Publishing Institution: The Brookings Institution / Topic: Economics

1. Agriculture and rural development for inclusive growth and food security in Morocco

Author:: Hafez Ghanem
Publication Date:: 02-2015
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Morocco has so far been a success story in the Arab world. It has followed a gradual approach to political reforms and democratization, which led to the adoption of a new constitution and the holding of free parliamentary elections in 2011. At the same time, economic growth averaged 4.5 percent between 2000 and 2010, reached 5.0 percent in 2011, 2.7 percent in 2012, and 4.4 percent in 2013. That is, Morocco has avoided the political upheavals and economic meltdowns that plagued other Arab Countries in Transition (ACTs). Maintaining this record of success will require continued political and economic reforms.
Topic:: Development and Economics
Political Geography:: Arabia and Morocco

2. Investing in Early Childhood Development: What is Being Spent, And What Does it Cost?

Author:: Vidya Putcha and Jacques van der Gaag
Publication Date:: 02-2015
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: In the developing world, more than 200 million children under the age of five years are at risk of not reaching their full human potential because they suffer from the negative consequences of poverty, nutritional deficiencies and inadequate learning opportunities. Given these risks, there is a strong case for early childhood development (ECD) interventions in nutrition, health, education and social protection, which can produce long-lasting benefits throughout the life cycle. The results from the 2012 round of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)—an international, large-scale assessment that measures 15-year-olds\' performance in mathematics, reading and science literacy—demonstrate the benefits of ECD: Students in the countries that belong to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) who had the benefit of being enrolled for more than one year in preprimary school scored 53 points higher in mathematics (the equivalent of more than one year of schooling), compared with students who had not attended preprimary school. Although there is much evidence that ECD programs have a great impact and are less costly than educational interventions later in life, very few ECD initiatives are being scaled up in developing countries. For example, in 2010, only 15 percent of children in low-income countries—compared with 48 percent worldwide—were enrolled in preprimary education programs. Furthermore, even though the literature points to larger beneficial effects of ECD for poorer children, within developing countries, disadvantaged families are even less likely to be among those enrolled in ECD programs. For instance, in Ghana, children from wealthy families are four times more likely than children from poor households to be enrolled in preschool programs.
Topic:: Development and Economics

3. Driving sustainable development through better infrastructure: Key elements of a transformation program

Author:: Lord Nicholas Stern, Jeremy Oppenheim, and Amar Bhattacharya
Publication Date:: 07-2015
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: The agendas of accelerating sustainable development and eradicating poverty and that of climate change are deeply intertwined. Growth strategies that fail to tackle poverty and/or climate change will prove to be unsustainable, and vice versa. A common denominator to the success of both agendas is infrastructure development. Infrastructure is an essential component of growth, development, poverty reduction, and environmental sustainability.
Topic:: Climate Change, Development, Economics, Poverty, and Infrastructure
Political Geography:: Global Focus

4. Happiness and health in China: The paradox of progress

Author:: Carol Graham, Shaojie Zhou, and Junyi Zhang
Publication Date:: 06-2015
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: The past two decades in China brought unprecedented rates of economic growth, development, and poverty reduction. Indeed, much of the reduction in the world’s extreme poverty rates during that time can be explained by the millions of people in China who exited poverty. GDP per capita and household consumption increased fourfold between the years 1990 and 2005.1 China jumped 10 places forward on the Human Development Index from 2008 until 2013, moving up to 93 of 187 countries, and life expectancy climbed to 75.3 years, compared to 67 years in 1980.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Health, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:: China

5. Aid procurement and the development of local industry: A question for Africa

Author:: Christine Zhang and Jeffrey Gutman
Publication Date:: 06-2015
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Economic development is often tied to the evolution of local industry. One way to assess a country’s emergence as a major player in the global economy is by examining the ability of its domestic firms to compete on the global market. Public procurement—the purchase of goods, works, and services by governments—represents a significant portion of this market, making up an estimated average of 15 to 30 percent of a country’s GDP. Procurement in the developing world is especially noteworthy, since large projects are often partially or wholly financed by external donors such as the World Bank and other international financial institutions (IFIs), which encourage developing country governments to internationally advertise the goods, works, or services they require and to select the most competitive bid they receive. Yet the role of IFI-funded procurement in the emergence of global markets, particularly for and among developing countries, is seldom a topic of empirical study, despite its linkages to global growth.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, World Bank, and Developing World
Political Geography:: Global Focus

