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Development and Public Finance
By D. K. Srivastava, U Sankar. 2012
Development and Public Finance is a commemorative volume on late Dr Raja J. Chelliah, one of the foremost Public Finance…
experts of India. It is designed as a compendium of essays on contemporary issues of Public Finance and Development, focusing on the rapidly globalizing Indian economy. Well-known scholars and experts have contributed insightful articles to this collection. All contributions have been exclusively invited for this publication. They represent a weaving of interdependent themes of Development and Public Finance and are sequentially arranged to reflect their interrelationships. Some of the important topics analyzed by the articles are: divestment and privatization; financial transaction tax; carbon tax; fiscal federalism; goods and service tax; decentralization; social policy; and climate change. Not only is this volume academically rich, it also has an entire section where Dr Chelliah's peers and colleagues talk about him and how they saw him-the man they variously describe as a great scholar, a brilliant economist, and an indomitable crusader.Concrete Economics
By J. Bradford Delong, Stephen S. Cohen. 2016
History, not ideology, holds the key to growth.Brilliantly written and argued, Concrete Economics shows how government has repeatedly reshaped the…
American economy ever since Alexander Hamilton's first, foundational redesign.This book does not rehash the sturdy and long-accepted arguments that to thrive, entrepreneurial economies need a broad range of freedoms. Instead, Steve Cohen and Brad DeLong remedy our national amnesia about how our economy has actually grown and the role government has played in redesigning and reinvigorating it throughout our history. The government not only sets the ground rules for entrepreneurial activity but directs the surges of energy that mark a vibrant economy. This is as true for present-day Silicon Valley as it was for New England manufacturing at the dawn of the nineteenth century.The authors' argument is not one based on abstract ideas, arcane discoveries, or complex correlations. Instead it is based on the facts-facts that were once well known but that have been obscured in a fog of ideology-of how the US economy benefited from a pragmatic government approach to succeed so brilliantly.Understanding how our economy has grown in the past provides a blueprint for how we might again redesign and reinvigorate it today, for such a redesign is sorely needed.Policy and Choice
By William J. Congdon, Sendhil Mullainathan, Jeffrey R. Kling. 2011
Traditional public finance provides a powerful framework for policy analysis, but it relies on a model of human behavior that…
the new science of behavioral economics increasingly calls into question. In Policy and Choice economists William Congdon, Jeffrey Kling, and Sendhil Mullainathan argue that public finance not only can incorporate many lessons of behavioral economics but also can serve as a solid foundation from which to apply insights from psychology to questions of economic policy.The authors revisit the core questions of public finance, armed with a richer perspective on human behavior. They do not merely apply findings from psychology to specific economic problems; instead, they explore how psychological factors actually reshape core concepts in public finance such as moral hazard, deadweight loss, and incentives.Part one sets the stage for integrating behavioral economics into public finance by interpreting the evidence from psychology and developing a framework for applying it to questions in public finance. In part two, the authors apply that framework to specific topics in public finance, including social insurance, externalities and public goods, income support and redistribution, and taxation.In doing so, the authors build a unified analytical approach that encompasses both traditional policy levers, such as taxes and subsidies, and more psychologically informed instruments. The net result of this innovative approach is a fully behavioral public finance, an integration of psychology and the economics of the public sector that is explicit, systematic, rigorous, and realistic.The $13 Trillion Question: How America Manages its Debt
By David Wessel. 2016
The underexamined art and science of managing the federal government's huge debt. Everyone talks about the size of the U.…
S. national debt, now at $13 trillion and climbing, but few talk about how the U. S. Treasury does the borrowing-even though it is one of the world's largest borrowers. Everyone from bond traders to the home-buying public is affected by the Treasury's decisions about whether to borrow short or long term and what types of bonds to sell to investors. What is the best way for the Treasury to finance the government's huge debt? Harvard's Robin Greenwood, Sam Hanson, Joshua Rudolph, and Larry Summers argue that the Treasury could save taxpayers money and help the economy by borrowing more short term and less long term. They also argue that the Treasury and the Federal Reservemade a huge mistake in recent years by rowing in opposite directions: while the Fed was buying long-term bonds to push investors into other assets, the Treasury was doing the opposite-selling investors more long-term bonds. This book includes responses from a variety of public and private sector experts on how the Treasury does its borrowing, some of whom have criticized the way the Treasury has been managing its borrowing.State and Local Pensions
