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Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT
As efforts to audit the Federal Reserve pick up steam in Congress, Sarah Binder looks as the coalition supporting Representative Ron Paul's (R-Texas) bill. Binder concludes that it is a center to far right coalition, and it will be difficult for the House Democratic leadership to ignore or alter the bill.
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Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT
What really caused the great economic crisis of the past year? Should the Fed’s powers be stripped away, per legislation sponsored by Rep. Ron Paul that recently passed the House Financial Services Committee? In an effort to help inform the debate, Brookings Fellow Douglas Elliott and Senior Fellow Martin Baily ponder the importance of public perceptions of the causes of the crisis - and how they will affect chances of financial regulatory reform.
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Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT
As the United States begins to recover from the deepest recession in decades, policymakers and the public are increasingly turning their attention to our long-term fiscal problems. To help alleviate the deficit, we need to fix the social contract. William Galston presents evidence which suggests that if done right, strengthening the link between income and net benefits would allow entitlement programs to meet essential social objectives without antagonizing upper-income beneficiaries and undermining cross-class coalitions.
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Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Fiscal policy has been mentioned as a key driver of the resilience that many large Latin American countries have seen during the global financial crisis. Mauricio Cárdenas and José Tessada examine Chile's fiscal rules and caution that a comprehensive fiscal strategy cannot focus solely on the short- and medium-term evolution of fiscal policy.
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Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:00:00 GMT
Event Information:
- November 19, 2009, 9:00 AM to 11:45 AM
The current economic crisis is not only a national crisis; it is also a metropolitan crisis. And soon the downturn will bring a local government fiscal crisis. On November 19, the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program and the National League of Cities co-hosted a forum on city fiscal conditions, the responses being undertaken by creative mayors, and the implications for national economic recovery.
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Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Testifying before the U.S. House Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia, Alice M. Rivlin, Director of Greater Washington Research at Brookings, asserted that the District of Columbia government should have greater autonomy over its own budget. Once the District government finalizes its budget spending out of its own source revenues, Dr. Rivlin states that it should not be altered or delayed by Congress.
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Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT
The current economic crisis is not only a national crisis; it is also a metropolitan crisis; and it will soon become a local government fiscal crisis. In this framing report, Mark Muro and Christopher Hoene assert the importance of local government fiscal conditions to national economic performance, survey current and projected fiscal conditions, review implications for economic recovery, and offer a menu of federal policy options to help minimize city layoffs and service cuts that could harm the economy.
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Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT
While the economic entanglements between the U.S. and China have increased over the last decade, so has the tension. With President Obama visiting China and other Asian nations, Brookings expert Eswar Prasad and Grace Gu of Cornell University discuss the tightening embrace between the two countries—in terms of flows of goods and services, financial capital and people—and the implications.
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Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Speaking before the Senate Budget Committee, Senior Fellow William Galston discussed how the Untied States’ current fiscal course is unsustainable. The level of deficits, debt, and borrowing from abroad projected for the next decade threatens not only our economic prosperity, but also our currency, global leadership, and national independence, he asserted. Galston recommended that an independent, bi-partisan commission be created to address the challenge of developing a sustainable fiscal policy.
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Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Irving Kristol, regarded by many as the "godfather" of neoconservativism, passed away on September 18 at the age of 89. Justin Vaïsse examines the history of the movement and explains why Kristol was not a neocon in the modern sense of the word – partly because of Kristol’s consistently realist foreign policy approach.
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Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT
William Gale and Alan Auerbach review recent economic events and their impact on U.S. fiscal performance and prospects, highlighting the historic nature of the 2009 budget outcomes, the unsustainability of plausible ten-year budget projections, and the increasingly dire long-term fiscal problem.
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Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Senior Fellow William G. Gale and Alan J. Auerbach argue that while Obama must spell out a plan for reducing health costs, that will only partly address the long-term fiscal gap. Taxes and broader cuts are needed to solve the government's long-term financial problems.
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Thu, 27 Aug 2009 09:45:34 GMT
President Barack Obama has nominated Ben Bernanke to serve a second term as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. The nomination came on the same day the White House announced a sharp increase in projected deficits. Alice Rivlin says the deficit projections should serve as an impetus for officials to step up efforts to fix the floundering economy. She also gives the Bernanke nomination her nod of approval.