6. Supporting The Internet as a Platform for International Trade

Author:: Joshua Meltzer
Publication Date:: 02-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: This paper is about the potential of the Internet as a platform for international trade. A traditional understanding of the impact of the Internet on commerce is derived from the dot.com experience of the 1990s, where Internet companies such as Pets.com and Amazon sold goods online. Since then, the impact of the Internet on commerce has grown and changed. Certainly, the ability to sell goods online remains important. However, the key development is that the Internet is no longer only a digital storefront. Instead, the Internet as described in this working paper is a platform for businesses to sell to customers domestically and overseas, and is a business input that increases productivity and the ability of businesses to compete. Understanding the Internet as a platform for trade highlights its broad economic potential. It emphasizes how the commercial opportunities are no longer limited to Internet companies, but are now available for businesses in all sectors of the economy, from manufacturing to services. Moreover, the global nature of the Internet means that these opportunities are no longer limited to domestic markets, but are embraced wherever Internet access is available.
Topic:: Economics, International Trade and Finance, Markets, Science and Technology, and Communications
Political Geography:: Africa, United States, and Europe

7. Designing Youth Employment Policies in Egypt

Author:: Akira Murata
Publication Date:: 01-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: The paper uses a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to elicit job preferences among youth, and analyzes survey data collected from engineering students at 10 universities in six cities in Egypt during the period of July through October 2013. For a comparative analysis, the survey was also conducted at eight universities in five cities in Indonesia, which is one of the nations in Asia with a Muslim-majority population that faces the same demographic issue. The findings of this research will contribute to building a foundation for designing youth employment policies in Egypt. The most obvious findings to emerge from this study are that: the public-private sector wage differentials must be narrowed; better benefits must accompany private sector employment (particularly support for continuing education, upgrading qualifications, and health insurance); and good IT infrastructure matters. Taken together, these steps could significantly contribute to an increase in the rates of a private sector employment among young Egyptian job seekers, even in the case of continued high public sector wages.
Topic:: Conflict Prevention, Economics, International Trade and Finance, Islam, Labor Issues, and Youth Culture
Political Geography:: Africa, America, and Arabia

8. Improving Regional and Rural Development for Inclusive Growth in Egypt

Author:: Hafez Ghanem
Publication Date:: 01-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: This paper examines how economic growth in Egypt can be made more inclusive through a focus on rural development and reducing regional disparities. Nearly all of the extremely poor in Egypt live in rural areas and 83 percent of them live in Upper Egypt. The youth in those rural areas feel particularly excluded.
Topic:: Agriculture, Development, Economics, and Poverty
Political Geography:: Africa and Arabia

9. Do Trends in U.S. Inequality Matter for Norms of Global Governance? Concepts and Empirics for Debate

Author:: Carol Graham
Publication Date:: 01-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: The United States has long been viewed as the "land of opportunity," where those who work hard get ahead. Belief in this feature of American national identity has persisted even though inequality has been rising for de¬cades. In recent years, the trend toward extremes of income and wealth has accelerated significantly, owing to demographic shifts, the skills bias of the economy and fiscal policy. From 1997 to 2007, the share of income accru¬ing to the top 1 percent of U.S. households increased by 13.5 percentage points, which is equivalent to shifting $1.1 trillion in total annual income to this group - more than the total income of the bottom 40 percent of households. The precise impact of inequality on individual well-being remains controversial, partly because of the complex nature of the metrics needed to gauge it accurately, but also because why it matters depends on what it signals. If inequality is perceived to be the result of just reward for individual effort, then it can be a constructive signal of future opportunities. However, if it is perceived to be the result of an unfair system that rewards a privileged few, inequality can undermine incentives to work hard and invest in the future. In this sense, current U.S. trends have been largely destructive. Economic mobility, for example, has declined in recent decades and is now lower than in many other industrialized countries. There is also a strong intergenerational income correlation (about 0.5) in the U.S.; children of parents who earn 50 percent more than the average are likely to earn 25 percent above the average of their generation. In a world in which individuals' fates are increasingly linked and effective gover¬nance depends on some kind of consensus on social and distributive justice norms, growing income differentials in one country - especially one that has long served as a beacon of economic opportunity - can affect behavior elsewhere, both in terms of investments in education and the labor market and the propensity to protest. More generally, declining economic mobility in the U.S. could undermine confidence in the principles of market econo¬mies and democratic governance that America has espoused for decades - principles that are fundamental to many countries' development strategies.
Topic:: Economics, Poverty, Social Stratification, and Labor Issues
Political Geography:: United States and Germany

