The State of Working America 2006/2007

[Excerpt] Yet, despite this unequivocally beneficial development, many Americans report dissatisfaction with where the economy seems to be headed, and many worry about their own and their children’s well-being. These concerns have led some policy makers and economists to ask: why aren’t people happier about the economy? The question seems reasonable to those who follow the top-line numbers of the economy, such as the growth of the total economy (e.g. gross domestic product), the stock market, or corporate profits. The question is easily answered, however, for those who follow and report on the data that fill the chapters of this book

The State of Working America

[Excerpt] Like its predecessors, this edition of The State of Working America digs deeply into a broad range of data to answer a basic question that headline numbers on gross domestic product, inflation, stock indices, productivity, and other metrics can\u27t wholly answer: How well has the American economy worked to provide acceptable growth in living standards for most households? According to the data, the short answer is, not well at all. The past 10 years have been a lost decade of wage and income growth for most American families. A quarter century of wage stagnation and slow income growth preceded this lost decade, largely because rising wage, income, and wealth inequality funneled the rewards of economic growth to the top. The sweep of the research in this book shows that these trends are the result of inadequate, wrong, or absent policy responses. Ample economic growth in the past three-and-a-half decades provided the potential to substantially raise living standards across the board, but economic policies frequently served the interests of those with the most wealth, income, and political power and prevented broad-based prosperity

Deconstructing Structural Unemployment

Some economic observers argue "structural unemployment" has increased in the wake of the Great Recession, but in this paper we find little support for either of two arguments that suggest that structural unemployment has been on the rise. The first argument focuses on the large increase in unemployment among construction workers. The second argument is that falling house prices have reduced the mobility of unemployed workers -- creating a "house lock" in which unemployed workers, who would otherwise relocate to regions with jobs, are stuck in high unemployment areas

Open entrepreneurship centers in Brazil: To promote sustainable development and poverty reduction

Degen introduced the teaching of entrepreneurship in Brazil in 1980 and wrote the first Portuguese language textbook on entrepreneurship in 1989. The purpose was to raise awareness of the country?s poverty among students, motivate them to become entrepreneurs, and promote the sustainable development necessary to eliminate the country?s extreme poverty. After almost 30 years extreme poverty continues to be the greatest challenge for the sustainable development of Brazil. Without solving this problem there will be no preservation of the country?s natural resources, no personal safety for its citizens, and no political stability. Degen demonstrates that the teaching of entrepreneurship in Brazilian business schools has not in fact been effective in promoting entrepreneurship and sustainable development. In this paper he proposes a new approach for Brazilian universities in which they create open entrepreneurship centers and enhance their role so as to act as social agents promoting sustainable development and poverty reduction. Their new role will be to better motivate students to become entrepreneurs with social responsibility, to assist them in finding business opportunities that preserve the country?s natural resources and reduce poverty, and to help them find investors for sustainable development projects in Brazil.open entrepreneurship centers, teaching entrepreneurship in Brazil, entrepreneurship to promote sustainable development, entrepreneurship to reduce extreme poverty, universities as social agents

The prospects for African urban economies

Cities generally function as sources of economic development and human progress. One of the puzzles about Africa's urbanization is that it has not been accompanied by greater economic dynamism. The paper considers the distinctive development trajectory of African urban economies. It considers the applicability of the argument that cities are drivers of economic growth, and the idea that cities develop more complex, higher-value functions over time. It examines the recent revival of African economies, and asks whether the fashionable idea of enhanced international integration through cross-border collaboration might facilitate greater urban prosperity

THE TROUBLED AMERICAN ECONOMY: AN INSTITUTIONAL POLICY ANALYSIS

Institutional and Behavioral Economics,

The Futility of Walls: How Traveling Corporations Threaten State Sovereignty

Inversions--mergers in which one firm merges with another abroad to avoid taxes in its home country--have spread as globalization has reduced many of the transactional costs associated with relocating. As firms acquire the power to choose the laws that govern them, they challenge the sovereignty of nation-states, who find their ability to tax and regulate firms depleted. States and firms compete in a game of cat and mouse to adapt to this new global reality. The subversion of state power by these firms reveals the futility of walls, both literal and regulatory. This Essay describes the phenomenon of these “traveling corporations” and analyzes several remedies that could limit future mergers. We conclude by arguing that inversions provoke deglobalization and yet may continue to flourish despite it as firms take the lead in dictating global norms

F.B. Heron Foundation Annual Report 2002

A report on Foundation activities in 200

The Emerging Wealth Belt: New Jersey's New Millenium Geography

Describes the emergence of an economic cluster of counties in New Jersey and explains the reason for this new spatial alignment of the economy. The report also traces the historical shifts in the economic geography of New Jersey from its rural beginnings to its high technology present. Finally, the report describes the countervailing deomgraphy and economic intiatives that once more may tilt growth back to urban New Jersey. It notes, however, that a variety of economic and public policy challenges raise serious questions about the outcome of the redirection of our state's spatial development