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Mon, 24 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Facing the most severe recession since the 1930s, the U.S. government has pursued an aggressive countercyclical fiscal policy, which is striking given the consensus a decade ago against the use of discretionary fiscal policy as a stabilization tool. In this new paper, William Gale and Alan J. Auerbach consider the evidence on the effects of discretionary fiscal policy, beginning with how the practice of this policy has changed over time.
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Fri, 07 Aug 2009 11:09:13 GMT
President Obama recently signed a law adding $2 billion to the wildly popular "Cash for Clunkers" program that has given automakers a boost after months of declining sales. Barry Bosworth says despite the program’s quick uptake, there are probably better ways to help stimulate the economy.
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Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:44:47 GMT
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's 11-day visit to select African nations wraps up this week, her longest overseas mission as America's top diplomat. Ernest Aryeetey says African nations view Secretary Clinton’s trip so early in her term as a smart move, adding her visit instills a sense of optimism about U.S.-Africa relations.
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Mon, 03 Aug 2009 12:30:11 GMT
The latest government reports show that the economy contracted at a rate of one-percent last quarter — better than expected. But the new GDP numbers showed that consumers have continued to cut spending, and unemployment is likely to continue to rise for some time. Senior Fellow Alice Rivlin says the news is good, but an end to the recession is not yet at hand.
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Thu, 30 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT
William Gale and Alan Auerbach discuss the size of the long-term budget deficit and why it must be brought under control. They urge fiscal discipline with delicate timing: imposing spending cuts and tax increases too late risks precipitating a crisis in financial markets; imposing fiscal discipline too soon risks weakening the recovery or worsening the recession, as actually happened in the United States in the 1930s. Getting this mix right will require luck, discipline, imagination and leadership.
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Thu, 23 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT
In this framing paper, Mark Muro, Sarah Rahman and Amy Liu highlight the work of some of the most creative recovery act implementers in metropolitan America, noting that their efforts to innovate come against the grain of federal “business-as-usual.”
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Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told a Senate panel on Wednesday that economic recovery should begin soon, albeit slowly at first. Martin Baily and New Jersey Republican Congressman Scott Garrett spoke with Ray Suarez about the testimony.
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Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT
William Gale argues that choosing to finance health care reform by taxing the rich is bad economic policy, bad health policy, bad budget policy and poor leadership. He says if we want to seriously reform the health care system, we need our politicians to get serious with some sensible policies.
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Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT
As unemployment continues to climb, questions have arisen as to whether the stimulus package is working, how well it was designed and when it will have an impact. Gary Burtless examines its composition, finding that efforts at creating a social safety net and fiscal relief for the states were appropriately targeted and are working.
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Mon, 13 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT
In her testimony before the Council of the District of Columbia, Special Committee on Statehood and Self Determination, Alice Rivlin explores the fiscal implications of DC statehood.
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Mon, 13 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Alice Rivlin offers her comments on the timing of health care reform on PBS' Nightly Business Report. The best hope for reducing the rate of growth of Federal spending in the future is making health care delivery more efficient so that we get more care per dollar, according to Rivlin.
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Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT
The U.S. confronts two major economic challenges: the worst recession since the Depression and a growing imbalance between federal spending and revenues that makes our underlying fiscal policy unsustainable. Policymakers face a delicate balancing act between encouraging economic recovery and establishing fiscal sustainability. William Gale and Alan Auerbach say success will take new ideas, some luck and uncharacteristic honesty and resoluteness — from our leaders and the rest of us.
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Wed, 08 Jul 2009 09:00:00 GMT
Event Information:
- July 08, 2009, 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM
The federal government responded aggressively to the economic crisis with fiscal, financial and monetary interventions. While boosting the economy has to be the top priority in the short run, it would be dangerous to lose focus on medium- and long-term fiscal issues that represent future threats to the economy and the solvency of the federal government. On July 8, Brookings experts and colleagues examined the delicate balancing act between economic recovery and fiscal sustainability.
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Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT
It is premature to say that the nearly $890 billion stimulus package is not working, purely based on the latest unemployment data. Martin Baily argues that the Obama administration's stimulus package was a good one, even if slow to hit the ground. The good news is that its main impact is still to come, and it is still needed because the recession is far from over.
