Search Results
Journal Article
The extent and impact of outsourcing: evidence from Germany
The authors use data from several sources, including plant-level data from the manufacturing sector in Germany, to expand the literature on outsourcing. They find that, in Germany, the extent of outsourcing among manufacturing industries is higher than among service industries and that the outsourcing intensity of these industries did not change much between 1995 and 2005. They also find a statistically significantly positive impact of industry-level outsourcing intensity on German plant-level labor produc- tivity for both 2000 and 2005. The estimated economic impact of outsourcing on ...
Newsletter
The economic cost of war
It is difficult to measure the cost of the Iraq war and related expenses; it is at least as difficult to decide exactly what costs to measure. The May 2008 issue compares the two most widely cited estimates: one from the Congressional Budget Office and the other from researchers Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes. The newsletter also compares these estimates to U.S. GDP over the same time frame to get a better sense of the war's cost in relation to the entire U.S. economy.
Journal Article
The microfinance revolution: an overview
The Nobel Prize committee awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize to Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank "for their efforts to create economic and social development from below." The microfinance revolution has come a long way since Yunus first provided financing to the poor in Bangladesh. The committee has recognized microfinance as "an important liberating force" and an "ever more important instrument in the struggle against poverty." Although several authors have provided comprehensive surveys of microfinance, our aim is somewhat more modest: This article is intended as a ...
Journal Article
Employment growth mixed across Eighth District
Journal Article
How much have U.S. house prices fallen?
Journal Article
The Fed's response to the credit crunch
The Federal Reserve Board has used Section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act to create several new lending facilities to address the ongoing strains in the credit market.
Journal Article
The global recession
...an unusually high percentage of the world's large countries and major U.S. trading partners are currently experiencing a recession.
Newsletter
What’s under the TARP?
The new economic terms and programs?from TARP to TALF to COP?are important, but trying to keep track of it all can make your head spin. Read the March 2009 Newsletter for a clear, concise explanation of the Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program designed to help alleviate the nation?s financial crisis.
Journal Article
A primer on social security systems and reforms
This article reviews the characteristics of different social security systems. Many configurations arise depending on the nature of a system?s funding and determination of benefits. Many reforms propose changing the U.S. Social Security system. The authors focus their analysis of the transition from a pay-as-you-go to a fully funded system. They argue that the key component of any reform is the treatment of the implicit liabilities of a country?s social security system. The welfare gains accruing to some cohorts as a result of such reforms usually stem from either a partial or complete ...