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Economics

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Upjohn Institute Policy Papers

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2020

LABOR MARKET ISSUES

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Broadening Place-Based Jobs Policies: How To Both Target Job Creation And Broaden Its Reach, Timothy J. Bartik Nov 2020

Broadening Place-Based Jobs Policies: How To Both Target Job Creation And Broaden Its Reach, Timothy J. Bartik

Upjohn Institute Policy Papers

Many places in the United States are distressed in that they have low “employment rates” (employment to population ratios). In my recent report for the Brookings Metro Policy program (Bartik 2020b), I proposed helping the most distressed local labor markets, comprising 15 percent of the U.S. population, by a federal block grant of $11 billion annually to provide public services to create local jobs. The present policy paper outlines how this block grant can be broadened, while remaining targeted. The block grant is broadened by adding $3 billion for more moderately distressed local labor markets, comprising an additional 15 percent …


Place-Based Policy: An Essay In Two Parts, Timothy J. Bartik May 2020

Place-Based Policy: An Essay In Two Parts, Timothy J. Bartik

Upjohn Institute Policy Papers

Place-based policies that increase jobs in local labor markets can have large benefits, but current policies need reforms. Local job growth can have large benefits by increasing local employment-to-population ratios (employment rates). These employment rate benefits are larger if jobs are created in local labor markets that are distressed, or if new jobs are matched to the local nonemployed. Current place-based policies are mostly business tax incentives, provided by state and local governments. These incentives are costly per job actually created by the incentive. More cost-effective job creation are public services to businesses, such as customized job training or business …


What Can We Learn From The 1918 Pandemic? Careful Economics And Policy Lessons From Influenza, Brian J. Asquith May 2020

What Can We Learn From The 1918 Pandemic? Careful Economics And Policy Lessons From Influenza, Brian J. Asquith

Upjohn Institute Policy Papers

Economists and policymakers have turned to the 1918 Spanish flu for guidance on the COVID-19 crisis, and some have been cheered by the example of its sharp post-pandemic economic recovery. Policymakers have also been encouraged to use lockdowns and school closures (called non-pharmaceutical interventions, or NPIs) in part by research showing that 1918’s NPIs saved lives while aiding the subsequent economic recovery. I review a wide range of research to caution that our own recovery will likely be harder and slower because of how the economy has evolved. I conclude by discussing pro-recovery policy that account for post-1918 economic changes.