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812. Beyond Microfinance: Getting Capital to Small and Medium Enterprises to Fuel Faster Development
- Author:
- David de Ferranti and Anthony J. Ody
- Publication Date:
- 03-2007
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), typically employing between 10 and 250 workers, form the backbone of modern economies and can be crucial engines of development through their role as seedbeds of innovation. In much of the developing world, though, SMEs are under-represented, stifled by perverse regulatory climates and poor access to inputs. A critical missing ingredient is often capital.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Development, and Economics
- Political Geography:
- United States
813. China's Looming Crisis—Inflation Returns
- Author:
- Albert Keidel
- Publication Date:
- 09-2007
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Abstract:
- Surging food prices in China indicate a serious risk of inflationary overheating. Past steps to control inflation caused social protest and deadly unrest. China faces the same risk now. China could avoid severe inflation by learning from its past failures and quickly raising interest rates—but politics make this unlikely. “Cooling off” policies in the future will thus be harsher than necessary. Beyond short-term fixes, China should increase imports of fine grains, with long-term U.S. supply assurances, both to stabilize prices and to promote lucrative farm diversification. U.S. intelligence analysis of this overheating risk should refute the conventional wisdom that China's growth is export-led—it is clearly domestically driven. Policy makers need to realize that China's rapid economic rise is homegrown and sustainable. The United States should quietly remind China that harsh handling of inflation-related unrest could seriously damage U.S.-China relations—especially in a U.S. election year.
- Topic:
- Economics and Globalization
- Political Geography:
- United States, China, and Asia
814. U.S. Living Standards in an Era of Globalization
- Author:
- Sandra Polaski
- Publication Date:
- 07-2007
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Abstract:
- U.S. wages have stagnated for the past three decades, while the workforce has also faced an erosion of job security, health care, and pension plans. This increasing economic insecurity has coincided with rapid globalization. Is there a causal relationship between the two?
- Topic:
- International Relations, Economics, and Globalization
- Political Geography:
- United States
815. What Can the United States Learn from the Nordic Model?
- Author:
- Daniel Mitchell
- Publication Date:
- 11-2007
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Some policymakers in the United States and Europe argue that it is possible to enjoy economic growth and also have a large welfare state. These advocates for bigger government claim that the so- called Nordic Model offers the best of both worlds. This claim does not withstand scrutiny. Economic performance in Nordic nations is lagging, and excessive government is the most likely explanation. The public sector in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Iceland consumes, on average, more than 48 percent of economic output. Total government outlays in the United States, by contrast, are less than 37 percent of gross domes- tic product. Revenue comparisons are even more striking. Tax receipts average more than 45 per- cent of GDP in Nordic nations, a full 20 percent- age points higher than the aggregate tax burden in the United States.
- Topic:
- Economics and Government
- Political Geography:
- United States and Europe
816. In Pursuit of Happiness Research: Is It Reliable? What Does It Imply for Policy?
- Author:
- Will Wilkinson
- Publication Date:
- 04-2007
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- “Happiness research” studies the correlates of subjective well-being, generally through survey methods. A number of psychologists and social scientists have drawn upon this work recently to argue that the American model of relatively limited government and a dynamic market economy corrodes happiness, whereas Western European and Scandinavian-style social democracies pro- mote it. This paper argues that happiness research in fact poses no threat to the relatively libertarian ideals embodied in the U.S. socioeconomic system. Happiness research is seriously hampered by confusion and disagreement about the definition of its subject as well as the limitations inherent in current measurement techniques. In its present state happiness research cannot be relied on as an authoritative source for empirical information about happiness, which, in any case, is not a simple empirical phenomenon but a cultural and historical moving target. Yet, even if we accept the data of happiness research at face value, few of the alleged redistributive policy implications actually follow from the evidence. The data show that neither higher rates of government redistribution nor lower levels of income inequality make us happier, whereas high levels of economic freedom and high average incomes are among the strongest correlates of subjective well- being. Even if we table the damning charges of questionable science and bad moral philosophy, the American model still comes off a glowing success in terms of happiness.
- Topic:
- Economics, Markets, and Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- United States, America, and Europe
817. Has U.S. Income Inequality Really Increased?
- Author:
- Alan Reynolds
- Publication Date:
- 01-2007
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- There are frequent complaints that U.S. income inequality has increased in recent decades. Estimates of rising inequality that are widely cited in the media are often based on federal income tax return data. Those data appear to show that the share of U.S. income going to the top 1 percent (those people with the highest incomes) has increased substantially since the 1970s.
- Topic:
- Demographics, Development, and Economics
- Political Geography:
- United States
818. An Empirical Analysis of Middle Class Welfare - Testing Alternative Approaches
- Author:
- Aparna Mathur and Kevin A. Hassett
- Publication Date:
- 01-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
- Abstract:
- Every year the Census Bureau reports data on income inequality and poverty, based on income estimates derived from the Current Population Survey. Our analysis suggests that the data may not be presenting an accurate picture. By under-reporting incomes, leaving out certain sources of income, and not making equivalence adjustments that are now standard among researchers, the reports present an imperfect picture of overall welfare. We develop an alternative that relies on data from the National Income and Product Accounts. Our data reveal that real median incomes have been increasing in the recent period, albeit at a slower rate than the long-term average. Using the same methodology for consumption, we find that consumption for all income groups, including the middle, has been growing robustly in recent times. This is in contrast to statistics reported by the Consumer Expenditure Survey, the most often cited data for all consumption analysis, which show middle class consumption declining.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, and Human Welfare
- Political Geography:
- United States
819. Famine in North Korea: AsiaSource Interview with Marcus Noland
- Author:
- Nermeen Shaikh
- Publication Date:
- 04-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Asia Society
- Abstract:
- Marcus Noland is a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. His work encompasses a wide range of topics including the political economy of US trade policy and the Asian financial crisis. Mr Noland is unique among American economists in having devoted serious scholarly effort to the problems of North Korea and the prospects for Korean unification. He won the 2000–01 Ohira Masayoshi Award for his book Avoiding the Apocalypse: The Future of the Two Koreas.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, and Markets
- Political Geography:
- United States, America, Asia, North Korea, and Korea
820. China's March on the 21st Century
- Author:
- Kurt M. Campbell and Willow Darsie
- Publication Date:
- 05-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Aspen Institute
- Abstract:
- After a protracted period of uncertainty concerning the nature of the foreign policy challenges that are likely to confront the nation over the course of first half of the 21st century, twin challenges are now coming into sharper relief. For the next generation or more, Americans will be confronted by two overriding (and possibly overwhelming) challenges in the conduct of American foreign policy: how to more effectively wage a long, twilight struggle against violent Islamic fundamentalists, and at the same time cope with the almost certain rise to great power status of China.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Foreign Policy, Development, Economics, and International Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- United States, China, America, and Asia