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52. Reconnecting Massachusetts Gateway Cities: Lessons Learned and an Agenda for Renewal
- Author:
- Benjamin Forman, Rebecca Sohmer, Eric McLean-Shinaman, David Warren, John Schneider, and Mark Muro
- Publication Date:
- 02-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- Could it be? Could it be that at least some of Massachusetts' long-suffering “Gateway Cities”—the state's once-humming mill and manufacturing towns—are ready to rejoin the state's economic mainstream? Yes, it could. Despite the latest blows of deindustrialization, signs of life are animating parts of the state's faded urban hubs beyond Boston.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, and Markets
53. Top Ten Global Economic Challenges - An Assessment of Global Risks and Priorities
- Publication Date:
- 02-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- The beginning of 2007 offers a conflicting picture of the global economy for those trying to discern trends, challenges and opportunities. Concerns about energy security and climate sustainability are converging — finally bringing consensus in sight on the need for action in the United States. But prospects for breaking the global stalemate are still years away. Though some developing countries are succeeding in bringing hundreds of millions out of poverty, too many are still mired in a doom spiral of conflict, poverty and disease— despite the entry of new philanthropists, advocates and global corporations into the field of development. China's projected 9.6 percent growth rate is sending ripples to the farthest reaches of the planet—creating opportunities but also significant risks. The United States remains in the “goldilocks” zone, but this is premised on continued borrowing from abroad at historically unprecedented rates while many Americans fret about widening inequality and narrowing opportunity. While the United States concentrates on civil war in the Middle East, most leaders in the region are preoccupied with putting an outsized cohort of young people to work and on the road to becoming productive citizens.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Security, Economics, and Energy Policy
- Political Geography:
- United States, China, and Middle East
54. The Implications of Service Offshoring for Metropolitan Economies
- Author:
- Howard Wial and Robert Atkinson
- Publication Date:
- 02-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- In the months running up to the 2004 election the issue of off- shoring—the movement of jobs from the United States to other nations—seemed to be on the front pages of newspapers every day. Some of the concern was about the loss of manufacturing jobs to lower-wage countries such as China and Mexico, a process that had been going on for decades. The offshoring of service jobs, though, was something new. Service workers—including college- educated professionals—who previously thought their jobs immune to foreign competition began to worry about this new source of job in security. Policymakers concerned about the American standard of living wondered whether service offshoring would eliminate the United States' advantage in high technology industries.
- Topic:
- Demographics, Economics, Government, and Poverty
- Political Geography:
- United States, China, and Mexico
55. Back to the Future: The Need for Patient Equity in Real Estate Development Finance
- Author:
- Christopher B. Leinberger
- Publication Date:
- 01-2007
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- Over the past decade, the real estate field has begun applying many of the development strategies employed by a number of iconic developers active before 1940. J.C. Nichols (Country Club Plaza in Kansas City), George Merrick (Coral Gables, Florida), the Rockefeller family (Rockefeller Center), and others have become role models, their major developments emulated in recently revived downtowns, suburban town centers, New Urbanism projects, and transit oriented developments. But while nearly all of the attention today has been on the urban design lessons of these developers and their projects, there are financing lessons they can teach us as well.
- Topic:
- Demographics, Development, Economics, and Markets
- Political Geography:
- United States and Florida
56. Saving and Demographic Change: The Global Dimension
- Author:
- Barry Bosworth and Gabriel Chodorow-Reich
- Publication Date:
- 11-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- This paper uses a panel data set of 85 countries covering 1960-2005 to investigate the macroeconomic linkages between national rates of saving and investment and population aging. The issue takes on added significance because of the recent suggestion that the decline in global interest rates has been driven by demographic changes in the industrial economies. We do find a significant correlation between the age composition of the population and nations' rates of saving and investment, but the effects vary substantially by region. They are very strong for the non-industrial economies of Asia, but weak in the high-income countries. We also find evidence demographic effects on both the public and private components of national saving. Furthermore, we conclude that the demographic effects on saving will be less disruptive than sometimes believed because of offsetting declines in investment. However, the effects on saving are stronger than those for investment, implying that most aging economies will ultimately be pushed in the direction of current account deficits.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Demographics, and Economics
- Political Geography:
- Asia
57. Give Credit Where Credit is Due
- Author:
- Patrick D. Walker, Robin Varghese, Ann Schnare, Alyssa Stewart Lee, and Michael A. Turner
- Publication Date:
- 12-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- Despite the vast accomplishments of the American credit system, approximately 35 million to 54 million Americans remain outside the credit system. For a variety of reasons, mainstream lenders have too little information on them to evaluate risk and thereby extend credit. As a result, those in most need of credit often turn to check cashing services and payday loan providers, with effective interest rates as high as 500 percent. The lack of reliable credit places them at a great disadvantage in building assets (such as homes, small businesses, or loans for education) and thereby improving their lives.
- Topic:
- Demographics, Economics, Government, and Poverty
- Political Geography:
- America
58. Two Steps Back: City and Suburban Poverty Trends 1999-2005
- Author:
- Elizabeth Kneebone and Alan Berube
- Publication Date:
- 12-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- The first half of the current decade brought economic uncertainty and hardship for many Americans. In stark contrast to the late 1990s, when employment and wages were growing at historic rates, the 2000s have been marked by an economic recession, stagnant wages for many workers, and job losses followed by what some have termed a “jobless recovery.”
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Demographics, Economics, and Poverty
- Political Geography:
- America
59. The State of American Cities
- Author:
- Bruce Katz and Alan Berube
- Publication Date:
- 11-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- This summary report provides an overview of The State of American Cities. It addresses four major questions that are explored in further detail in the topic report: What are the current trends and drivers of change in US cities? What factors measure and explain city success in the U.S? What policies have promoted the success of US cities? What can English cities learn from this? The report argues that whilst the US and England are marked by significant cultural and political differences in their views on cities, the two nations are undergoing similar economic and demographic transitions that pave the way for a useful comparative policy dialogue on urban areas.
- Topic:
- Civil Society and Economics
- Political Geography:
- United States, United Kingdom, America, Europe, and England
60. Restoring Order: Practical Solutions to Congressional Dysfunction
- Author:
- Norman J. Ornstein and Thomas E. Mann
- Publication Date:
- 11-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- The Framers of our nation created a political system built upon three vibrant, assertive, and active branches of government, with a series of checks and balances in place to make sure that no single branch or individual could accumulate too much power and threaten the rights and freedoms of citizens, and to create a deliberative process to make good public policy. Congress, the first branch of government, was designed to be the linchpin of this system, the body closest to the people, with the most robust specified powers.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, and Politics
- Political Geography:
- United States