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Economics

Selected Works

2011

Institution
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Articles 31 - 60 of 879

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

The Interplay Between Labor And Financial Markets: What Are The Implications For Defined Contribution Accounts?, Christian E. Weller, Jeffrey B. Wenger Dec 2011

The Interplay Between Labor And Financial Markets: What Are The Implications For Defined Contribution Accounts?, Christian E. Weller, Jeffrey B. Wenger

Christian Weller

The relationship between earnings, savings and retirement is well-known, however the linkage between labor market outcomes and financial market performance is generally unacknowledged. We examine the implications of the link between labor markets and financial markets for workers who save money in individual retirement accounts. Specifically, differences in labor market outcomes across groups may imply differences in the timing of investments, which may reduce savings over time for these groups compared to their counterparts. Using monthly data from the Current Population Survey (1979-2002) we generate hypothetical investment portfolios using stock and bond indices. We exploit differences across demographic groups in …

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Credit Access, The Costs Of Credit And Credit Market Discrimination, Christian E. Weller Dec 2011

Credit Access, The Costs Of Credit And Credit Market Discrimination, Christian E. Weller

Christian Weller

Since the early 1990s, credit expanded relative to income, especially after 2001. It is hypothesized that traditionally uneven credit access and gaps in the costs of credit by demographic characteristics shrank during this period. Relying on data from the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finance, this study looks at financial constraints, the costs of credit and a number of contributions to the costs of credit, including sources and types of loans. The results indicate that taste-based discrimination and structural discrimination may have persisted and possibly increased over time. Gaps in credit access and costs of credit have widened by race, …

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Have Differences In Credit Access Diminished In An Era Of Financial Market Deregulation?, Christian E. Weller Dec 2011

Have Differences In Credit Access Diminished In An Era Of Financial Market Deregulation?, Christian E. Weller

Christian Weller

Over the past few decades, financial markets became increasingly deregulated and household debt expanded, sometimes rapidly. It is thus possible that greater deregulation led to improved credit access for typically underserved groups, such as minorities and low-income families, relative to their counterparts. Credit access is measured here by loan denials, discouraged applications, and costs of credit. Based on data from the Federal Reserve’s Survey Consumer Finances and using multivariate tests, there is no clear trend, though, towards equalization of credit access from 1989 to 2004. Specifically, gaps in loan denials and discouraged applications only improved for Hispanics relative to Whites. …

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Could International Labor Rights Play A Role In U.S. Trade?, Christian E. Weller Dec 2011

Could International Labor Rights Play A Role In U.S. Trade?, Christian E. Weller

Christian Weller

During its last complete business cycle, from 2001 to 2007, the United States experienced unsustainably high trade deficits. Policymakers are considering a number of measures to avoid a recurrence of such large external imbalances. One such measure is the promotion of better labor rights around the world. Proponents argue that higher labor standards would boost U.S. exports by increasing income growth abroad and reduce U.S. imports by shrinking international price differences. Opponents of such a policy move argue that it is disguised protectionism that will impede trade and harm living standards in the United States and abroad. In this paper, …

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Public Policy Options To Build Wealth For America’S Middle Class, Christian E. Weller, Amy Helburn Dec 2011

Public Policy Options To Build Wealth For America’S Middle Class, Christian E. Weller, Amy Helburn

Christian Weller

No abstract provided.

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Desperate Vs. Deadbeat: Can We Quantify The Effect Of The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention And Consumer Protection Act Of 2005?, Christian Weller, Bernard J. Morzuch, Amanda Logan Dec 2011

Desperate Vs. Deadbeat: Can We Quantify The Effect Of The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention And Consumer Protection Act Of 2005?, Christian Weller, Bernard J. Morzuch, Amanda Logan

Christian Weller

No abstract provided.

