Strategic Analysis
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April 2008
Fiscal Stimulus—Is More Needed?
As the government prepares to dispense the tax rebates that largely make up its recently approved $168 billion stimulus package, President Dimitri B. Papadimitriou and Research Scholars Greg Hannsgen and Gennaro Zezza explore the possibility of an additional fiscal stimulus of about $450 billion spread over three quarters—challenging the notion that a larger and more prolonged additional stimulus is unnecessary and will generate inflationary pressures.
[more]
Associated Research Program(s): The State of the U.S. and World Economies
Public Policy Brief Highlights
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October 2008
Shaky Foundations
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s latest plan for tackling the housing-centered
credit crisis involves giving the Federal Reserve vast new authority to regulate
investment banks, not just depository institutions. However, news analyst Pedro
Nicolaci da Costa argues that attitude changes among regulators will be even
more important than shifts in mandate in ensuring that regulators like the Fed
do their jobs properly.
[more]
Associated Research Program(s): Monetary Policy and Financial Structure
| The State of the U.S. and World Economies
Policy Notes
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November 2008
Time to Bail Out: Alternatives to the Bush-Paulson Plan
While serving as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, Alan Greenspan advocated unsupervised securitization, subprime lending, option ARMs, credit-default swaps, and all manner of financial alchemy in the belief that markets “work” to reduce and spread risk, and to allocate it to those best able to assess and bear it—in his view, markets would stabilize in the absence of nasty government intervention. But as Greenspan now admits, he could never have imagined the outcome: a financial and economic crisis of biblical proportions.
[more]
Associated Research Program(s): Monetary Policy and Financial Structure
LIMEW Reports
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April 2007
How Well Off Are America’s Elderly?
Given the aging of the American population and the widening gap between rich and
poor—not to mention the controversy surrounding the future viability of Social
Security—the economic welfare of the elderly is an extremely topical issue.
This report provides a new look at America’s elderly, and shows that the official
measures drastically understate their level of economic well-being.
[more]
Associated Research Program(s): The Levy Institute Measure of Economic Well-Being (LIMEW)
Book Series
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May 2008
Stabilizing an Unstable Economy
The late American economist and Distinguished Scholar Hyman P. Minsky first wrote about the inherent instability of financial markets in the late 1950s, and accurately predicted a transformation of the economy that would not become apparent for nearly a generation.
[more]
Associated Research Program(s): Monetary Policy and Financial Structure
Report
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October 2008
Report October 2008
Recent experience has bolstered the view that asset prices must come under the central bank’s purview in order for the economy to retain some semblance of stability. However, in a new Public Policy Brief, Pedro Nicolaci da Costa argues that attitude changes among regulators will be even more important than shifts in mandate in ensuring that regulators like the Federal Reserve do their jobs properly.
[more]
Summary
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August 2008
Summary Fall 2008
This latest issue of the Summary includes an overview of the Institute's annual Minsky conference, which focused on the current economic crisis in the United States, its effects on the world economy, and possible solutions. Also featured is a new Strategic Analysis that challenges the notion that a stimulus package larger than the one approved by Congress last winter is unnecessary and potentially inflationary.
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Conference Proceedings
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April 2008
The 17th Annual Hyman P. Minsky Conference on the State of the U.S. and World Economies
In April 2008, top policymakers, economists, and analysts from government,
industry, and academia gathered at the Levy Institute’s research and
conference facility in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, to present their insights
about the American economy and the financial sector in the context of Minsky’s
economic theories. Participants discussed Minsky’s financial instability
hypothesis and the ability of monetary policy to stabilize financial markets
and the economy, as well as the role of the Federal Reserve and its ability
to function as a systemic lender of last resort.
[more]
Associated Research Program(s): The State of the U.S. and World Economies
Conference Audio
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May 2008
17th Annual Hyman P. Minsky Conference on the State of the U.S. and World Economies
The focus of this year's conference was the current economic and financial crisis in the United States and its effects on the world economy. Topics included the causes and consequences of the “Minsky moment”; the impact of the credit crunch on the economic and financial market outlook; dislocations and policy options; margins of safety, systemic risk, and the American subprime mortgage market; financial markets regulation-reregulation; the inefficiency of computer-driven markets; currency market fluctuations; and exchange rate misalignment.
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Biennial Reports
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April 2008
Biennial Report, 2006–2007
Throughout 2006–07, the Levy Institute continued to make significant contributions to the public policy discussions on many economic issues. In addition to organizing conferences, workshops, and lectures with distinguished representatives of the academy, the business community, and government, the Levy Institute used its wide range of print and online publications to disseminate information about, and foster debate on, numerous policy issues.
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