By Alicia H. Munnell. 2012
In the wake of the financial crisis and Great Recession, the health of state and local pension plans has emerged…
as a front burner policy issue. Elected officials, academic experts, and the media alike have pointed to funding shortfalls with alarm, expressing concern that pension promises are unsustainable or will squeeze out other pressing government priorities. A few local governments have even filed for bankruptcy, with pensions cited as a major cause.Alicia H. Munnell draws on both her practical experience and her research to provide a broad perspective on the challenge of state and local pensions. She shows that the story is big and complicated and cannot be viewed through a narrow prism such as accounting methods or the role of unions.By examining the diversity of the public plan universe, Munnell debunks the notion that all plans are in trouble. In fact, she finds that while a few plans are basket cases, many are functioning reasonably well.Munnell's analysis concludes that the plans in serious trouble need a major overhaul. But even the relatively healthy plans face three challenges ahead: an excessive concentration of plan assets in equities; the risk that steep benefit cuts for new hires will harm workforce quality; and the constraints plans face in adjusting future benefits for current employees. Here, Munnell proposes solutions that preserve the main strengths of state and local pensions while promoting needed reforms.Working Longer
By Steven A. Sass, Alicia H. Munnell. 2008
Daily headlines warn American workers that their retirement years may be far from golden. The main components of the retirement…
income system-Social Security and employer-provided pensions and health insurance-are in decline while the amount of income needed for a comfortable retirement continues to rise.In Working Longer, Alicia Munnell and Steven Sass suggest a simple solution to this problem: postponing retirement by two to four years. By following their advice, the average worker retiring in 2030 can be as well off as today's retirees. Implementing this solution on a national scale, however, may not be simple. Working Longer investigates the prospects for moving the average retirement age from 63, the current figure, to 66. Munnell and Sass ask whether future generations will be healthy enough to work beyond the current retirement age and whether older men and women want to work. They examine companies' incentives to employ older works and ask what government can do to promote continued participation in the workforce. Finally, they consider the challenge of ensuring a secure retirement for low-wage workers and those who are unable to continue to work.The retirement system faces very real challenges. But together, workers, employers, and the government can keep this vital piece of the American dream alive.Participatory Budgeting—the experiment in democracy that could redefine how public budgets are decided in the United States. Democracy Reinvented is…
the first comprehensive academic treatment of participatory budgeting in the United States, situating it within a broader trend of civic technology and innovation. This global phenomenon, which has been called "revolutionary civics in action" by the New York Times, started in Brazil in 1989 but came to America only in 2009. Participatory budgeting empowers citizens to identify community needs, work withelected officials to craft budget proposals, and vote on how to spend public funds. Democracy Reinvented places participatory budgeting within the larger discussion of the health of U. S. democracy and focuses on the enabling political and institutional conditions. Author and former White House policy adviser Hollie Russon Gilman presents theoretical insights, indepth case studies, and interviews to offer a compelling alternative to the current citizen disaffection and mistrust of government. She offers policyrecommendations on how to tap online tools and other technological and civic innovations to promote more inclusive governance. While most literature tends to focus on institutional changes without solutions, this book suggests practical ways to empower citizens to become change agents. Reinvesting in Democracy also includes a discussion on the challenges and opportunities that come with using digital tools to re-engage citizens in governance.A Passion for Leadership
By Robert M Gates. 2016
From the former secretary of defense and author of the acclaimed #1 best-selling memoir Duty, a characteristically direct, informed, and…