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Prudent Investors: The Asset Allocation Of Public Pension Plans, Christian E. Weller, Jeffrey B. Wenger Dec 2011

Prudent Investors: The Asset Allocation Of Public Pension Plans, Christian E. Weller, Jeffrey B. Wenger

Christian Weller

After 2000, the vast majority of defined benefit (DB) pension plans encountered a decrease in their funding ratios, largely due to a drop in asset prices. It is possible that public sector pension plans may have acted imprudently by chasing returns, once they encountered underfunding. We identify four indicators for DB plans’ imprudent investment behavior: no portfolio rebalancing, employer conflicts of interest, trustee conflicts of interest, and failure to implement best investment practices. To see if public sector pension plans rebalance their portfolios, we use data from the Federal Reserve’s Flow of Funds, dating from 1952 to 2007. To test …

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Changes In Homeowners’ Financial Security During The Recent Housing And Mortgage Boom, Christian Weller, Kate Sabatini Dec 2011

Changes In Homeowners’ Financial Security During The Recent Housing And Mortgage Boom, Christian Weller, Kate Sabatini

Christian Weller

From the late 1990s through 2005, the U.S. experienced an unprecedented housing boom, which boosted the asset values of many families. This meant, on the one hand, that families with homes had more collateral to borrow against, but it also meant that new home buyers needed to take out larger mortgages to afford a home. After 2001, the U.S. saw a sharp acceleration in the growth rate of household debt. Using data from the Survey of Consumer Finances conducted by the Federal Reserve, which we supplement with data from the Flow of Funds Accounts generated by the Federal Reserve, we …

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Did Retirees Save Enough To Compensate For The Increase In Individual Risk Exposure?, Christian E. Weller Dec 2011

Did Retirees Save Enough To Compensate For The Increase In Individual Risk Exposure?, Christian E. Weller

Christian Weller

The United States experienced an unprecedented financial crisis after 2007. This paper analyzes if retirees had enough wealth built up to weather the financial risks that materialized in the crisis. Financial risks associated with saving for retirement had increasingly shifted onto individuals away from the public and employers during the decades before the crisis. This growing personal responsibility should have gone along with more saving and less risk taking. I use data from the Federal Reserve’s triennial Survey of Consumer Finances to first define an income threshold for retirees, specifically whether annuity income is greater than twice the poverty line …

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Driving Qi With Research: Findings From Public Health Pbrns, Glen Mays Dec 2011

Driving Qi With Research: Findings From Public Health Pbrns, Glen Mays

Glen Mays

Public health agencies are increasingly experimenting with quality improvement (QI) strategies designed to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of their efforts. Does QI work in public health, and if so for whom and under what circumstances? What QI strategies work best for which types of public health process failures, and at what cost? Research underway through the Public Health Practice-Based Research Networks (PBRN) Program is examining these types of questions to build an evidence base for public health QI.

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Cae Otro Muro Socialista, Guillermo Arosemena Dec 2011

Cae Otro Muro Socialista, Guillermo Arosemena

Guillermo Arosemena

No abstract provided.

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Corporate Integration, Tax Treaties, And The Division Of The International Tax Base: Principles And Practices., Hugh J. Ault Dec 2011

Corporate Integration, Tax Treaties, And The Division Of The International Tax Base: Principles And Practices., Hugh J. Ault

Hugh J. Ault

In this Article, Professor Ault begins with an examination of the evolution of treaty principles for the allocation of and restrictions on international taxing jurisdiction. He then focuses on how economically based principles dealing with the taxation of international income affect treaty policy and presents the basic structural provisions involving the taxation of foreign income and foreign investors that emerge from domestically enacted or proposed integration systems. The technical aspects of the actual treaty practices that have been implemented with respect to integration systems are then related to the theoretical discussion. Professor Ault concludes with an examination of the implications …

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[Review Of The Book Jobs And Incomes In A Globalizing World], Gary S. Fields Dec 2011

[Review Of The Book Jobs And Incomes In A Globalizing World], Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] This is a timely book about the labour market effects of globalization – specifically, the effects of globalization on jobs, wages and incomes in industrialized and developing countries. Ajit Ghose defines globalization as “a process of integration of national markets into a global market.” Globalization, he writes, is of such great concern now because of a new development: trade between developed and developing countries in competing products.

