The health sector's role in New York's regional economy

Economic activity in the New York region depends heavily on the health sector - a sector that helped buoy New York's economy during the region's 1989-92 downturn. But with fundamental changes occuring in health care, will the sector still bolster the region's economy in the years to come?Medical care ; New York (State) ; New Jersey

The impact of the current defense build-down

For the third time since the end of World War II, the United States is engaged in a long-term defense build-down. This article provides a broad macroeconomic overview of the current build-down relative to the build-downs following the Korean War and the Vietnam War. In addition, the authors examine regional and industrial impacts of cuts in defense spending.Defense contracts ; War - Economic aspects ; Employment (Economic theory)

Federal grants during the eighties

Federal grants policy changed significantly during the eighties. Grants to states and localities decreased as a share of GDP, the first sustained decline in aid since the forties. Restrictions on the use of federal funds were eased with the conversion of categorical matching aid programs into unconditional block grants. At the same time, aid to individuals rose at the expense of other major grants categories. Taken together, these changes in federal grants tended to decrease state and local government investment in physical and human capital. I estimate that the decline in federal grants for physical capital investment curbed average annual growth of state and local capital (as a share of GDP) by roughly 0.5 percentage points during the eighties, and slowed the growth of output by as much as 0.7 percentage points over the decade. Similarly, cuts in grants for job training decreased GDP growth by as much as 0.4 percentage points over the same period.Capital investments ; Revenue sharing