Journal Article
Financing capital expenditures in Massachusetts
Munnell, Alicia H.; Cook, Leah M. (1991-03)
Spending on capital projects in Massachusetts has not contributed in any significant fashion to the states budget crisis. During the 1980s the state probably spent too little, rather than too much, on public infrastructure. The states nationwide are caught between the increased requirements of localities and decreased funding from the federal government. The Massachusetts situation is particularly troublesome. The state spent most of the 1980s embroiled in conflict with the Administration over federal funding for the Central Artery Depression! Third Harbor Tunnel project. ; The article ...
New England Economic Review , Issue Mar , Pages 52-79

Journal Article
The distributional effects of housing price booms: winners and losers in Boston, 1980-88
Cook, Leah M.; Case, Karl E. (1989-05)
New England Economic Review , Issue May , Pages 3-12

Journal Article
Explaining the postwar pattern of personal saving
Munnell, Alicia H.; Cook, Leah M. (1991-11)
Economists spent most of the 1980s trying to explain the decline in personal and national saving. They have supplied a host of possibilities, including the impact of capital gains, a decline in the need for retirement saving, and the impact of slower income growth, among others. None of these candidates, however, provides a convincing explanation for the apparent changing pattern of personal thrift. ; Two potential culprits have received considerably less attention and most probably have played major roles in the decline in the reported personal saving rate: the appreciation of owner-occupied ...
New England Economic Review , Issue Nov , Pages 17-28

Journal Article
The influence of housing and durables on personal saving
Kopcke, Richard W.; Munnell, Alicia H.; Cook, Leah M. (1991-11)
The rate of national saving declined sharply in the 1980s. Some of the explanations for this puzzling performance have considered the influence of capital gains, a reduction in the need for precautionary saving, a decline in the need for retirement saving, the effect of slower income growth, and a host of other factors. ; This article explores the relationship between personal saving and the treatment of owner-occupied housing and consumer durable goods in the national income and product accounts. It examhaes the potential consequences of understating the returns on owner-occupied houses and ...
New England Economic Review , Issue Nov , Pages 3-16

Journal Article
How does public infrastructure affect regional economic performance?
Munnell, Alicia H.; Cook, Leah M. (1990-09)
Bridge collapses and water main explosions focus national attention on the crumbling condition of the nations infrastructure. Catastrophic infrastructure failures are always a momentary spur to debate on the nations capital investment policies. But increasingly these negative developments have been accompanied by economists claims that public capital investment makes a significant contribution to national output, . productivity, growth, and international competitiveness ; This paper explores the impact of public capital on economic activity at the state and regional level. The author ...
New England Economic Review , Issue Sep , Pages 11-33