urgent assessment of why big institutions are failing us and how smart, committed leadership can effect real improvement regardless of scale. Across the realms of civic and private enterprise alike, bureaucracies vitally impact our security, freedoms, and everyday life. With so much at stake, competence, efficiency, and fiscal prudence are essential, yet Americans know these institutions fall short. Many despair that they are too big and too hard to reform. Robert Gates disagrees. Having led change successfully at three monumental organizations--the CIA, Texas A&M University, and the Department of Defense--he offers us the ultimate insider's look at how major bureaus, organizations, and companies can be transformed, which is by turns heartening and inspiring and always instructive. With practical, nuanced advice on tailoring reform to the operative culture (we see how Gates worked within the system to increase diversity at Texas A&M); effecting change within committees; engaging the power of compromise ("In the real world of bureaucratic institutions, you almost never get all you want when you want it"); and listening and responding to your team, Gates brings the full weight of his wisdom, candor, and devotion to civic duty to inspire others to lead desperately needed change.From the Hardcover edition.Kill the messengers: Stephen Harper's assault on your right to know
By Mark Bourrie. 2015
The author exposes how trends have conspired to simultaneously silence the Canadian media and elect an anti-intellectual government determined to…
conduct business in private. Drawing evidence from multiple cases and examples, he demonstrates how budget cuts have been used to suppress the collection of facts that embarrass the government's position or undermine its ideologically based decision-making. Bourrie gives advice on how to take back your right to be informed and to be heard. 2015.The Arab Spring Five Years Later
By Hafez Ghanem. 2016
This second volume of The Arab Spring Five Years Later provides the original research papers on which volume 1 by…
Hafez Ghanem is based. In this edited volume, Ghanem assembles a collection of important research conducted by scholars from a variety of backgrounds to provide a deeper understanding of the economic factors that led to the Arab Spring. Chapters examine women's issues and agricultural practices in Morocco; urban transportation, small enterprises, governance, and inclusive planning in Egypt; reconstruction in Iraq; youth employment in Tunisia; education in Yemen; and more.In addition to Hafez Ghanem, contributors include Mongi Boughzala (University of Tunis ElManar, Tunisia), Emmanuel Comolet (French Agency for Development), Mohamed Tlili Hamdi (University of Sfax, Tunisia), Seiki Tanaka (University of Amsterdam), and from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Yuriko Kameyama, Mayada Magdy, Hideki Matsunaga, Yuko Morikawa, Akira Murata, Kei Sakamoto, Masanori Yoshikawa, and Takako Yuki.The Arab Spring Five Years Later
By Hafez Ghanem. 2016
Hafez Ghanem delivers a thorough assessment of the economic dimensions of the Arab Spring, beginning with political developments since the…
revolutions and the economic impact of changes in legal and institutional frameworks. Arab economies grew at healthy rates before the revolts, but the benefits of economic growth were unfairly distributed. The politically connected reaped great benefits, while educated youth could not find decent jobs, and the poor and middle class struggled to make ends meet.Ghanem advises the Arab Spring countries to adopt new economic policies and programs that enhance inclusiveness, expand the middle class, and foster growth in undeveloped regions. Key elements include strengthening economic institutions, developing small businesses, reforming the education system to better prepare Arab youth for the modern labor market, promoting gender equality with the objective of raising female labor market participation rates, and setting up programs for rural and regional development to reduce inequality and eliminate extreme poverty.Beyond the Broker State
By Jonathan J. Bean. 1996
Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln both considered small business the backbone of American democracy and free enterprise. In Beyond the…
Broker State, Jonathan Bean considers the impact of this ideology on American politics from the Great Depression to the creation of the Small Business Administration during the Eisenhower administration. Bean's analysis of public policy toward small business during this period challenges the long-accepted definition of politics as the interplay of organized interest groups, mediated by a 'broker-state' government. Specifically, he highlights the unorganized nature of the small business community and the ideological appeal that small business held for key members of Congress. Bean focuses on anti-chain-store legislation beginning in the 1930s and on the establishment of federal small business agencies in the 1940s and 1950s. According to Bean, Congress, inspired by the rhetoric of crisis, often misinterpreted or misrepresented the threat posed to small business from large corporations, and as a result, protective legislation sometimes worked against the interests it was meant to serve. Despite this misguided aid, argues Bean, small business has proved to be a remarkably resilient, if still unorganized, force.Doing Business 2011
