This paper summarizes inequalities in PC ownership using data from the US Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) and the British General Household Survey (GHS) for the period 1984-98. Between 1988 and 1994, British households were more likely than US households to own a personal computer (PC). After...

If personal computers (PCs) are used to enhance learning and information gathering across a variety of subjects, then a home computer might reasonably be considered an input in an educational production function. Using data on British youths from the British Household Panel Survey between 1991...

Throughout the 1980s, the British unemployment compensation system was subject to a series of administrative changes. At the same time, the proportion of male unemployed workers receiving benefit fell by some twenty percentage points. Using a time series of cross-sections from the Labour Force...

Many observers argue that recent votes unfavorable to the European Union are the result of specific factors in each country. The authors argue there is a more central problem. The European social model has been seriously undermined, partly because of budgetary agreements of the EU and a zealous...

This paper analyses the evolution of the welfare states in the majority of OECD countries during the pre-globalisation (1946--80) and globalisation (1980--2000) periods. Our purpose is to find out whether globalisation has produced a convergence towards a smaller welfare state, funded...

On January 1st, the maximum amount of annual earnings subject to the Social Security tax – a.k.a. the payroll tax cap – increased to $118,500. Every year, this cap is adjusted to keep up with inflation. However, many American workers are not aware that any wages above the cap are not taxed...

This report argues that a key driver in rising inequality and a decline in the employment to population ratio is conscious economic policy, with a particularly important and under-appreciated role for macroeconomic policy. The paper first demonstrates the remarkable “flexibility” of U.S....

There is currently $2.7 trillion in the Social Security Trust Fund, held in Treasury bonds. Since the program is currently taking in more revenues (taxes on payroll and benefits as well as interest on the bonds) than it is paying out, the Trust Fund will continue to grow to about $2.9 trillion....

One of every nine women in the United States (11.8 percent in 2013) is represented by a union at her place of work. The annual number of hours of paid work performed by women has increased dramatically over the last four decades. In 1979, the typical woman was on the job 925 hours per year; by...