked to periods of financial liberalization. Given the ubiquity of these crises, there is the legitimate question of why governments still pursue financial liberalization policies. Answers to this question range from the recent institutionalization of norms of “acceptable” financial policies and perceived potential […]

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• Working Paper No. 375 March 01, 2003

  US Workers’ Investment Decisions for Participant-directed Defined Contribution Pension Assets

  Thomas L. Hungerford
  Abstract

  Two issues may have a tremendous impact on the adequacy of retirement income for today’s workers: the growth of 401(k) pension plans and the possible privatization of Social Security. Workers are becoming increasingly responsible for the adequacy of their retirement income by determining how their retirement savings are invested. This paper examines the investment choices […]

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• Working Paper No. 374 March 01, 2003

  The Nature and Role of Monetary Policy When Money Is Endogenous

  Philip Arestis, and Malcolm Sawyer
  Abstract

  This paper considers the nature and role of monetary policy when money is envisaged as credit money endogenously created within the private sector (by the banking system). Monetary policy is now based in many countries on the setting (or targeting) of a key interest rate, such as the Central Bank discount rate. The amount of […]

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