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U.S. Economy: A Traditional Model and Tests of Some Alternatives', National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 4568, December. Angrist, Joshua and Alan Krueger (1991), 'Estimating the Pay-off to Schooling [...]

The United States faces challenging budgetary prospects, as do most other OECD countries. The federal budget deficit widened considerably during the recession, reaching about 10% of GDP in both 2009 [...]

The consensus view of scientists is that the build-up of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere is causing global warming. To reduce the probability of severe climate-change impacts and costs [...]

At its most basic level the US recession was brought on by housing and real estate-related financial problems. Steps that can be taken to strengthen the economy and reduce the [...]

1. Rebalancing the economy after the crisis The recovery from the worst peacetime recession is underway The economic recovery in the United States from arguably the most significant recession since [...]

In spite of improvements, on various measures of health outcomes the United States appears to rank relatively poorly among OECD countries. Health expenditures, in contrast, are significantly higher than in [...]

Economic performance has improved considerably in the past decade or so. This is most manifest in the marked acceleration in productivity, the major determinant of standards of living. More recently, [...]

The trend growth rate of GDP has slowed, mainly because of tighter limits on how quickly employment can grow. In particular, the labour force participation rate, which used to be [...]

In recent years the US current account deficit has grown to the point that most observers consider its level to be already unsustainable. Yet it seems set to continue to [...]

This chapter discusses the current state of fiscal relations between the federal, state and local governments in the United States and suggests directions for improvement. The significant degree of fiscal [...]

This chapter discusses several major challenges facing fiscal policymakers in the United States. Despite recent improvements in revenues, a return to surpluses in the federal unified budget is still unlikely [...]

This chapter discusses developments in the labour market, which have been quite unusual in the current business cycle. While movements in unemployment have not been out of line with traditional [...]

Over the period since the end of 2001 monetary policy has maintained an accommodative stance, with the real federal funds rate fluctuating in a narrow band around zero. (1) Nonetheless [...]

While the longest expansion ever recorded is now history, the improvements in many areas of economic performance that accompanied it remain intact. The tight labour market together with robust gains [...]

The US health care system is unique in the OECD area. It does not have a national insurance programme and 14 per cent of the population has no insurance coverage, [...]

Skilful policy actions limited the extent and duration of last year's economic downturn. A rapid monetary easing -- both before and after the events of 11 September -- combined with [...]

After a short and shallow recession... The US economy entered recession in the first half of 2001, with employment falling and industrial production continuing the slide it had begun in [...]

As discussed in Chapter 1, real GDP expanded rapidly in the second half of the 1990s, and the benefits of growth were widespread. The increase in productivity was among the [...]

An aggregate tax burden under control The total amount of tax revenue raised in the United States has increased only modestly over the past 35 years relative to GDP. Two [...]

In the past year, the authorities have been faced with the most pronounced slowdown in 1output seen in the past decade followed by a need to react to a significant [...]

1. The personal Income tax 1.1. Federal government income taxes US citizens and residents are subject to taxation on their worldwide income even if they are resident outside the United [...]

Demand and production slowed sharply in late 2000 and then began to fall last summer Following three years of growth in excess of 4 per cent, activity remained strong in [...]

How managers use their discretion The orthodox view(1) of corporations is that they are nexuses of contracts: transactions-cost-minimising institutions which exist in order solely to maximise shareholder wealth. In this [...]

Monetary tightening gets underway Low interest rates were clearly the most important factor supporting the economic recovery in the early 1990s. Favourable financial conditions facilitated balance-sheet restructuring by firms, households [...]

Besides budget deficit reduction, health-care reform and all the proposed policy changes designed to boost productivity growth and enhance competitiveness, the new Administration has taken a new tack on trade [...]

While numerous proposals have been put forward for health-care reform, real options are fewer than they may seem. Gaps in coverage are largely the result of voluntary, competitive insurance markets. [...]

A hesitant recovery The first quarter of 1992 marked the fastest economic growth in three years, as GDP rose 2.9 per cent at an annual rate. Slow growth began in [...]

The period of slow growth in the U.S. economy which began in 1989 continued through mid-1992. Even though the recession following Iraq's invasion os Kuwait was short-lived, output has increased [...]

Several years of economic expansion following the recession in 1982 had resulted in increasing inflationary pressures, to which the Federal Reserve responded by tightening the stance of policy over the [...]

Creation of Public Company Accounting Oversight Board -- SEC to have oversight and enforcement authority over new Board, which will inter alia establish auditing, quality control, ethics, independence and other [...]

During the past year, monetary and fiscal policy makers have been faced with the issue of how to respond to a continuation of economic growth at rates well above those [...]

The longest US economic expansion on record has raised real national income by one-third in the past nine years. One source of concern earlier in the expansion was that the [...]

The extent to which the world's advanced and developing economies alike have been progressing in a narrow material fashion at the cost of drawing on finite natural assets and damaging [...]

The economy's Improved supply-side performance Real GDP has grown at a surprisingly fast pace -- about 4 per cent annually -- for four consecutive years in an economic upturn that [...]

Assessment and recommendations Economic growth in the United States continued for the seventh consecutive year, with real GDP expanding by 3.9 per cent in 1998. Private consumption and investment have [...]