The four-year rise in the U.S. poverty rate that began withthe recession of 2001 and the images of devastation fromNew Orleans after Hurricane Katrina has led to a renewedinterest in poverty among researchers and policymakers.Mayors of large cities have been prominent in the reneweddiscussion....

[...]This paper examines how repo contracting conventionsevolved in the 1980s. In the next section, we consider therevival of repo financing in the 1950s and the contractingconventions associated with that revival. Section 3 describeshow the rising level and volatility of interest rates and...

[...]This paper empirically examines the spatial and temporalresponses of the New York City economy to a large, butspatially concentrated, exogenous shock to its capital stock:the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Our focus on thecity’s response allows us to draw inferences about how...

[...]As we documented in a longer version of this paper (Triplettand Bosworth forthcoming), labor productivity growth in theservices industries after 1995 was a broad acceleration, not justconfined to one or two industries, as has sometimes beensupposed. Using the 1977-95 period as the base, we...

[...]In this article, we analyze the effects of September 11 on thelonger run prospects for the New York City economy. We findthat, on the one hand, several downside risks to the city’sgrowth outlook have arisen. In a worst-case scenario, theconcentration of the attack on Lower Manhattan has...

Public infrastructure is an important part of a wellfunctioningurban economy. Such infrastructure—definedhere as publicly owned and maintained physical capital—hashistorically played a central role in allowing cities to grow bymitigating or reducing problems such as congested...

[...]One important theme, common to both views, is thatinvestment is a fundamental part of the growth process.Investment, moreover, may be defined broadly to include anyexpenditure that provides productive payoffs in the future;therefore, measures of human capital and research anddevelopment...

[...]This article describes a method by which we may moreaccurately predict regional economic activity. Specifically, wedevelop an index of leading economic indicators (LEI) forNew York State and for New Jersey over the 1972-99 period.We extend our earlier work (Orr, Rich, and Rosen 1999),...

[...]This paper presents theoretical and empirical analysis ofautomatic fiscal stabilizers. Using the modern theory of consumption behavior, we identify several channels throughwhich optimal reaction of household consumption plans toaggregate income shocks is tempered by these stabilizers....

[...]We address several questions in this paper. First,how could macro markets be useful to the average person?Second, how large are the potential benefits from diversificationif these markets were to be introduced andused optimally? Third, can existing financial marketsachieve a similar degree...