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[Review Of The Book Social Security: A Critique Of Radical Proposals], Gary S. Fields Dec 2011

[Review Of The Book Social Security: A Critique Of Radical Proposals], Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] This book consists of six essays on Social Security. Charles Meyer leads off with a survey of the history of Social Security, its funding problems, and a radical reform proposal by Peter Ferrara to phase out the system. The remaining essays address various features of Social Security.

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[Review Of The Book Beneath The Miracle: Labor Subordination In The New Asian Industrialism], Gary S. Fields Dec 2011

[Review Of The Book Beneath The Miracle: Labor Subordination In The New Asian Industrialism], Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] Have workers in the newly industrializing countries (NIC's) of Asia benefited from the rapid economic growth in their economies? In this important book, Frederic Deyo contends that "beneath the miracle" of economic growth is the "extreme political subordination and exclusion of workers" in the economic development of Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. He sees the inability of East Asian workers to "influence the political and economic decisions that have shaped their lives" as the "dark underside" of Asian economic growth. The main body of the book is an examination of why this subordination has taken place.

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[Review Of The Book Retirement Income Opportunities In An Aging America: Income Levels And Adequacy], Gary S. Fields Dec 2011

[Review Of The Book Retirement Income Opportunities In An Aging America: Income Levels And Adequacy], Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] The slant of this volume will not appeal to everyone. Consider the following: "During the last twenty years, the elderly's financial status has improved substantially. Today those who are over age 65 receive income from more sources and have greater financial independence than previous generations of elderly. . . . This report concludes that the elderly's income levels and sources will continue to improve during the next twenty years or more" (p. v). But what of the poverty that remains among the elderly, especially single individuals? What of the threat to real social security benefit levels? What of the …

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[Review Of The Book Technology Choice And Employment Generation By Multinational Corporations In Developing Countries], Gary S. Fields Dec 2011

[Review Of The Book Technology Choice And Employment Generation By Multinational Corporations In Developing Countries], Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] The present volume, by addressing technology choice and employment in multinational enterprises (MNEs), adds to our understanding of the determinants of demand for labor in developing countries. The book synthesizes results from case studies of MNEs in Singapore, Nigeria, Brazil, India, and Kenya, and it does so in such a way that the main conclusions can easily be identified.

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[Review Of The Book Studies Of Urban Labour Market Behaviour In Developing Areas], Gary S. Fields Dec 2011

[Review Of The Book Studies Of Urban Labour Market Behaviour In Developing Areas], Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] In the 1970s social scientists from all disciplines became aware that an understanding of how labor markets function is central to determining who benefits from economic growth. Only a few researchers concerned with the economic development of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, however, have examined labor markets in any serious way. Hence, a compendium entitled Studies of Urban Labour Market Behavior in Developing Areas is particularly welcome.

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[Review Of The Book Bridging The Gap: Four Newly Industrialising Countries And The Changing International Division Of Labour], Gary S. Fields Dec 2011

[Review Of The Book Bridging The Gap: Four Newly Industrialising Countries And The Changing International Division Of Labour], Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] The central focus of this book is the labor force in the context of structural change. Its title, "Bridging the Gap," signifies a concern with drawing the NICs closer to the developed world. The author, a senior economist and staff member of the International Labour Organisation, argues that "the experience of these four NICs also holds lessons for OECD countries, as it deals with such now universal issues as the role of government in the promotion of new ventures; how new growth areas can be identified; how foreign investors are attracted; and what the costs and benefits of government …

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Nuevos Ricos, Guillermo Arosemena Dec 2011

Nuevos Ricos, Guillermo Arosemena

Guillermo Arosemena

No abstract provided.

