pThis paper analyzes U.S. budget debates in the context of the G-20's turn toward austerity at the 2010 Toronto Summit. It begins by looking at claims by Reinhart and Rogoff and the International Monetary Fund that rising ratios of government debt/gross domestic product pose serious threats to...

This paper is the second part of our study of the world financial crisis. Part I, "From Shadow Banking System to Shadow Bailout," appeared in the previous issue of this journal (Ferguson and Johnson 2009). The discussion centers on the "Paulson Put" that defined the "Shadow Bailout"âthe effort...

This paper analyzes how a world financial meltdown developed out of U.S. subprime mortgage markets. It outlines how deregulatory initiatives allowed Wall Street to build an entire line of new, risky financial products out of raw materials the mortgage markets supplied. We show how further...

This paper analyzes patterns of industrial structure and party competition in the 2012 presidential election. The analysis rests on a new and more comprehensive database that catches more of the myriad ways in which businesses and major investors make political contributions than previous...