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Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Alice Rivlin talks to Bloomberg's Tom Keene about U.S. monetary policy, the budget deficit, unemployment, gross domestic product and health care.
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Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT
June’s worse-than-expected payroll employment numbers have renewed debate about the success of the Obama administration’s economic stimulus. Do the numbers indicate the administration’s policies are failing? Or do they simply show that the recession is unexpectedly severe and economic forecasting is an inexact science? Gary Burtless analyzes the data.
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Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Kevin Casas-Zamora analyzes what is known and unknown about the global financial crisis and its effects on Latin America. Casas-Zamora explores four main issues regarding the political ramifications of the crisis and offers suggestions on how governments in the region should respond.
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Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Testifying before the House Budget Committee, Alice Rivlin urged enforcement of the statutory pay-as-you-go budget rules to rein in the long-term deficit. She endorsed the recent actions taken to stimulate the economy and rescue the financial sector, but said the costly measures further obligate Congress and the administration to control deficits.
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Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Mauricio Cárdenas critiques the conventional wisdom that economic contractions are a thing of the past in Latin America and a growing belief the region will soon be out of the recession. He concludes that any recovery will be slow and there may be periods of sharp adjustment during the process.
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Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:52:48 GMT
While many steps have been taken to help shore up the floundering U.S. economy, William Gale says that the long-term fiscal situation is still very dire.
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Tue, 23 Jun 2009 10:00:00 GMT
Event Information:
- June 23, 2009, 10:00 AM to 11:50 AM
On June 23, the Brookings Institution hosted Her Excellency Michelle Bachelet, president of the Republic of Chile, for a discussion of the Latin American countries and the economic measures they are taking to cope with the global financial crisis.
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Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT
President Obama’s financial reform proposals are all sensible, necessary reforms. Unfortunately, some bolder steps have been left out due to the expectation of intense opposition from entrenched interests, says Douglas Elliott. He analyzes the administration’s plan, including parts that he believes did not go far enough.
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Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Henry Aaron recently spoke about the budget, health care and entitlements at the Youth Action Conference. The conference, hosted by the Concord Coalition in conjunction with the Youth Entitlements Summit highlighted grassroots efforts and policy perspectives of youth organizations in addressing America's long-term fiscal challenge.
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Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT
While the government has been busy with bailouts, who is going to bail out the U.S. government when our creditors tire of lending to us? And now, thanks to the stimulus, virtually all those over age of 65 are receiving $250 checks, regardless of whether or not they need it. Isabel Sawhill says it’s time for Congress and the administration to get serious about getting our fiscal house in order.
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Mon, 08 Jun 2009 11:14:14 GMT
As the administration continues to wrangle with the floundering economy, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has advised that the growing budget deficits have to be cut. Economic Studies director William Gale agrees saying there needs to be a more comprehensive approach to stabilizing the economy.
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Thu, 28 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's first trip to China will feature a range of discussions about global economic issues and the U.S.-China economic relationship. Eswar Prasad outlines some of the critical agenda items and the broader challenges facing these two closely intertwined economies.
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Fri, 15 May 2009 10:00:00 GMT
Event Information:
- May 15, 2009, 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM
The economic well-being of the middle class can be crucial to the success of economic policies in both developed and developing countries. Yet many public policies are not aimed at the middle class. On May 15, Brookings hosted a discussion on the need to assess how fiscal policy affects the middle class around the world.
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Sat, 09 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Behind closed doors all over Washington, serious people are working hard to design a major overhaul of the U.S. health care system. We should wish them well, but their chances of success are slim, says Henry Aaron. Since yet another complete failure would be catastrophic, some attention should be given now to policies that, he says, are politically palatable and would begin the evolution to a new and better health system.
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Mon, 04 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT
The IMF is considering issuing bonds as a way to increase the amount of money it has available to lend to countries struggling in the wake of the financial crisis. In a new article, Eswar Prasad discusses the bond proposal, including the potential structure and impacts on the demand for U.S. treasuries.
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Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:30:00 GMT
Event Information:
- April 15, 2009, 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM
On tax day in the United States, Leonard Burman, director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, took questions about what the Obama administration should do to create a fair and equitable tax system during an online web chat moderated by Politico Senior Editor Fred Barbash.
