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132. Why Fiscal Stimulus Is Unlikely to Work
- Author:
- Kevin A. Hassett
- Publication Date:
- 03-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
- Abstract:
- This paper reviews the empirical literature on countercyclical policy. It finds that three types of countercyclical policies have been studied in the literature: built in stabilizers, temporary policy changes, and more permanent policy changes. The literature is decidedly mixed on the effectiveness of temporary changes, but more hopeful concerning the other two.
- Topic:
- Debt, Economics, Markets, and Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- United States
133. The Fed Makes History
- Author:
- John H. Makin
- Publication Date:
- 01-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
- Abstract:
- On December 16, 2008, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke exercised decisive leadership at a watershed meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). In its official statement after the meeting, the committee pledged to “employ all available tools to promote the resumption of sustainable economic growth and to preserve price stability.” The pledge to preserve price stability was not a commitment to fight inflation, as is typical, but a highly unusual commitment to fight deflation.
- Topic:
- Economics, Markets, and Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- United States
134. The Crisis and Fix Cycle
- Author:
- John H. Makin
- Publication Date:
- 02-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
- Abstract:
- The global financial and economic crisis that emerged in August 2007 has entered a dismaying fourth phase. The January 17–18, 2009, weekend edition of the Financial Times, which has been a major chronicler of the crisis and its many aspects, laid out a frightening timeline of an accelerating and intensifying oscillatory cycle of crisis and failed policy response that started just fifteen months ago. Each phase begins with a shock and ends with a seemingly decisive policy measure meant to contain or “fix” the crisis. Each phase is shorter than the previous one and culminates in a much larger policy response. Throughout the crisis, the losses of financial institutions have steadily grown at an accelerating pace as the underlying conditions in the financial sector and, since September 2008, in the underlying global economy deteriorate more rapidly. Such a disturbing pattern must be truncated by a large, coordinated global policy response to arrest the accelerating erosion of the market capitalization of multinational banks and insurance companies that has resulted.
- Topic:
- Debt, Economics, Markets, and Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- United States
135. Inflation Is Better Than Deflation
- Author:
- John H. Makin
- Publication Date:
- 03-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
- Abstract:
- As the global financial and economic crisis has grown increasingly dire—the deterioration just since the November U.S. election is breathtaking—market participants and policymakers alike have looked to three past crisis models as part of an intensifying search for ways out of the current crisis. First, the Great Depression of the 1930s is being examined ever more closely for possible lessons now that commentators have moved past an under- standable reluctance to mention that experience as relevant to today's situation. Second, the Scandinavian financial crisis of the early 1990s, which included a proactive move toward bank nationalization by the Swedish government, is also widely discussed. Finally, many allusions have been made to the disquieting parallels between today's U.S. experience and that of Japan during its “lost decade” (1991–2001) of recession and deflation, especially after 1998.
- Topic:
- Economics and Markets
- Political Geography:
- United States and Japan
136. The Fed Battles Deflation and Class Warfare
- Author:
- John H. Makin
- Publication Date:
- 04-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
- Abstract:
- On March 18, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke intensified the important battle against global deflation with a commitment to expand the Fed's balance sheet by an extra $1.15 trillion. With some luck and persistence, that step could boost growth by a percentage point or more and, even more important, substantially reduce the risk of deflation.
- Topic:
- Economics, Markets, and Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- United States
137. The Environmental State of Canada
- Author:
- Kenneth P. Green and Ben Eisen
- Publication Date:
- 06-2009
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
- Abstract:
- Canadians have much to celebrate concerning their natural environment. Over the past 30 years, Canada's air and water have become cleaner, ecosystems and timberlands have been preserved, and soils that feed not only Canadians but also many others around the world have been protected. This has happened while Canada's population and economy have grown strongly, which has propelled Canada, a country of only 33 million, to the status of an economic powerhouse with a standard of living that is the envy of much of the world. There is still more that can be done, but Canada is well on the way toward environmental sustainability.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Environment, and Oil
- Political Geography:
- Canada and North America
138. The Jihadist International: Al Qaeda's Advance in the Levant
- Author:
- Hassan Mneimneh
- Publication Date:
- 05-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
- Abstract:
- September 11, 2001, marked the coming to the fore of the “jihadist international,” a loosely connected movement of militant and terrorist groups worldwide with a common ideology and increasingly shared tactics and methods. While such groups still have limited recruitment potential eight years on, they have inflicted substantial physical damage and have forced free societies to take costly precautionary measures. Perhaps most alarming, the global jihadist movement has continued simultaneously to feed off of and perpetuate the growing radicalization that Muslim culture has endured over the last few decades.
- Topic:
- Islam and Terrorism
- Political Geography:
- Iraq, Middle East, and Arabia
139. Village-by-Village Democracy in China
- Author:
- Robert T. Gannett Jr.
- Publication Date:
- 04-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
- Abstract:
- Despite the aftershocks of a natural disaster, the economy of the region's most populous nation still manages to produce unprecedented prosperity for its citizens. Its government is omnipresent, fueling this growth by building roads, canals, and new manufacturing plants, while seeking to eradicate collective constraints of a bygone era. Individuals respond to the new economic opportunities by becoming more industrious, more inventive, more acquisitive, more bourgeois, more capitalist. In the midst of such sudden economic transformation, the government struggles to maintain political stability. When protests erupt in the countryside, it suppresses them or co-opts their leaders. In an effort to reduce political tension, it allows a measure of personal liberty and speaks frequently of the need for reforms. It recognizes the importance of public opinion, doing everything it can to cultivate, manage, and control its expanding influence, especially in times of crisis and when the nation finds itself on the world stage. It frequently remodels administrative rules and habits applying to the whole nation, issuing edicts from the center that are routinely ignored in the provinces. And to the surprise of all, it launches a new system for the whole nation of local assemblies chosen by local voters, while inviting all residents to express and address local grievances in each of even its tiniest far-flung villages.
- Topic:
- Communism and Democratization
- Political Geography:
- China and Asia
140. Drug Use in Nigeria
- Author:
- Roger Bate, Richard Tren, Thompson Ayodele, Kimberly Hess, and Olusegun Sotola
- Publication Date:
- 08-2009
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
- Abstract:
- For decades, Nigeria has been plagued by counterfeit and poor-quality medicines, yet little information exists on the extent to which healthcare personnel are aw are of counterfeit and substandard medicines, and how this influences their behavior.
- Topic:
- Crime, War on Drugs, and Narcotics Trafficking
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Nigeria