Epstein and Carrick-Hagenbarth analyze the conflict of interest that exists when academic financial economists, acting in their roles as presumed objective experts in the media and academia on topics, such as financial regulation, fail to report their private financial affiliations. The authors...

This previously published, but now out-of-print paper addresses the circumstances surrounding the ‘Federal Reserve - Treasury Accord of 1951. We want to make it available now because of the current intense focus on the role of the Federal Reserve in the financial crisis, which has raised...

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in July 2010 is the most ambitious measure aimed at regulating U.S. financial markets since the Glass-Steagall Act was implemented in the midst of the 1930s Depression.  However, it remains an open question as to whether Dodd-Frank...

Madagascar, one of the poorest countries in the world, faces many challenges. But recent political stability, debt cancellation, and a strong developmental plan for the future embedded in the Madagascar Action Plan – in addition to Madagascar's long-standing advantages of great mineral and...

Burke, Oh, and Epstein focus on new measures of foreign outsourcing to track changes in the offshoring of manufacturing activity and to explore how offshoring along with other factors are related to the dramatic dislocation of workers in the US manufacturing sector in recent years. They present...

It is now clear that we are in the midst of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. This crisis is the latest phase of the evolution of financial markets under the radical financial deregulation process that began in the late 1970s. This evolution has taken the form of cycles in...

As the world financial crisis deepens, the task of generating decent employment has taken on more urgency, yet now faces even more obstacles then before. Of course, a key component of the solution to the current crisis will be massive expansionary fiscal actions on the part of the rich...

Foreign direct investment (FDI) has become a much desired commodity by nations, regions and cities throughout the world. Indeed, governments bid for FDI because it is commonly thought to be an important engine of economic growth, job creation, and technological upgrading. The People’s Republic...

We present new estimates of the rentier share of national income for OECD countries for the years between 1960 and 2000. For most countries, the rentier share of income significantly increased during the last several decades, starting in the early 1980's and coinciding with the shift to...

In the last two decades, there has been a global sea change in the theory and practice of central banking. The currently dominant “best practice” approach to central banking consists of the following: (1) central bank independence (2) a focus on inflation fighting (including adopting formal...