As governments consider ways to provide public services more efficiently, privatization can seem like an attractive option. Yet the subject engenders sharp controversies. In New England, local governments generally have not engaged in as much privatization as those in other parts of the country....

Unlike the American Revolution, which started with cries of "no taxation without representation," the overthrow of political and economic systems in Central and Eastern Europe did not have taxes at its forefront. Under socialism, taxes had been invisible to much of the population. They were part...

New England lagged behind the national recovery in the mid 1970s but did better than average coming out of the 1982 recession. The region’s strong recovery after 1982 was the result of increased defense contracts, a high-tech export orientation, and the waning of the 1970s energy price shock....

The authors provide a review of the literature on U.S. central city growth and distress during the second half of the twentieth century. The literature reveals that city growth tended to be higher in metropolitan areas with favorable weather, higher growth, and greater human capital, whereas...

This article provides an unofficial summary of the findings and recommendations of the Panel on Research and Development Priorities for the U.S. Census Bureau’s State and Local Government Statistics Program. The panel was convened by the Committee on National Statistics of the National...

This paper provides a review of the literature on U.S. central city growth and distress during the second half of the twentieth century. It finds that city growth tended to be higher in metropolitan areas with favorable weather, higher growth, and greater human capital, while distress was...

During the twentieth century, the United States was a world leader in raising the educational attainment of its population. This important achievement contributed to national productivity growth and extended economic opportunity to formerly disadvantaged groups in society. Now, at the beginning...

In 1958, economist A. W. Phillips published an article describing what he observed to be the inverse relationship between inflation and unemployment; subsequently, the "Phillips curve" became a central concept in macroeconomic analysis and policymaking. But today's Phillips curve is not the same...