10. Fertilizing Growth: Agricultural Inputs and Their Effects in Economic Development

Author:: John McArthur and Gordon C. McCord
Publication Date:: 09-2014
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: This paper uses cross-country panel data to estimate the agronomic inputs that lead to cereal yield improvements and the consequences for developing countries' processes of structural change. The results suggest a clear role for fertilizer, modern seeds and water in boosting yields. It then estimates empirical links in developing economies between increased agricultural yields and economic growth; in particular, the spillover effect from yield growth to declines of labor share in agriculture and increases of non-agricultural value added per capita. The identification strategy for the effect of fertilizer includes a novel instrumental variable that exploits variation in global fertilizer price, interacted with the inverse distance between each country's agriculturally weighted centroid and the nearest nitrogen fertilizer production facility. Results suggest that a half ton increase in staple yields (equal to the within-country standard deviation) generates a 13 to 20 percent higher GDP per capita, a 3.3 to 3.9 percentage point lower labor share in agriculture five years later, and approximately 20 percent higher non-agricultural value added per worker a decade later. The results suggest a strong role for agricultural productivity as a driver of structural change.
Topic:: Agriculture, Economics, and Labor Issues

11. Global Governance Audit

Author:: Hakan Altinay
Publication Date:: 02-2012
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: We frequently treat the changing constellation that has come to be referred to as global governance as a lackluster fait accompli. Nobody has masterminded it. Nobody is really in charge. Almost everybody has reasons to be unhappy about what they view as its current suboptimal state. As such, global governance is not an easy phenomenon to assess or audit. The benchmarks and scales to be used are not obvious. Yet an audit attempt is nevertheless necessary, if for no other reason than to start to form a deliberated assessment, to develop some benchmarks, and to refine our questions for the future.
Topic:: Economics, Globalization, and Governance
Political Geography:: China and Europe

12. Dynamics of Inflation "Herding": Decoding India's Inflationary Process

Author:: Urjit R. Patel and Gangadhar Darbha
Publication Date:: 01-2012
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Compared to immediately preceding years, that is, its own recent history, India's inflation became unhinged (thereby reversing creditable performance) from as far back as 2006. The paper puts forward an empirical framework to analyze the time series and cross-sectional dynamics of inflation in India using a large panel of disaggregated sector prices for the time period, 1994/95 to 2010/11. This allows us to rigorously explore issues that have been, at best, loosely posed in policy debates such as diffusion or comovement of inflation across sectors, role of common and idiosyncratic factors in explaining variation, persistence, importance of food and energy price changes to the overall inflation process, and contrast the recent experience with the past. We find, interalia, that the current period of high inflation is more cross-sectionally diffused, and driven by increasingly persistent common factors in non-food and non-energy sectors compared to that in the 1990s; this is likely to make it more difficult for anti-inflationary policy to gain traction this time round compared to the past. The paper has also introduced a novel measure of inflation, viz., Pure Inflation Gauges (PIGs) in the Indian context by decomposing price movements into those on account of: (1) aggregate shocks that have equiproportional effects on all sector prices; (2) aggregated relative price effects; and (3) sector-specific and idiosyncratic shocks. If PIGs, in conjunction with our other findings, for example, on persistence had been used as a measure of underlying (pure) inflationary pressures, the monetary authorities may not have been sanguine regarding the timeliness of initiating anti-inflationary policies.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Industrial Policy, International Trade and Finance, and Monetary Policy
Political Geography:: South Asia and India

13. Can Producer Associations Make Agriculture Sustainable? Evidence from Farmer Development Centers in India

Author:: Raj M. Desai and Shareen Joshi
Publication Date:: 01-2012
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: This paper evaluates the impact of the Self- Employed Women's Association's (SEWA) farmer development center (FDC) initiative across five farming districts in Gujarat, India. The initiative provided a mix of training, information provisions, access to farming inputs, risk mitigation, and output. Controlling for a range of individual-specific, household, and village level factors, we find that SEWA membership primarily raised awareness of available opportunities among its participants, linked women to the financial sector and to diversified employment opportunities, including non-farm work. There is also evidence that the program's impact varied depending on the participants' socio-economic background. The poorest members experienced higher farm and non-farm incomes, increased food consumption, improved household and farm productivity, more self-employment opportunities, a greater likelihood of opening a bank account, higher crop harvests, and greater food security. These estimates suggest that the major comparative advantage of FDCs lies in improving access to credit and in expanding access to useful information.
Topic:: Agriculture, Development, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Markets
Political Geography:: India and Gujarat