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Tue, 14 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Children living in families with low incomes and those with poorly educated parents are much more likely than other children to grow up to be adults with less education, lower incomes, poorer health, and shorter lives, all of which severely impact federal, state and local budgets. William T. Dickens and Charles Baschnagel examine the effects of investment in selected prekindergarten education programs in a growth model of the U.S. economy to judge the impact they would have on these budgets.
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Thu, 02 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Mark Muro and Jennifer Bradley argue that America’s national economic crisis is primarily a metropolitan crisis. How can we stimulate the economy when there’s no single U.S. economy, nor even 50 state economies? Instead we should concentrate on the loosely linked network of 363 metropolitan economies for the good of the nation.
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Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
America’s national economic crisis is also a metropolitan crisis, because metropolitan areas are the true engines of the national economy. So it matters intensely how well the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) empowers metropolitan leaders to boost prosperity. This paper finds that although ARRA is limited in its support for creative metropolitan-area implementation, it delivers critical investments in what matters to metros and holds out significant opportunity for metropolitan empowerment and problem-solving.
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Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:51:28 GMT
Ron Haskins, co-director of Brookings’s Center on Children and Families, says President Obama’s budget is unsustainable and adds that it will likely fail to help restore fiscal solvency to the nation’s economy. Haskins says unless lawmakers are willing to compromise on key issues the fiscal situation will worsen.
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Thu, 26 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
The Congressional Budget Office’s analysis of President Obama’s budget proposal projects a deficit of $9.3 trillion over the next decade, thereby forcing congressional leaders to look for changes to reduce it. Although the Senate Budget Committee has not yet finished marking up its version of the fiscal year 2010 budget resolution, Democrats are likely to diverge from the president’s desires. While Congress supports most of the president’s priorities, they are poised to sideline many of the programs President Obama proposed to implement, writes William Galston.
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Thu, 05 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Almost all of the G-20 countries have agreed to some type of fiscal stimulus plan to get their economies back on track but how strong are the plans and what measures are included? Eswar Prasad and Isaac Sorkin analyze the G-20 stimulus plans in detail in new research.
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Sun, 01 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT
This perceptive book emphasizes the need for an overall analytical framework that can be applied to different countries to help analyze the current situation, identify potential areas for improvement, and assess their relative feasibility and the steps needed to promote them.
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Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Bank nationalization—the topic du jour in Washington and on Wall Street—means different things to different people. Although nationalization is a serious and extreme step with high social and financial costs, Douglas Elliott believes full nationalization may be needed only as a last resort for one or two of the nation’s larger banks, with more widespread nationalization unlikely. But, he says, it may make sense for the government to partially nationalize additional large banks now, in an effort to bring some certainty to the markets.
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Mon, 23 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
That the United States faces daunting long-term budget challenges is indisputable. But the very projections—those of the Congressional Budget Office—cited to document the long-term budget challenge, show that there is no general entitlement problem, says Henry Aaron. Rather, he argues, the nation faces a daunting health care financing problem that bedevils private insurers and public programs alike.
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Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
A bipartisan group of budget experts from 7 different organizations view President Obama’s Fiscal Responsibility summit as a good first step to addressing the enormous long-term fiscal problem facing the United States, but urge him to lead a major public engagement effort – beyond a one-day summit – to inform Americans of the scale and nature of the long-term fiscal crisis, explain the consequences of inaction and discuss the options for solving the problem. The effort should include the creation of an independent and truly bipartisan commission or other mechanism capable of bringing about decisive action that has broad public support.
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Tue, 10 Feb 2009 08:00:00 GMT
Event Information:
- February 10, 2009, 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM
President Obama's summit on fiscal responsibility is an attempt to focus the nation on the need to rein in spending, tackle our growing deficits, and plan a sound financial future for the nation. A group of budget experts from Brookings, the Heritage Foundation and other public policy think tanks gathered February 10 to discuss options for fiscal responsibility, while acknowledging the need to provide short-term stimulus to a faltering economy.
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Tue, 03 Feb 2009 18:55:46 GMT
As President Obama’s economic stimulus bill works its way through Congress, sagging GDP numbers show that this is not a typical recession says Isabel Sawhill.
