Editors’ Summary of the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity – 1990 No 1

George L. Perry and

George L. Perry Senior Fellow Emeritus - Economic Studies

William C. Brainard

WCB

William C. Brainard

THIS ISSUE of Brookings Papers on Economic Activity contains papers
and discussions presented at the forty-ninth conference of the Brookings
Panel on Economic Activity, which was held in Washington, D.C.,
on April 5 and 6, 1990. The first major paper evaluates the implications
of the aging of the American population for optimal national saving. The
second paper analyzes Eastern Europe’s move to develop national
market economies. The third paper takes a fresh look at the transmission
mechanism, by which monetary policy affects aggregate demand. The
first report returns to the unsettled issue of the relationship between the
level of inflation and uncertainty about its future course. The second
report analyzes changes in corporate leverage. The final report assesses
the prospects for economic reform in the Soviet Union.