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on Post Keynesian Economics |
| By: | Matías Vernengo |
| Abstract: | The current economic global crisis has thrown fiscal policy onto the center stage. However, the current crisis episode has not produced any change regarding the standing role and function of fiscal policy in developed and developing market economies that has dominated the economics profession for decades. In fact, the uncertain prospects for recovery underscore the fact that free market economies lack the mechanisms to bring about and maintain full employment. Full employment requires designing and making operational institutions at the national and global levels that can manage aggregate demand. This paper reviews the evidence on current fiscal efforts around the world. |
| Keywords: | Fiscal Policy, Fiscal Deficit |
| JEL: | E62 H62 |
| Date: | 2010–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uta:papers:2010_02&r=pke |
| By: | Dean Baker; Hye-Jin Rho |
| Abstract: | The huge gap between the cost of health care in the United States and the cost in other countries with comparable health care outcomes suggests the potential for substantial gains from trade. This paper describes one mechanism for taking advantage of these gains – through a globalization of the country’s Medicare and Medicaid programs. The projections in this paper suggest that the country’s long-term budget situation would be substantially improved if beneficiaries of these two programs over the age of 65 were allowed to take advantage of the lower-cost health care available in other countries (that also have higher life expectancies than the U.S.). This could also allow them to enjoy much higher retirement incomes than they would otherwise receive. |
| Keywords: | Free Trade, healthcare, Medicare, Medicaid |
| JEL: | F F1 I I1 I11 I18 |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:epo:papers:2009-38&r=pke |
| By: | Dean Baker |
| Abstract: | Although the national debate on financial transactions taxes has just begun, there have been a wide range of responses arguing that the tax is either undesirable or unenforceable, or both. This paper presents a brief response to these criticisms. |
| Keywords: | taxes, speculation, transactions |
| JEL: | G G1 G18 G2 G24 G28 G3 G38 |
| Date: | 2009–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:epo:papers:2010-01&r=pke |
| By: | Dean Baker; Travis McArthur |
| Abstract: | One outcome of the TARP and other bank rescue efforts following the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September of 2008 is that the United States has essentially formalized a commitment to a “too big to fail” (TBTF) policy for major banks. This paper uses data from the FDIC on the relative cost of funds for TBTF banks and other banks, before and after the crisis, to quantify the value of the government protection provided by the TBTF policy. |
| Keywords: | Federal Reserve, Treasury, banks |
| JEL: | G G2 G21 G24 G28 H H2 H25 E E5 E58 |
| Date: | 2009–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:epo:papers:2009-36&r=pke |
| By: | Mark Weisbrot; Rebecca Ray; Jake Johnston; Jose Antonio Cordero |
| Abstract: | This paper finds that 31 of 41 of countries with current International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreements have been subjected to pro-cyclical macroeconomic policies that, during the current global recession, would be expected to have exacerbated economic slowdowns. |
| Keywords: | IMF |
| JEL: | E E3 E32 E5 E52 F F3 F33 F34 F35 F37 O O1 O2 O3 O4 O5 |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:epo:papers:2009-37&r=pke |
| By: | Mark Weisbrot |
| Abstract: | This paper is part of a discussion between CEPR and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) regarding CEPR’s paper, “IMF-Supported Macroeconomic Policies and the World Recession: A Look at Forty-One Borrowing Countries.” An IMF representative presented a response to that paper at an October 15, 2009 event in Washington D.C., in remarks and a power point presentation. The earlier CEPR paper examined IMF agreements with 41 countries during the current global recession and found that 31 of the 41 countries had implemented pro-cyclical policies – for example cutting spending or tightening monetary policy -- that would be expected to exacerbate an economic downturn. This new discussion paper responds to the IMF's defense of its policies. |
| Keywords: | IMF |
| JEL: | E E3 E32 E5 E52 F F3 F33 F34 F35 F37 O O1 O2 O3 O4 O5 |
| Date: | 2009–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:epo:papers:2009-41&r=pke |
| By: | Robinson, William I. |
| Abstract: | The class and social structure of developing nations has undergone profound transformation in recent decades as each nation has incorporated into an increasingly integrated global production and financial system. National elites have experienced a new fractionation. Emergent transnationally-oriented elites grounded in globalized circuits of accumulation compete with older nationally-oriented elites grounded in more protected and often state-guided national and regional circuits. This essay focuses on structural analysis of the distinction between these two fractions of the elite and the implications for development. I suggest that nationally-oriented elites are often dependent on the social reproduction of at least a portion of the popular and working classes for the reproduction of their own status, and therefore on local development processes however so defined whereas transnationally-oriented elites are less dependent on such local social reproduction. The shift in dominant power relations from nationally- to transnationally-oriented elites is reflected in a concomitant shift to a discourse from one that defines development as national industrialization and expanded consumption to one that defines it in terms of global market integration. |
| Keywords: | Elties, development, globalization, transnational, capitalism, crisis |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2010-02&r=pke |
| By: | Nancy Birdsall; Jan von der Goltz |
| Abstract: | In the run-up to the December 2009 Copenhagen climate conference, the authors surveyed members of the international development community with a special interest in climate change on three sets of detailed questions: (1) what action different country groups should take to limit climate change; (2) how much non-market funding there should be for emissions reductions and adaptation in developing countries, and how it should be allocated; and (3) which institutions should be involved in delivering climate assistance, and how the system should be governed. About 500 respondents from 88 countries completed the survey between November 19–24, 2009. About a third of the respondents grew up in developing countries, although some of them now live in developed countries. A broad majority of respondents from both developing and developed countries held very similar views on the responsibilities of the two different country groups, including on issues that have been very controversial in the negotiations. Most favored binding commitments now by developed countries, and commitments by 2020 by ‘advanced developing countries’ (Brazil, China, India, South Africa and others), limited use of offsets by developed countries, strict monitoring of compliance with commitments, and the use of trade measures (e.g. carbon-related tariffs) only in very narrow circumstances. Respondents from developing countries favored larger international transfers than those from developed countries, but the two groups share core ideas on how transfers should be allocated. Among institutional options for managing climate programs, a plurality of respondents from developed (48 percent) and developing (56 percent) countries preferred a UN-managed world climate fund, while many from both groups also embraced the UN Adaptation Fund’s approach, which is to accredit national institutions within countries which are eligible to manage implementation of projects that the Fund finances. Among approaches to governance, the most support went to the Climate Investment Fund model—of equal representation of developing and developed countries on the board. |
| Keywords: | carbon; climate change; copenhagen; negotiations |
| Date: | 2009–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:195&r=pke |