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BPEA | 1993 No. 2

Editors’ Summary of the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity – 1993 No 2

1993, No. 2


THIS ISSUE of the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity contains articles,
a report, and discussions presented at the fifty-sixth conference of
the Brookings Panel on Economic Activity, which was held in Washington,
D.C., on September 9 and 10, 1993. The first article presents a new
model of the way in which distorted incentives adversely affect financial
behavior, focusing especially on how deposit insurance coupled with inadequate
regulation led to the thrift industry crisis. The second examines
the risk premium on equities-the spread between expected real returns
on bonds and stocks-and presents evidence that it has decreased
in recent years. The third presents fresh data and analysis of the Russian
program to privatize firms. The fourth examines the importance of the
credit channel between monetary policy and real economic activity. The
fifth provides new empirical evidence on the connection between economic
expansion and poverty. The report in this issue questions the accepted
wisdom about how U.S. exporters price in foreign markets.