SPOTLIGHT: Economic Mobility
Reuters/Kevin Lamarque - U.S. President George W. Bush signs H.R. 5140, the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, Washington, DC
Ron Haskins, Summer 2008
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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Economic Mobility, Inequality, Fiscal Policy, U.S. Economic Growth, Welfare
Spotlight: Aid
Reuters/Bruno Domingos - Children pose in Guaribas city, northeastern Brazil.
Homi Kharas, August 27, 2008
Following the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, the High Level Forum will resume for its third gathering in Accra, Ghana on September 2, 2008. Homi Kharas examines the coordination of development aid and the addition of new donors since the Paris Declaration and questions whether this Forum’s ministerial declaration of an Accra Agenda for Action can provide improvements to the $170 billion aid system.
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Foreign Aid, Development, Developing Countries, Global Poverty, Global Economics
SPOTLIGHT: China
Reuters/Nao Nakanishi - A plant which will produce oil from coal, known as coal-to-liquid (CTL), nears completion in Erdos, in China's Inner Mongolia region, April 2008.
Erica S. Downs, August 13, 2008
In testimony before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, Erica Downs outlined China's energy policymaking reforms and how they are unlikely to substantially improve energy governance. She also discussed the implications of these changes for the United States.
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China, Energy, Energy Security, Environment, Environmental Regulation