Editors’ Summary of the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity – 1997 No 2

George L. Perry and

George L. Perry Senior Fellow Emeritus - Economic Studies

William C. Brainard

WCB

William C. Brainard

THE BROOKINGS PANEL on Economic Activity held its sixty-fourth conference
in Washington, D.C., on September 4 and 5, 1997. This issue
of Brookings Papers includes the papers and discussions presented at
the conference. The first paper examines the economic implications of
alternative proposals for reforming the U.S. social security system. The
second analyzes the large increases in both unemployment rates and
capital shares in continental Europe. The third paper models how government
policies have given rise to large unofficial sectors in some
transition economies of central and eastern Europe and the former Soviet
Union. And the fourth assesses the gains and costs likely to flow
from European monetary union.