The amount of assets held by the Federal Reserve has dramatically increased since 2009. It recently crossed $4 trillion and will likely peak at about $4.5 trillion. This increase is the result of the Fed's large-scale asset purchase programs, which were intended to support economic growth....

The latest estimates of fundamental equilibrium exchange rates (FEERs) in this semiannual series indicate that the currencies of the United States, the euro area, China, and Japan are approximately at their FEER levels and need no adjustment to reduce excessive external imbalances. The...

Laments over the decline of the manufacturing base in the United States are widespread. But while manufacturing employment has steadily declined for many decades, more direct measures of manufacturing productivity show that the growth of the US manufacturing sector has actually been strong and...

Germany has the best functioning labor market among large economies in the West. In the eyes of some, however, its success comes with a price. Questions have been raised over whether Germany’s labor reforms have lowered living standards, especially for low-income workers, worsening income...

Four years ago, President Barack Obama set the goal of doubling exports within five years and creating 2 million new export-related jobs. The strategy put in place, however, has failed to achieve superior growth. Freund argues that the emphasis on small and medium enterprises in the National...

Women have come a long way in sports, as the recent winter Olympics demonstrated, but more progress is called for. Studies show that girls with access to sports reap far-reaching benefits throughout their lives. Girls who play sports do better in school, suffer fewer health problems, achieve...

The new chair of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen, contends that there is considerable slack in the labor market, and that the Fed is monitoring several measures of labor market conditions to assess that problem. This Policy Brief provides new analysis on one of these measures, the US labor...

Using data on eight advanced economies (Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Slovakia, Spain, the United Kingdom, and United States) between 2007 and 2010, Tomas Hellebrandt shows how the Great Recession affected income inequality in different countries and how families and the state tried to...

Myanmar is in the midst of a long and difficult multifaceted transition, involving political liberalization, economic reform, and the resolution of multiple long-standing civil conflicts. The country has a history of ethno-religious conflict and separatism. Civil-military relations are muddy,...

In recent years, South Korea has been a major investor in North Korea, and South Korean firms have employed more than 50,000 North Korean workers. The hope has been to use economic engagement to lessen the North's direct state control over the economy and to encourage greater internal opening....