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Tue, 03 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
The final version of the fiscal stimulus plan weakened the "Buy American" provision requiring the use of only U.S. iron and steel in construction work funded by the bill. Nevertheless, business groups continue to criticize the provision. In a new Q&A, Eswar Prasad discusses global concerns.
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Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Is recent sparring between the U.S. and China over currency manipulation a foreshadowing of future economic relations? Eswar Prasad instead proposes a solution: a new “grand bargain” between China and the U.S. for economic cooperation across fiscal and monetary policy, currency flexibility and governance reform at multilateral financial institutions.
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Tue, 27 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT
A diverse group of experts urged President Obama, in his first budget submission, to strike a judicious balance between America’s short-term and long-term economic needs. While the need to boost spending to stimulate the economy is important, they say these short-term steps must not make it harder to achieve our long-term goals. They note that fundamental reforms of major entitlement programs and the tax system are needed to bring spending and revenues into better balance over the longer-term.
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Fri, 23 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT
The Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) has been widely described as a “$700 billion bailout” but Douglas Elliott points out that it will cost a lot less in reality. A recent CBO report suggests the actual cost may only be a quarter of the amount committed. We must use accurate cost estimates, using methods like CBO’s, to make the best decisions about the commitment to save our financial system, which programs are funded, and how we execute the rescues.
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Wed, 21 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Treasury nominee Timothy Geithner went before a Senate panel Wednesday, answering questions on the financial crisis as well as his tax payment controversy. Martin Baily and other analysts mull what's ahead for Obama's economic agenda on NewsHour.
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Wed, 21 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT
In testimony to the Senate Budget Committee, Alice Rivlin argued that the future health of the nation’s economy depends on whether policy-makers can focus on two imperatives at once: the need to take immediate action to mitigate the impact of the recession; and the need to restore long-term fiscal responsibility and reassure our creditors that we are getting our fiscal house in order.
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Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Martin Baily and Charles Schultze say the criticisms of Treasury’s handling of the first $350 billion of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) are misguided and that Congress should release the second $350 billion immediately with reasonable, enforceable rules. They say the program should be measured on the problems it has prevented from happening, and that the new funds should be used for their intended purpose: bank recapitalization to limit further contraction of lending.
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Tue, 13 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Clifford Winston join other experts in an important and timely discussion of something that will affect both the immediate economic progress of the U.S. and our economic viability for generations to come: infrastructure, on NewTalk moderated by Amy Resnick.
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Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT
The incoming administration needs to act quickly to stimulate our ailing economy. Jason Bordoff suggests that one way to stimulate the economy and prevent the collapse of the auto industry, tackle climate change and promote oil independence, is to offer “cash for clunkers”—drivers would be given vouchers toward the purchase of newer, more fuel-efficient vehicles, with the old vehicles scrapped to get them off the road.
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Sun, 28 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT
In order for Barack Obama to truly stimulate the nation’s economy through infrastructure spending, Clifford Winston argues that he needs to wring wasteful spending not just out of pork projects, but out of all of his transportation expenditures. Unlike the bailout of the financial system, sound economic guidelines exist to enable investments to generate large social returns.
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Mon, 22 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT
As Congress and the new Administration consider spending billions of dollars to stimulate the economy in these tough economic times, Isabel Sawhill warns them not to forget the nonprofit organizations that help those in need. Sawhill says 10 percent of any stimulus should be invested in "human infrastructure."
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Sun, 21 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Jeffrey R. Kling and William J. Congdon agree with the Obama stimulus proposal that increasing expenditures and decreasing taxes can stimulate the economy, but that spending on “shovel ready” infrastructure and human capital to diversify the targets of stimulus dollars will expedite the process while keeping waste to a minimum.
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Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Richard G. Newell discusses innovation strategy to outline how a well-targeted set of climate policies, including those targeted directly at science and innovation that could help lower the overall costs of climate change mitigation.
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Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT
In an online debate, Gary Burtless argues that federal loan guarantees to an industry in trouble are nothing new. Chrysler in the 1979 and the airlines after 9/11 received government loans and it helped them get back on their feet. He also questions whether Congress can judge the plans the Big 3 have presented to them, and believes a competent executive board should be created to negotiate the terms.
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Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT
What's so bad about letting Ford, Chrysler and GM slip into bankruptcy? Gary Burtless and Daniel J. Ikenson of the Cato Institute debated bailing out the Big Three.
