Publications

1681 publications found

• Public Policy Brief No. 76 April 01, 2004

  Asset Poverty in the United States

  Asena Caner, and Edward N. Wolff
  Abstract

  Economic growth and a rising stock market in the 1990s gave the impression that everyone was accumulating wealth and asset poverty rates were declining. The impression was supported by the official, income-based poverty measure, which exhibited a sharp decline. According to Senior Scholar Edward N. Wolff and Research Scholar Asena Caner, poverty measures should include […]

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 76, 2004 PDF (284.58 KB)
• Policy Notes No. 1 April 01, 2004

  Inflation Targeting and the Natural Rate of Unemployment

  Willem Thorbecke
  Abstract

  Inflation targeting has become an increasingly popular strategy for setting monetary policy during the last decade. While no countries had formal inflation targets before 1990, currently 22 countries use inflation targeting. One notable exception is the United States, where the Federal Reserve has a dual mandate to pursue both price stability and full employment. Some […]

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• Strategic Analysis April 01, 2004

  Is Deficit-financed Growth Limited?

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

  Wynne Godley, our Levy Institute colleague, has warned since 1999 that the falling personal saving and rising borrowing trends that had powered the US economic expansion were not sustainable. He also warned that when these trends were reversed, as has happened in other countries, the expansion would come to a halt unless there were major […]

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• Book Series April 01, 2004

  After the Bell

  Karen M Albright, and Dalton Conley
  Abstract

  Since the publication of the Coleman report in the United States many decades ago, it has been widely accepted that the evidence that schools are marginal in the grand scheme of academic achievement is conclusive. Despite this, educational policy across the world remains focused almost exclusively on schools. This volume focuses its searchlight on family […]

• Working Paper No. 405 April 01, 2004

  Some Simple, Consistent Models of the Monetary Circuit

  Gennaro Zezza
  Abstract

  We address the finance motive and the determination of profits in the Monetary Theory of Production associated with the Circuitist School. We show that the “profit paradox” puzzle addressed by many authors who adopt this approach can be solved by integrating a simple Circuit model with a consistent set of stock-flow accounts. We then discuss […]

• Working Paper No. 404 April 01, 2004

  The “War on Poverty” after 40 Years

  L. Randall Wray
  Abstract

  Hyman Minsky is best known for his work in the area of financial economics, and especially for his financial instability hypothesis. In recent years, some authors have also recognized his advocacy of the “employer of last resort” as part of his “big government” intervention to help maintain stability. However, very little research has been undertaken […]

• Working Paper No. 403 February 25, 2004

  A Stock-flow Consistent General Framework for Formal Minskyan Analyses of Closed Economies

  Claudio H. Dos Santos
  Abstract

  This paper reviews the general tenets of "stock-flow consistent" and the "formal Minskyan" literatures and argues that the advantages and weaknesses of the latter become clearer when analyzed with the tools of the former. It also analyzes a small but representative and influential sample of seminal "formal Minskyan" models, particularly the Taylor-O’Connel model, in light […]

  Download Working Paper No. 403 PDF (400.93 KB)
• Research Project Report February 12, 2004

  Levy Institute Measure of Economic Well-Being

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

  The Levy Economics Institute has, since its inception, maintained an active research program on the distribution of earnings, income, and wealth. Experience from the 1990s suggests that economic growth alone cannot dramatically reduce economic inequality. Because we are concerned with the improvement of well being, we have initiated a research project, the Levy Institute Measure […]

  Download LIMEW Report, February 2004 PDF (640.75 KB)
• Working Paper No. 402 February 01, 2004

  A Post-Keynesian Stock-flow Consistent Macroeconomic Growth Model

  Claudio H. Dos Santos, and Gennaro Zezza
  Abstract

  Stock-flow consistent models may be considered the rallying point for heterodox authors interested in modeling macroeconomic relations, since these models incorporate real and financial relations in an entirely consistent way, therefore providing macroeconomic constraints to individual behavior. The present model expands on the Godley-Lavoie model of growth, which was based on a two-asset world, with […]

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• Working Paper No. 401 January 01, 2004

  Borrowing Alone

  Abstract

  Over the past 20 years, finance has become commodified. Firms increasingly obtain finance from securities markets, instead of borrowing from commercial banks with which they have long-term relationships, while Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac package a growing number of mortgages into bonds. When loans are priced by impersonal markets rather than by individual bankers, they […]

  Download Working Paper No. 401 PDF (223.20 KB)
• Working Paper No. 400 January 01, 2004

  Fiscal Consolidation

  Jörg Bibow
  Abstract

  This paper analyzes the issues of public finance sustainability and suitability of strategies aimed at fiscal consolidation. Contrasting growth-based versus thrift-based consolidation strategies, it is argued that in the light of theory only the former promises success in large economies. Empirically, this study investigates the experiences with consolidation over the 1990s in the US, Japan, […]

  Download Working Paper No. 400 PDF (788.94 KB)
• Working Paper No. 399 January 01, 2004

  Does Financial Structure Matter?

