Editors’ Summary of the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity – 2007 No 1

William C. Brainard and

WCB

William C. Brainard

George L. Perry

George L. Perry Senior Fellow Emeritus - Economic Studies

THE BROOKINGS PANEL ON Economic Activity held its eighty-third conference
in Washington, D.C., on March 29 and 30, 2007. This issue of the
Brookings Papers includes the papers and discussions presented at the
conference. The five papers in this issue span a range of domestic and
global issues of current importance. The first paper uses risk analysis to
assess the large foreign reserves holdings of emerging market countries.
The second paper models the role of information technology in the rapid
productivity growth of the past decade. The third paper examines the relation
between foreign capital inflows and growth among nonindustrialized
economies. The fourth paper estimates the effects of dividends on consumption
and the implied effects of the 2003 dividend tax cuts. The final
paper looks for explanations for the failure of long-term rates to respond
as expected to the Federal Reserve’s monetary tightening of recent years