By World Bank. 2010
Eighth in a series of annual reports comparing business regulations in 183 economies, Doing Business 2011 measures regulations affecting 10…
areas of everyday business activity: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, employing workers, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and closing a business. The report updates all 10 sets of indicators, ranks countries on their overall ease of doing business and analyzes reforms to business regulation- identifying which countries are improving strengthening their business environment the most and which ones slipped. Doing Business 2011 includes results on the ongoing research in the area of "getting electricity" and illustrates how reforms in business regulations can translate into better outcomes for domestic entrepreneurs and the wider economy. It also focuses on how women in particular are affected by complex business regulations.The Only Grant-Writing Book You'll Ever Need
By Ellen Karsh. 2009
The Battle
By Arthur C. Brooks. 2010
America faces a new culture war. It is not a war about guns, abortions, or gaysrather it is a war…
against the creeping changes to our entrepreneurial culture, the true bedrock of who we are as a people. The new culture war is a battle between free enterprise and social democracy. Many Americans have forgotten the evils of socialism and the predations of the American Great Society’s welfare state programs. But, as American Enterprise Institute’s president Arthur C. Brooks reveals in The Battle, the forces for social democracy have returned with a vengeance, expanding the power of the state to a breathtaking degree. The Battle offers a plan of action for the defense of free enterprise; it is at once a call to arms and a crucial redefinition of the political and moral gulf that divides Right and Left in America today. The battle is on, and nothing less than the soul of America is at stake.Benchmarking Public Procurement 2016
By World Bank Group. 2015
Public procurement accounts for around one-fifth of global gross domestic product (GDP). Given its size the public procurement market can…
improve public sector performance, promote national competitiveness, drive domestic economic growth, and boost economic development. Launched at the request of the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group, Benchmarking Public Procurement presents actionable indicators to help countries identify and monitor policies and regulations that impact how private sector companies do business with the government in 77 economies. The Benchmarking Public Procurement 2016 report is organized under two parts: the public procurement life cycle and the complaint and reporting mechanisms indicators. Data was gathered using standardized questionnaires distributed to expert contributors in each economy. The project builds on the Doing Business methodology and aims to promote evidence-based decision making by governments and shed light over areas where few empirical data have been presented so far.Dismantling Canada: Stephen Harper's new conservative agenda
By Brooke Jeffrey. 2015
Providing fascinating insight into the origins of a new conservative vision for the economy, federalism, and domestic and foreign policies,…
the author critically considers Prime Minister Harper’s successes and failures, and evaluates the likely outcome of his long-term vision for Canada. 2015."To discover who rules, follow the gold. " This is the argument of "Golden Rule," a provocative, pungent history of…
modern American politics. Although the role big money plays in defining political outcomes has long been obvious to ordinary Americans, most pundits and scholars have virtually dismissed this assumption. Even in light of skyrocketing campaign costs, the belief that major financial interests primarily determine who parties nominate and where they stand on the issues that, in effect, Democrats and Republicans are merely the left and right wings of the "Property Party" has been ignored by most political scientists. Offering evidence ranging from the nineteenth century to the 1994 mid-term elections, "Golden Rule" shows that voters are "right on the money. " Thomas Ferguson breaks completely with traditional voter centered accounts of party politics. In its place he outlines an "investment approach," in which powerful investors, not unorganized voters, dominate campaigns and elections. Because businesses "invest" in political parties and their candidates, changes in industrial structures between large firms and sectors can alter the agenda of party politics and the shape of public policy. "Golden Rule" presents revised versions of widely read essays in which Ferguson advanced and tested his theory, including his seminal study of the role played by capital intensive multinationals and international financiers in the New Deal. The chapter "Studies in Money Driven Politics" brings this aspect of American politics into better focus, along with other studies of Federal Reserve policy making and campaign finance in the 1936 election. Ferguson analyzes how a changing world economy and other social developments broke up the New Deal system in our own time, through careful studies of the 1988 and 1992 elections. The essay on 1992 contains an extended analysis of the emergence of the Clinton coalition and Ross Perot's dramatic independent insurgency. A postscript on the 1994 elections demonstrates the controlling impact of money on several key campaigns. This controversial work by a theorist of money and politics in the U. S. relates to issues in campaign finance reform, PACs, policymaking, public financing, and how today's elections work. "Stress Test