  Philip Arestis, Ambika D. Luintel, and Kul B. Luintel
  Abstract

  We address the issue of whether financial structure influences economic growth. Three competing views of financial structure exist in the literature: the bank-based, the market-based and the financial services view. Recent empirical studies examine their relevance by utilizing panel and cross-section approaches. This paper, for the first time ever, utilizes time series data and methods, […]

  Download Working Paper No. 399 PDF (382.19 KB)
• Working Paper No. 398 January 01, 2004

  Inequality of the Distribution of Personal Wealth in Germany, 1973–1998

  Richard Hauser, and Holger Stein
  Abstract

  This paper reports on trends in inequality of the distribution of household disposable wealth in West Germany from 1973 to 1998, and compares the changes in the size distribution of household disposable wealth in West and East Germany between 1993 and 1998. The empirical findings are based on several cross sections of the Income and […]

  Download Working Paper No. 398 PDF (542.36 KB)
• Research Project Report December 09, 2003

  Levy Institute Measure of Economic Well-Being

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

  The Levy Economics Institute has, since its inception, maintained an active research program on the distribution of earnings, income, and wealth. Experience from the 1990s suggests that economic growth alone cannot dramatically reduce economic inequality. Because we are concerned with the improvement of well being, we have initiated a research project, the Levy Institute Measure […]

  Download LIMEW Report, December 2003 PDF (609.84 KB)
• Public Policy Brief No. 75 December 01, 2003

  Is Financial Globalization Truly Global?

  Philip Arestis, and Santonu Basu
  Abstract

  In 2002 more than $1 trillion worth of new bonds was sold across international boundaries. The total stock of cross-border bond holdings was more than $9 trillion. Such lending, together with sales of equities, is regarded as one of the chief benefits of globalization. But financial investment does not always flow where it is needed […]

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 75, 2003 PDF (121.50 KB)
• Policy Notes No. 7 December 01, 2003

  The Future of the Dollar

  Korkut A. Ertürk
  Abstract

  The big question is whether the dollar—the world’s reserve currency—can survive a steep fall in its value without the active support of the major central banks. Can the United States broker another Plaza Accord, as it did in 1985 when the dollar lost half of its value against the yen and the mark within two […]

  Download Policy Note 2003/7 PDF (109.71 KB)
• Working Paper No. 397 December 01, 2003

  Financial Globalization and Regulation

  Philip Arestis
  Abstract

  This paper attempts to define financial globalization as a process whereby financial markets internationally are integrated so closely that they can be considered as a single market. The process, viewed as a by-product of financial liberalization, is only a necessary condition for financial globalization, however. The sufficient condition is the creation of world-wide single currency, […]

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• Public Policy Brief No. 74 November 01, 2003

  Understanding Deflation

  Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, and L. Randall Wray
  Abstract

  Most recent discussions of deflation seem to overlook the main dangers posed by a deflationary economy and appear to offer superficial solutions. In this brief, the authors argue that, barring drastic changes in asset and output prices, deflation itself is not the main problem, but rather the recessionary conditions that sometimes give rise to deflation. […]

  Download Public Policy Brief No. 74, 2003 PDF (163.42 KB)
• Working Paper No. 396 November 01, 2003

  The Evolution of Wealth Inequality in Canada

  Marie Drolet, Rene Morissette, and Xuelin Zhang
  Abstract

  Using data from the Assets and Debts Survey of 1984 and the Survey of Financial Security of 1999, the authors document the evolution of wealth inequality in Canada between 1984 and 1999. Among their principal findings: wealth inequality increased overall, and was associated with substantial declines in real average and median wealth for recent immigrants […]

  Download Working Paper No. 396 PDF (432.15 KB)
• Working Paper No. 395 November 01, 2003

  On Household Wealth Trends in Sweden over the 1990s

  N. Anders Klevmarken
  Abstract

  Influenced by major tax reform in the early 1990s and by the exceptional boom in the stock market at the end of that decade, overall wealth in Swedish households increased. So did wealth inequality. The large baby-boom cohorts of the 1940s have been successful in accumulating wealth and they also have large claims on the […]

  Download Working Paper No. 395 PDF (478.26 KB)
• Working Paper No. 394 November 01, 2003

  Wealth Transfer Taxation

  Helmuth Cremer, and Pierre Pestieau
  Abstract

  The purpose of this paper is to survey the theoretical literature on wealth transfer taxation. The focus is normative: we are looking at the design of an optimal tax structure from the standpoint of both equity and efficiency. The gist of this survey is that the optimal design closely depends on the assumed bequest motives. […]

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• Working Paper No. 393 November 01, 2003

  A Rolling Tide

  Arthur B. Kennickell
  Abstract

  From 1989 to 2001, wealth in real terms increased overall among families in the United States. But characterizing distributional changes is much more complex; it depends on the specific questions asked. For example, there is evidence both from Forbes data on the 400 wealthiest Americans and from the SCF, which explicitly excludes families in the […]

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• Working Paper No. 392 October 01, 2003

  Understanding Deflation

  Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, and L. Randall Wray
  Abstract

  Deflation can be defined as a falling general price level utilizing one of the common price indices.the consumer price index; the GDP deflator or other, narrower indices as the wholesale price index; or an index of manufactured goods prices. Falling indices of output prices can be the result of several mechanisms: productivity increases, quality increases […]

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• Strategic Analysis October 01, 2003

  Deficits, Debts, and Growth

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

  These are fast-moving times. Two years ago, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO, 2001) projected a federal budget surplus of $172 billion for fiscal year 2003. Within a year, the projected figure had changed to a deficit of $145 billion (CBO 2002). The actual figure, near the end of fiscal year 2003, turned out to be […]

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