SPOTLIGHT: Fiscal Policy
Reuters/Jim Young- Employee inspects copies of the federal budget as they roll off the production line in Washington
Henry J. Aaron, June 24, 2008
Henry J. Aaron testified before the House Committee on the Budget about H.R. 3654, a bill that would establish a federal budget commission to "reform tax policy and entitlement benefit programs and ensure a sound fiscal future."
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Fiscal Policy, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Health Care
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
Past Event
Kara Kling - FDIC Chairman Sheila Baer gives a presentation at the Brookings Institution
Friday, May 16, 2008
10:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Washington, DC
How could America's sophisticated financial system go so wrong and cause so much damage? Martin Baily, Douglas Elmendorf and Robert Litan answered that question at a public forum and suggested policy actions to reduce the chance that history repeats itself. FDIC Chairman Sheila Baer offered her own proposal to ease the crisis.
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Financial Services, Fiscal Policy, Housing, Mortgage Market, U.S. Economy
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. In this brief, Rebecca Blank and Brian Kovak propose a new program to link these mothers to medical and economic support and give them greater assistance in securing employment.
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Welfare, U.S. Poverty, Unemployment, Children & Families, Working Poor