By Timothy F. Geithner. 2014
Stress Test is the story of Tim Geithner's education in financial crises. As president of the Federal Reserve Bank of…
New York and then as President Barack Obama's secretary of the Treasury, Timothy F. Geithner helped the United States navigate the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, from boom to bust to rescue to recovery. In a candid, riveting, and historically illuminating memoir, he takes readers behind the scenes of the crisis, explaining the hard choices and politically unpalatable decisions he made to repair a broken financial system and prevent the collapse of the Main Street economy. This is the inside story of how a small group of policy makers--in a thick fog of uncertainty, with unimaginably high stakes--helped avoid a second depression but lost the American people doing it. Stress Test is also a valuable guide to how governments can better manage financial crises, because this one won't be the last. Stress Test reveals a side of Secretary Geithner the public has never seen, starting with his childhood as an American abroad. He recounts his early days as a young Treasury official helping to fight the international financial crises of the 1990s, then describes what he saw, what he did, and what he missed at the New York Fed before the Wall Street boom went bust. He takes readers inside the room as the crisis began, intensified, and burned out of control, discussing the most controversial episodes of his tenures at the New York Fed and the Treasury, including the rescue of Bear Stearns; the harrowing weekend when Lehman Brothers failed; the searing crucible of the AIG rescue as well as the furor over the firm's lavish bonuses; the battles inside the Obama administration over his widely criticized but ultimately successful plan to end the crisis; and the bracing fight for the most sweeping financial reforms in more than seventy years. Secretary Geithner also describes the aftershocks of the crisis, including the administration's efforts to address high unemployment, a series of brutal political battles over deficits and debt, and the drama over Europe's repeated flirtations with the economic abyss. Secretary Geithner is not a politician, but he has things to say about politics--the silliness, the nastiness, the toll it took on his family. But in the end, Stress Test is a hopeful story about public service. In this revealing memoir, Tim Geithner explains how America withstood the ultimate stress test of its political and financial systems.From the Hardcover edition.Supercapitalism
By Robert B. Reich. 2007
From one of America's foremost economic and political thinkers comes a vital analysis of our new hypercompetitive and turbo-charged global…
economy and the effect it is having on American democracy. With his customary wit and insight, Reich shows how widening inequality of income and wealth, heightened job insecurity, and corporate corruption are merely the logical results of a system in which politicians are more beholden to the influence of business lobbyists than to the voters who elected them. Powerful and thought-provoking, Supercapitalism argues that a clear separation of politics and capitalism will foster an enviroment in which both business and government thrive, by putting capitalism in the service of democracy, and not the other way around.From the Trade Paperback edition. even more deeply involved in politics; and how average citizens, seeking great deals and invested in the stock market to an unprecedented degree, are increasingly loath to stand by their values if it means biting the hands that feed them. He makes clear how the tools traditionally used to temper America's societal problems--fair taxation, well-funded public education, trade unions--have withered as supercapitalism has burgeoned. Reich sets out a clear course to a vibrant capitalism and a concurrent, equally vibrant democracy. He argues forcefully that the spheres of business and politics must be kept distinct. He calls for an end to the legal fiction that corporations are citizens, as well as the illusion that corporations can be "socially responsible" until laws define social needs. Reich explains why we must stop treating companies as if they were people--and must therefore abolish the corporate income tax and levy it on shareholders instead, hold individuals rather than corporations guilty of criminal conduct, and not expect companies to be "patriotic." For, as Reich says, only people can be citizens, and only citizens should be allowed to participate in democratic decision making.From the Hardcover edition.