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Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT
It’s official: the U.S. economy is in a recession, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the recognized arbiter of the nation’s business cycles. Jeffrey Kling and William Congdon argue that President-elect Obama needs to come up with an economic recovery plan to remedy the impending economic slump, with emphasis on spending on infrastructure maintenance and repair, which can both stimulate the economy and serve valuable public needs.
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Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Jeffery Kling, Daniel Mitchell, Sharon Parrott, and host Ian Mylchreest discuss on KNPR Nevada Public Radio the Federal Reserve's latest plan to infuse another eight billion dollars in to the economy to help people borrow money for car loans, tuition and new homes and what effect this will have on the nation and the region.
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Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Robert Crandall and Clifford Winston discuss a proposal for automakers they think will cost taxpayers less and, in the long run, be more beneficial to labor and the overall economy than either a straight bailout or bankruptcy.
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Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT
In an interview on "The Diane Rehm Show," William Gale, Douglas Holtz-Eakin and Joseph Stiglitz discuss some of the elements of an expanded economic package and its overall impact on the U.S. economy.
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Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:07:14 GMT
President-elect Obama held his first press conference today, focusing on the economy. Kling commented on Obama’s address saying the nation needs two rounds of stimulus to kick-start the economy—the first to stem recent job losses and help homeowners, and then to focus on longer-term growth.
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Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Today, too many Americans are not fully sharing in our nation’s prosperity. Real median wages have stagnated, income inequality has increased, and changes in the economy that have brought benefits have also brought new risks and insecurities. In response to these challenges, our nation needs to act now on three fronts. First, our nation must make the right long-term investments to promote economic growth that is both strong and sustainable. Second, it is necessary to put in place economic policies that will better achieve broad-based participation in that growth. Third, for growth to be sustainable, it is necessary to restore sound fiscal policy, moving on a multiyear path to a sustainable fiscal position. This paper elaborates on these economic challenges.
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Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Martin Baily recommends an immediate stimulus package of $200 billion, with preparation of an additional $100 billion to be triggered if unemployment goes over 7.5 percent to prevent the U.S. economy from trending further into the danger zone.
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Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT
As President-Elect Obama prepares to lead the United States, what are the top global economic challenges facing the new president and his advisors and how should the new administration address them? A new report by Brookings global economic and development experts ranks the top 10 issues and details specific ideas for how to tackle the toughest challenges.
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Wed, 01 Oct 2008 10:00:00 GMT
Event Information:
- October 01, 2008, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Days of uncertainty on Capitol Hill finished with an economic rescue package, quickly signed by the president. Brookings economic, budget and congressional experts gathered mid-week to discuss the $700 billion question. Alice Rivlin said the bailout package will be successful if it gets credit flowing again. Others expressed concerns about whether the oversight in the legislation would be effective.
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Mon, 15 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Advocates for children are hoping that with a new administration and a new Congress in 2009, investments in children will get enhanced priority. Isabel Sawhill argues that we need a new intergenerational contract that invests more in people when they are young, but then expects them to assume somewhat greater responsibility for their own support during their retirement years.
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Fri, 08 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT
The bipartisan economic stimulus package was a straightforward application of Keynesian fiscal policy: Spend your way out of recession. However, some might wonder if it’s possible to design a stimulus package that could also reduce inequality. In this paper, Ron Haskins explains why targeted stimulus may reduce poverty in the short run but cannot substitute for investments that will reduce inequality in the long run.
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Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT
With baby boomers beginning to retire and health care spending outpacing income growth, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security face an uncertain financial future. Henry Aaron, Charles Schultze and other experts propose a radical change in budget procedures to address the budget deficits currently projected for future decades.
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Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT
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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Wed, 18 Jun 2008 11:00:00 GMT
Event Information:
- June 18, 2008, 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM
On June 18, the Brookings Institution hosted Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) and Representative Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) to discuss different approaches to correct the unsustainable path of our current fiscal policies.
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Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT
The next president and new Congress face a daunting set of challenges come January 2009: Iraq war, troubled economy, global climate change, looming government debt, taxes, health care reform and rebuilding infrastructure, all vying for immediate attention. Such a long "to do" list presents two possible tactics: tackle the hardest problem first or get the easy ones out of the way. Alice M. Rivlin and John W. Kingdon prefer the latter and would start with Social Security.
