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• The Effects of Broadband Deployment on Output and Employment: A Cross-sectional Analysis of U.S. Data

  Fri, 01 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMT

  Robert Crandall, William Lehr and Robert Litan discuss how high-speed internet access has developed rapidly in the last decade and is increasingly viewed as essential infrastructure for our global information economy.

• Globalization and Income Polarization in Rich Countries

  Sun, 01 Apr 2007 00:00:00 GMT

  Gary Burtless shows how income inequality has changed in rich countries and considers how much of the change can be explained by closer economic integration between rich and poor countries.

• Sharing and Reducing the Financial Risks of Future "Mega-Catastrophes"

  Wed, 01 Mar 2006 00:00:00 GMT

  While policymakers and leaders continue to debate the rebuilding of Gulf areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina, a much greater loss looms on the horizon. The storm illustrated the inability of private insurance markets to handle large-scale losses. "Mega-catastrophes" are catastrophic events, like Katrina, whose costs are so large and unpredictable that private insurers either are unwilling to insure against them, or charge premiums so high that significant numbers of customers do not want or cannot afford the insurance.

• New Estimates of the Budget Outlook: Plus Ca Change, Plus C'est la Meme Chose

  Fri, 10 Feb 2006 00:00:00 GMT

  Despite substantial attention given to fiscal policy concerns in recent years, the federal government's fiscal status has continued to deteriorate, with the enactment of tax cuts, a massive new Medicare entitlement, increased spending on defense and homeland security, and related economic developments. This paper provides new estimates of the nation's fiscal status over both the 10-year and long-term horizon, based on the most recent (January 2006) CBO official budget figures (2006).

• The Budget Crisis: Is It All Déjà Vu?

  Wed, 01 Feb 2006 00:00:00 GMT

  This paper looks back at the efforts after 1981 to resolve the conflict over how to reduce the budget deficit. Large and sustained budget deficits have re-emerged as a central focus of the debate over U.S. economic policy. The parallels between today's situation and the large deficits of the 1980s are striking in several dimensions. Is it possible that history will simply repeat itself, and a return to the budget discipline of the 1990s will again restore balance?

• Global Imbalances: The Blind Men and the Elephant

  Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMT

  This paper reviews competing explanations for the pattern of global imbalances and the magnitude of the U.S. external deficit. It argues that, far from being incompatible, existing explanations are all parts of the larger story.