SPOTLIGHT: Financial Services

Reuters/Rebecca Cook - An auction lawn sign points to a foreclosed property to be auctioned off in Detroit
Martin Neil Baily, Douglas W. Elmendorf and Robert E. Litan, May 16, 2008
With the U.S. financial system still in a perilous state, Martin Baily, Doug Elmendorf and Bob Litan diagnose what caused the crisis and offer prescriptions for policy change. The authors of this new Brookings paper address two challenges: to resolve the immediate problems and to reduce the likelihood that these problems recur.
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Financial Services, Fiscal Policy, Mortgage Market, Housing, Regulation
SPOTLIGHT: Macroeconomics

REUTERS/Hector Mata - Demonstrators hold signs in front of the Federal Reserve Bank in Los Angeles
Douglas W. Elmendorf, May 14, 2008
Even though billions of dollars of mortgage-related loses have yet to be declared, Doug Elemendorf offered Joint Economic Committee members four principles to guide reform of the troubled financial system. His diagnosis and prescriptions are based on a new Brookings report to be released Friday.
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Macroeconomics, Financial Services, Mortgage Market, Federal Reserve, Financial Institutions
SPOTLIGHT: Welfare

Reuters/Carlos Barria - A mother and her son travel on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama
Rebecca M. Blank and Brian Kovak, May 2008
There are a growing number of low-income single mothers who are long-term welfare recipients or are without steady employment. They tend to face more barriers to stable employment, with less education, younger children, higher rates of mental and physical health problems and substance abuse, and a history of domestic violence. This brief proposes a new program to link these mothers to medical and economic supports and give them greater assistance in securing employment.
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Welfare, U.S. Poverty, Unemployment, Children & Families, Working Poor