Despite real premium growth rates, flattening per capital consumption of life and nonlife insurance and a downward move of the industry's contribution to the economy, the U.S. is still attractive to foreign insurance companies. At the same time, several U.S. companies continue or plan their...

The evolution of market economies has dramatically broadened the opportunities of consumers, workers, investors, and firms. Financial services have become especially free and accessible, but also increasingly complex. For the new financial freedom to help most people, they must understand their...

This paper asks whether personal financial management education is an effective mechanism for helping lower-income households accumulate financial assets and improve credit histories. The paper argues that the best existing studies of the effectiveness of financial literacy initiatives suggest...

Social Security has been an extremely popular program over its 70 years of existence. It has provided retirement, life insurance and disability benefits to workers and their families. Through the years, benefits have been expanded and adjusted, new groups of workers have been covered, and taxes...

There is present concern that housing prices in the U.S. are undergoing an unsustainable boom, which some refer to as a bubble, that will end in a bust with dire consequences for the real economy. This paper considers whether this dire scenario is likely to happen. My reading of the literature...

Real home prices have been rising strongly since the mid-1990s, and have continued to do so even as the economy has weakened. This has sparked the concern as to whether there is a bubble in the housing market, the collapse of which could harm the overall economy. Taking into account fundamentals...

The author reviews the legislative framework of financial regulation, assesses public and private sector accountability for the economic trauma loosed in 2008, and appraises the legislative aftermath. His thesis is that the economy and the financial security of the country were unnecessarily...

This paper discusses a number of key issues regarding implementation by the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) and the Federal Insurance Office (FIO) of the Dodd-Frank Act’s provisions affecting insurance. The paper emphasizes the fundamental differences between insurance and...

The system’s financial structure is fundamentally unsound. Legislation of 1977 and 1983 attempted to address this by raising taxes and cutting benefits; Social Security was to be on sound financial footing well in to the 21st century. And now, just a few years later, The 1994 Board of...

Since the 1930s, when the U.S. Congress interposed government regulation of banks for market discipline, the role of the state in the American financial system has steadily grown. While politicians and executives from the financial services industry characterize the relationship as a...