To avoid excessive concentration of economic and financial power, Solomon recommends institutional and regulatory reform of the financial system by such means as nationwide banking, restrictions on federal deposit insurance, consolidation of financial regulation, balancing numerical standards...

Hutchens examines three paths by which a young person with limited academic credentials may avoid a life of unemployment and low wages: obtaining additional formal schooling, securing a job that provides secure employment at "good" wages, or acquiring a job that provides skills and thereby opens...

According to Briggs, while mass immigration in the past was consistent with then-existing labor market needs, today it is incompatible with the nation's economic development trends and labor force requirements. Briggs concludes that it is important to shift the emphasis of the legal immigration...

According to Papadimitriou, Phillips, and Wray, at a time when small businesses are suffering from a credit crunch, "niche" financial institutions are filling the void left by more traditional sources of financing, such as commercial banks. The authors argue that the most important of these...

Barth and Brumbaugh propose a series of reforms aimed at making bank regulations compatible with the changing financial system. They present evidence to support their contention that change in the market for financial services has reduced the importance of depositories as they have traditionally...

Karier explores the efficacy of the investment tax credit (ITC) in stimulating private investment spending. He notes that there are three possible channels through which an ITC can act on investment: price, income, and multiplier effects. He finds that ITCs do not appear to have had a...

Fazzari offers evidence that policies aimed at stimulating private sector investment through interest rate reductions are, at best, misguided. He concludes that because of the nebulous effect of interest rates on investment, while there may be benefits from policies aimed at increasing saving or...

Following up on findings by J. Bradford DeLong and Lawrence Summers that a robust statistical relationship exists between productivity and private sector investment in plant and equipment, Erenburg explores whether there is also a connection between economic growth and public spending. She...

This brief presents contrasting views on the effects of public infrastructure investment on private sector productivity. Aschauer states that the slower rate of productivity growth since the early 1970s--coupled with an aging population, the declining proportion of workers to the total...

This brief proposes that the establishment of a nationwide system of community development banks (CDBs) would advance the capital development of the economy. The proposal is based on the notion that a critical function of the financial system is not being adequately performed by existing...