1,721,711 research outputs found
Debt Problems and Macroeconomic Policies
Full text linkThis paper examines the recent dramatic increase in the ratio of US non-financial debt to GNP. It concludes that it is largely the result of federal budget deficits. There does not appear to have been a major change in traditional patterns of private sector borrowing in recent years. The excessive accumulation of Federal debt probably threatens financial stability more than recent increases in private debt.
In Response to the Remarks by Lawrence H. Summers, Presenting Empirical Data on the Differences in Learning Styles Between Males and Females
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Lawrence H. Summers\u27 remarks at a conference on Diversifying the Science and Engineering Workforce, raise provocative issues regarding reasons for the disparities of women\u27s representation in tenured positions in science and engineering at top universities and research institutions. He postulated that one reason for this disparity was the different availability of aptitude at the high end. One suspects that the word aptitude struck a raw nerve in the audience. After all, most academics in the audience would be familiar with the research of Carol Gilligan, and her well-known book, In A Different Voice, suggesting that women have different moral and psychological tendencies than men, and that one is not superior to the other. More significantly, our country did experience a second wave of the feminist movement, which should have brought some enlightenment
In Response to the Remarks by Lawrence H. Summers, Presenting Empirical Data on the Differences in Learning Styles Between Males and Females
Full text link(Excerpt)
Lawrence H. Summers\u27 remarks at a conference on Diversifying the Science and Engineering Workforce, raise provocative issues regarding reasons for the disparities of women\u27s representation in tenured positions in science and engineering at top universities and research institutions. He postulated that one reason for this disparity was the different availability of aptitude at the high end. One suspects that the word aptitude struck a raw nerve in the audience. After all, most academics in the audience would be familiar with the research of Carol Gilligan, and her well-known book, In A Different Voice, suggesting that women have different moral and psychological tendencies than men, and that one is not superior to the other. More significantly, our country did experience a second wave of the feminist movement, which should have brought some enlightenment
The 'new economy' : background, historical perspective, questions, and speculations
Full text linkIn a presentation at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s 2001 symposium, “Economic Policy for the Information Economy,” Professor J. Bradford DeLong of the University of California-Berkeley, and Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers suggested that any attempt to analyze the meaning and importance of the "new economy" must grapple with four questions:> First, in the long run, how important will ongoing technological revolutions in data processing and data communications turn out to be? Second, what does the crash of the Nasdaq tell us about the future of the new economy? Third, how should government regulation of the economy change so as to maximize the benefits we reap from these ongoing technological revolutions? And fourth, how will the American economy respond to the shock to public confidence and the destruction caused by the terror attacks of September 11?> In exploring answers to these questions, the authors found the following: The long-run economic impact of the ongoing technological revolutions in data processing and data communications will be very large indeed. The crash of the Nasdaq tells us next to nothing about the dimensions of the economic transformation that we are undergoing. It does, however, tell us that the new economy is more likely to be a source of downward pressure on margins than of large durable quasi-rents. The principal effects of the "new economy" are more likely to be "microeconomic" than "macroeconomic," and they will lead to profound—if at present unclear—changes in how the government should act to provide the property rights, institutional frameworks, and "rules of the game" that underpin the market economy. And finally, the events of September 11 will slow private investment in new technologies, but U.S. military spending is likely to increase, and the increase in military spending will be concentrated on high-technology data-processing and data-communications products. On balance, therefore, the changes in economic structure that fall under the category “new economy” are not likely to be much affected.
Investment Incentives and the Discounting of Depreciation Allowances
Full text linkThis paper examines the discounting of depreciation allowances both theoretically and empirically. Economic theory suggests that depreciation tax shields should be discounted at the after tax riskless rates. However, a survey of 200 major corporations indicates that they employ much higher discount rates to depreciation allowances. Typical discount rates are in the 15 percent range. This finding suggests that "frontloaded" incentives like the ITC provide maximal stimulus to corporate investment.
Consumption Growth Parallels Income Growth: Some New Evidence
Full text linkThis paper argues that the versions of both permanent income and life-cycle theories which have recently become fashionable are inconsistent with the grossest features of cross-country and cross-section data on consumption and income. There is clear evidence that consumption and income growth are much more closely linked than would be predicted by these theories. it appears that consumption smoothing takes place over periods of several years not several decades. These results confirm Milton Friedman's (1957) initial view that: "The permanent income component is not to be regarded as expected lifetime earnings... It is to be interpreted as the mean income at any age regarded as permanent by the consumer unit in question, which in turn depends on its horizon and foresightedness." They call into question the usefulness of standard representative Consumer approaches to the analysis of saving behavior. And they call for increased emphasis on liquidity constraints and short run precautionary saving as determinants of consumption behavior.
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