The agencies and what they do -- How to think about the agencies -- The agencies and financial innovation -- Cogs in the wheel of financial destruction -- Aftermath -- Addendum: convenient villains & all-purpose bogeymen -- I'll be gone. You'll be gone.

The paper examines the effects of three groups of factors (county economic structure, social/demographic attributes and geography) on employment growth and poverty change in US counties before and after the Great Recession. It finds that the industrial structure that facilitates inter-industry...

The Great Recession had a tremendous impact on low-income Americans, in particular black and Latino Americans. The losses in terms of employment and earnings are matched only by the losses in terms of real wealth. In many ways, however, these losses are merely a continuation of trends that have...