14. Key Issues on European Banking Union: Trade-Offs and Some Recommendations

Author:: Douglas J. Elliott
Publication Date:: 11-2012
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: European leaders have committed to moving toward a banking union, in which bank regulation and supervision, deposit guarantees, and the handling of troubled banks will be integrated across at least the euro area and possibly across the wider European Union. This is quite positive for two reasons. Most immediately, it will help solve the euro crisis by weakening the link between debt-burdened governments and troubled banks, where each side has added to the woes of the other. In the longer run, it will make the “single market” in European banking substantially more effective.
Topic:: Debt, Economics, International Trade and Finance, Markets, Monetary Policy, and Financial Crisis
Political Geography:: Europe

15. Korea, Colombia, Panama: Pending Trade Accords Offer Economic and Strategic Gains for the United States

Author:: Mauricio Cá¡rdenas and Joshua Meltzer
Publication Date:: 07-2011
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: A trio of trade agreements now pending before Congress would benefit the United States both economically and strategically. Carefully developed accords with South Korea, Colombia and Panama will boost U.S. exports significantly, especially in the key automotive, agricultural and commercial services sectors. Among the other benefits are: increased U.S. competitiveness enhancement of U.S. diplomatic and economic postures in East Asia and Latin America new investment opportunities better enforcement of labor regulation and improved transparency in these trading partners' regulatory systems.
Topic:: Diplomacy, Economics, International Trade and Finance, Treaties and Agreements, and Labor Issues
Political Geography:: Kenya, United States, Israel, Colombia, and Latin America

16. Benchmarking Against Progress: An Assessment of Australia's Aid Effectiveness

Author:: Laurence Chandy
Publication Date:: 12-2011
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Is Australia's aid program effective? Measuring the effectiveness of aid is no easy feat. For a start, there is uncertainty about what aid is trying to achieve. Even seemingly straightforward objectives, like poverty reduction, throw up a range of questions as to what precisely ought to be measured. For instance, how should one balance the provision of temporary relief to those in need with catalyzing permanent transformation in people's lives (Barder, 2009)? Second, it is notoriously difficult to isolate the effect of a single aid program from other factors. Aid is delivered in an environment of enormous complexity where all manner of other events shape outcomes, including actions by recipient governments, aid from other countries, non-aid flows, and the performance of the global economy. To accurately attribute impact to aid therefore requires a thorough understanding of the setting in which aid is given. Third, the effects of aid are not always immediate or straightforward. For instance, improvements in people's skills or the performance of institutions may manifest gradually. Measurements of what aid achieves must be sensitive to the different ways change is brought about (Woolcock et al., 2009).
Topic:: Economics, Globalization, Humanitarian Aid, Poverty, and Foreign Aid
Political Geography:: Australia/Pacific

17. The Case for Global Civics

Author:: Hakan Altinay
Publication Date:: 03-2010
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: “Civics” often refers to the familiar constellation of rights and responsibilities emanating from citizenship in a nation-state. But what about global civics? Would this be feasible—or even desirable?
Topic:: International Relations, Civil Society, Economics, and International Cooperation

18. A New Strategy to Leverage Business for International Development

Author:: Robert Mosbacher, Jr.
Publication Date:: 05-2010
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: To tackle global poverty, it is essential to craft a new and dynamic approach to economic development that refl ects the realities of a 21st century global economy and incorporates the participation of a wide variety of new players, particularly from the private sector. While investment, trade and innovation all represent basic components of building healthy economies, this paper focuses primarily on strategies to increase both in-country and international private capital investment in order to create jobs. To that end, it concentrates on two areas: strengthening and reforming the existing structures, coordinating mechanisms and policies that support U. S. economic development efforts; and improving public-private partnership models to promote broader fi nancing to local businesses, greater human capital support and technical assistance and improved physical and ICT infrastructure.
Topic:: Foreign Policy, Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, Poverty, and Third World
Political Geography:: United States

19. Economic Growth and Institutional Innovation: Outlines of a Reform Agenda

Author:: William A. