The Fed’s enlarged balance sheet: The Expanding Importance of Bank Reserves (Part II)
Fotis Siokis
September 30, 2020
With an enlarged balance sheet, what is the new operating regime of the Fed (or how does it conduct monetary policy) and what are its options? In this second post we address these questions. Read more
The Federal Reserve and its balance sheet: A Herculean task in mitigating the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic (Part I)
Fotis Siokis
July 30, 2020
Global pandemic events in history, beyond death and destruction, have caused major economic fallout and collapses in international trade. Read more
The New York Economy Amid the Coronavirus Crisis
James Orr and Zhuo Xi
April 26, 2020
New York, along with the rest of the nation and world, is in the midst of the coronavirus crisis. It is hard to comprehend the tragic loss of more than almost 17,000 lives (as of April 27) statewide including more than 11,000 in New York City. Read more
The Opioid Crisis in the New York Area: A First Look
Robert Utzinger
February 17, 2020
The United States has been experiencing an increase in the number of deaths due to suicide and drug overdose. In this article I first explain this problem, review the theories behind this phenomenon focusing on drug abuseRead more
New York City Jobs Up but Growth Moderates Through the Third Quarter 2019
Meng-Ting Chen and James Orr
December 29, 2019
New York City employment is now well into its ninth year of growth and jobs across a variety of sector continue to expand. Read more
A Primer on Democratic Socialism
Twisha Asher
June 30, 2019
In 2017, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez beat Joe Crowley to claim the seat for New York’s 14th district in a momentous political upset. As a self-described Democratic Socialist, Ocasio-Cortez’s election spurred debate across the political spectrum. Read more
Janet Yellen in Conversation with Paul Krugman
Fotios Siokis
May 30, 2019
On December 10, 2018, the Graduate Center hosted an attention-grabbing discussion on the causes of the Great Recession and the possibility of a future downturn due to high levels of corporate indebtedness. Read more
Sturdy Job Growth in New York City Continues
James Orr
April 29, 2019
The recovery and expansion of employment in New York City that began following the financial crisis and downturn continued into its ninth year in early 2019. This post examines recent overall job growth in the city and... Read more
Measuring Inequality… Are we doing it right?
Andreas Kakolyris
April 01, 2019
Two years after the death of Sir Anthony Barnes “Tony” Atkinson, characterized as the father of modern inequality research by Paul Krugman, the question of measuring inequality remains more crucial than ever. Read more
Melting Snowballs and the Winter of Debt
Paul Krugman
January 31, 2019
Do you remember the winter of debt? In late 2010 and early 2011, the U.S. economy had barely begun to recover from the 2008 financial crisis. Around 9 percent of the labor force was still unemployed... Read more
Immigrant Entrepreneurship in the United States
Yoshiko Oka
January 10, 2019
On May 25, 2018, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced a proposal to end the International Entrepreneur Rule, which was published at the end of the Obama Administration. Unlike many other countries, the United States has no visa... Read more
The Credit Crunch and the Great Recession
Paul Krugman
December 08, 2018
Ben Bernanke wrote a paper arguing that the financial crisis and the resulting credit crunch were central to the Great Recession. His summary measures of financial conditions fall into two categories... Read more
A Primer on Real Versus Nominal
Harvey Gram
July 22, 2018
The word “nominal” suggests insignificance. A “nominal tip” is small. “Nominally in charge” means “in name only” i.e. not really in charge. A money-valued variable such as GDP in dollars, pesos, Euros, etc. is described as... Read more
A Primer on Stocks and Flows (Part 2)
Harvey Gram
June 06, 2018
“Debts” and “deficits” seem to have negative connotations. Still, every debt/liability for one party is a credit/asset for some counter-party who willingly holds the corresponding security; and every deficit has its matching surplus somewhere in a complete and consistent set of accounts. Read more
A Primer on Stocks and Flows (Part 1)
Harvey Gram
May 18, 2018
The distinction between stocks and flows is essential to economic reasoning. In many cases, it is just common sense. If I tell you that my income is $1000, am I a prince or a pauper? Is it $1000 per hour or $1000 per year? Income is a flow, which must have a time dimension in order to be... Read more
U.S. Tax Reform: Where Are We Now?
Rubaiyat Tasnim and the ESG
April 12, 2018
On February 28, 2018, the Graduate Center Public Programs and the Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality held a panel on tax reform where experts discussed its implications and how it will impact different constituencies. Panelists were: Larry Kotlikoff... Read more
The Welfare State in the Age of Globalization
Branko Milanovic
March 05, 2018
It has become a truism to say that the welfare state is under stress from the effects of globalization and migration and thus may not be able to provide the same level of income support that it had provided in the past. Read more
Why 20th Century Tools Cannot Be Used to Address 21st Century Income Inequality
Branko Milanovic
February 16, 2018
The remarkable period of reduced income and wealth inequality in the rich countries, roughly from the end of the Second World War to the early 1980s, relied on four pillars: strong trade unions, mass education, high taxes and large government transfers. Read more
How Should We Think About the Effects of Corporate Tax Cuts?
Paul Krugman
February 08, 2018
Late last year Republicans enacted a huge tax cut, mainly for corporations. They then seized on some seemingly supportive data points – investment announcements by some major corporations, bonuses paid to some employees, an uptick in some measures of wage growth... Read more
Dream Hoarders: Is the Upper Middle Class Leaving Everyone Else Behind?
Andreas Kakolyris
January 30, 2018
On November 15, 2017, the City University of New York Graduate Center and the Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality co-hosted a presentation by Richard Reeves, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, on the topic... Read more