This article, based on two books (Barr and Diamond 2008, forthcoming), sets out a series of principles for pension design rooted in economic theory: pension systems have multiple objectives, analysis should consider the pension system as a whole, analysis should be framed in a second-best...

This report is the first policy study of the China Economic Research and AdvisoryProgramme, in which eminent economists from China and abroad have participated. Thereport focuses on the problems faced by China in the reform of its social security system.On the basis of economic principles and...

Asthma is the most common chronic disease of childhood. Recent evidence hasshown a socio-economic gradient in its distribution. This paper examineswhether a number of factors argued to have led to a rise in the incidence ofasthma might also explain the social gradient. Several of these have been...

[...]In this article, we describe and give an updated analysis ofour approach to estimating the cost of equity capital used bythe Federal Reserve System. The article is structured as follows.We begin with a review of the basic valuation models used toestimate the cost of equity capital. In...

[...]This paper surveys the research on boards of directors in theeconomics and finance literature. Boards of directors are aneconomic institution that, in theory, helps to solve the agencyproblems inherent in managing an organization. Althoughboards satisfy numerous regulatory requirements,...

[...]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),...

[...]Early in the morning of each business day, the major foreignexchange trading firms send their customers lists oftechnical trading signals for that day. Timely technical signalsare also supplied by major real-time information providers.These signals, which are based primarily on prior price...

[...]With fiscal affairs apparently in order—at least in the shortrun—and with some perspective on the past twenty-five years’economic performance, we are in a position to ask how well thebudget process has worked to produce a coherent andresponsive fiscal policy, particularly given the...

[...]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....

[...]In this paper, I draw on analyses that aimed todetermine whether impoverished U.S. locales varied byrace or urban/rural location in their rates and causes ofexcess mortality, and whether mortality gaps betweenimpoverished and other U.S. populations widened over thedecade from 1980 to 1990....