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Mon, 09 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Isabel Sawhill and Emily Monea argue that it's time to tear up the intergenerational contract as we know it and construct public policy around the one group of people for whom social investments really pay off: kids.
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Mon, 26 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT
With Congress poised to approve a budget blueprint that offers no relief for long-term deficit woes, Isabel Sawhill says that it’s time for presidential candidates to discuss ways to reshape the nation’s fiscal priorities and return to a more responsible path. Right now, she writes, little is being done to prevent a disaster.
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Sun, 25 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT
For all of their impressive qualities, this year's presidential candidates are woefully short on fiscal prudence, Alice Rivlin and Mike O'Hanlon explain. The next president will face two daunting budget problems. The winner will inherit a large deficit resulting from a weak economy, an expensive war and the persistent political inclination to spend more and tax less. But, the bigger challenge? Promises made to the growing population of retirees as health-care spending continues to soar.
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Fri, 16 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT
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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Fri, 16 May 2008 10:00:00 GMT
Event Information:
- May 16, 2008, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM
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 in a new paper released at this public forum. The authors, following opening remarks by FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair, put forward a specific agenda of policy actions to reduce the chance that history repeats itself.
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Thu, 08 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Alan J. Auerbach, Jason Furman and William Gale discuss the most recent Congressional Budget Office baseline projection, and use it to examine the causes of the fiscal decline since 2000 and the medium- and longer-term fiscal outlook.
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Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:30:00 GMT
Event Information:
- April 21, 2008, 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM
On April 21, the Brookings Institution and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) hosted a presentation of recent cross-country IMF research on the housing sector and monetary policy, as released in the April 2008 World Economic Outlook.
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Thu, 10 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Congress and the administration are moving forward in myriad ways to boost beleaguered homeowners and put the economy back on track. Doug Elmendorf, testifying before the Senate, urged policy-makers to expand the role of the Federal Housing Administration to help families in trouble refinance their mortgages, and offered comments on the compromise Senate housing bill.
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Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT
As the baby boomers begin to retire this year, the burden of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid will grow relentlessly. With more people in the programs and more expensive benefits, the nation will quickly encounter a budget disaster. Bill Frenzel and Ron Haskins say that dramatic reforms are needed to avoid budget chaos for future generations.
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Fri, 04 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT
As part of a series offering detailed policy prescriptions for the next president, Slate asked Hamilton Project Director and Brookings Senior Fellow Jason Furman for his views on how to remedy the current fiscal crisis. Furman offers a three-part response: fully account for the budget, stick to the budget and work with the other party.
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Fri, 04 Apr 2008 12:00:00 GMT
Event Information:
- April 04, 2008, 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM
With the problems in the subprime mortgage market having grown into a full-blown crisis of the international financial system, the conference brought together leading economists and practitioners to examine the questions of how this crisis happened and how to avoid a similar event in the future. The event featured such key figures as former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker, former French Prime Minister Michel Rocard, economists Martin Baily and Douglas Elmendorf of Brookings and Jean Tirole of Institut d’Économie Industrielle in Toulouse, and business leaders Michel Pébereau of BNP Paribas and Claude Bébéar of AXA and Institut Montaigne.
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Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Unsustainable deficits in the federal budget threaten the health and vigor of the American economy. When the next president and Congress take office in January 2009, they will face one crucial question that has been almost absent from the current election campaign: how to close the enormous gap between projected federal spending and revenues.
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Mon, 31 Mar 2008 10:30:00 GMT
Event Information:
- March 31, 2008, 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM
Some of the nation’s top economists and budget policy experts presented a new paper arguing that the first step toward establishing budget responsibility is to reform the budget decision process so that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid—the major drivers of escalating deficits—are no longer on auto-pilot.
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Sat, 08 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Matt Fellowes testifies before the House Committee on Financial Services on his research into the high costs of being poor.
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Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Testifying before the Joint Economic Committee, Rebecca Blank argued that the low unemployment rate is misleading when compared to earlier years because the composition of those in the workforce is changing. In fact, she said, the very high rates of long-term unemployment suggest that it might be time to extend Unemployment Insurance benefits beyond the standard 25 weeks.