Search Results
Journal Article
Lessons from variations in state Medicaid expenditures
Because Medicaid is absorbing a large and growing share of government spending in every state, policymakers are under intense pressure to control the cost of this budget-breaking program. In search of clues concerning Medicaid cost containment, this article examines state data on per-recipient Medicaid spending by type of service. This effort suggests focusing on nursing homes, because per-recipient payments to these institutions are highly variable across states. Indeed, the article concludes that a key explanation for cross-state differences in per-recipient Medicaid expenses is the ...
Report
Reforming the U. S. health care system: where there's a will, there could be a way
The essay in the 2005 annual report summarizes the themes and consensus-based prescriptions for action that emerged from the Boston Fed's 50th economic conference, Wanting It All: The Challenge of Reforming the U.S. Health Care System, held in June 2005.
Conference Paper
The impact of demographic change on U. S. labor markets
According to the U. S. Census Bureau projections, the United States will face dramatic demographic changes over the next one hundred years. Indeed, the country will be entering largely uncharted territory. In the twenty-first century, the population is expected to grow more slowly than ever before over an extended period. The population will also age rapidly, with the share of the population over 65 climbing to a succession of new record highs. Finally, the United States will once again become a nation of immigrants. Over the past decade, the wave of new immigrants has already neared ...
Journal Article
Perspective: outsourcing jobs overseas: a cause for concern?
A rash of media stories has heightened concern about foreign outsourcing of U. S. jobs. But analyses show that many of these reports may have exaggerated the extent and economic impact of jobs moving overseas.
Journal Article
The impact of demographic change on U. S. labor markets
According to U.S. Census Bureau projections, the United States will face dramatic demographic changes over the next one hundred years. The population is expected to grow more slowly but age more rapidly, with the share of the population over 65 climbing to a succession of new record highs. Additionally, the United States will once again become a nation of immigrants. Well over half of the increase in the U.S. population will be caused by the inflow of new immigrants and their children. And because the source of the immigrant inflow has shifted from Europe to Latin America and Asia, this new ...
Journal Article
Foreign investment in the United States: a cause for concern?
Journal Article
E pluribus EMU? how will Europe cope with a single currency?
Conference Paper
Technology and growth: conference proceedings
Conference Paper
Why the interest in reform?
Journal Article
How humans behave: implications for economics and economic policy
Economic policymakers attempt to improve the welfare of their citizens, based on assumptions about how people think, feel, and behave, and on what they view as welfare-improving. Economists usually describe economic agents as fully informed and model them as striving to maximize a set of stable preferences. While these assumptions provide a simple framework for analyzing economic activity, actual human behavior has proved more complex. As a result, economists have started looking to psychologists and others who study human behavior for guidance on the decision-making process, the roles of ...