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A Counterfactual Decomposition Analysis Of Immigrants-Natives Earnings In Malaysia. Economics Discussion Papers, No 2011-51, Muhammad Anees Dec 2011

A Counterfactual Decomposition Analysis Of Immigrants-Natives Earnings In Malaysia. Economics Discussion Papers, No 2011-51, Muhammad Anees

Muhammad Anees

Economics of discrimination has been the topic of interest of many in the last decade or two. Human capital theory describes wage determination as a function of labour human capital and should be determined based on marginal productivity theorem of labour economics. Islamic theology also dictates paying labour well in time and equal to their productivity not based on his colour, race, gender, nationality health status and other non-economic factors. The current study analyses the immigrants-natives wage gap to find the extent of potential discrimination against the immigrants. Using employees’ level data from the Enterprise Surveys by the World Bank …

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Similarities In Fan Preferences For Minor-League Baseball Across The American Southeast, Tyler Anthony, Tim Kahn, Briana Madison, Rodney Paul, Andrew Weinbach Dec 2011

Similarities In Fan Preferences For Minor-League Baseball Across The American Southeast, Tyler Anthony, Tim Kahn, Briana Madison, Rodney Paul, Andrew Weinbach

Rodney J. Paul

Three Minor League Baseball leagues across the Southeastern United States are studied in order to determine what drives fan attendance. Individual game attendance and game characteristics are examined for three leagues located in the American southeast, the Florida State League, the Southern League, and the South Atlantic League. Despite the three leagues encompassing different levels of play (from A to AA), the determinants of attendance are similar across leagues. Factors affecting attendance such as winning percentage, weather conditions, local income and population, and individual game promotions, such as fireworks, are explored.

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What's Up With The Economy?, Barry Bluestone Dec 2011

What's Up With The Economy?, Barry Bluestone

Barry Bluestone

No abstract provided.

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Housing And The U.S. Economy, Barry Bluestone Dec 2011

Housing And The U.S. Economy, Barry Bluestone

Barry Bluestone

No abstract provided.

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After The Recovery: Help Needed: The Coming Labor Shortage And How People In Encore Careers Can Help Solve It, Barry Bluestone, Mark Melnik Dec 2011

After The Recovery: Help Needed: The Coming Labor Shortage And How People In Encore Careers Can Help Solve It, Barry Bluestone, Mark Melnik

Barry Bluestone

No abstract provided.

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The Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2009: Positioning Boston In A Post-Crisis World, Barry Bluestone, Chase Billingham, Jessica Herrmann Dec 2011

The Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2009: Positioning Boston In A Post-Crisis World, Barry Bluestone, Chase Billingham, Jessica Herrmann

Barry Bluestone

No abstract provided.

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The Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2010: Taking Stock In An Uncertain Time, Barry Bluestone, Chase Billingham, Jessica Casey, Anna Gartsman Dec 2011

The Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2010: Taking Stock In An Uncertain Time, Barry Bluestone, Chase Billingham, Jessica Casey, Anna Gartsman

Barry Bluestone

No abstract provided.

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A New "Grand Bargain" For The Commonwealth, Barry Bluestone Dec 2011

A New "Grand Bargain" For The Commonwealth, Barry Bluestone

Barry Bluestone

No abstract provided.

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The Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2011: Housing’S Role In The Ongoing Economic Crisis, Barry Bluestone, Chase Billingham Dec 2011

The Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2011: Housing’S Role In The Ongoing Economic Crisis, Barry Bluestone, Chase Billingham

Barry Bluestone

No abstract provided.

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Eplaining The Performance Of Italian Exports During The Crisis: (Medium) Quality Matters, Claudio Vicarelli, Piero Esposito Dec 2011

Eplaining The Performance Of Italian Exports During The Crisis: (Medium) Quality Matters, Claudio Vicarelli, Piero Esposito

Claudio Vicarelli

A recent study argues that the contraction in total trade that occurred during the crisis was mainly driven by the fall in high quality goods, which should have higher income elasticity owing to a non-linear Engel curve. Our aims are, on the one hand, to test the quality Engel curve assumption for EU15 imports from Italy and, on the other hand, to ascertain whether a break in income elasticities – either temporary or permanent – occurred during the global financial crisis as a result of the changing preference for quality of consumers in the old EU member states. We test …

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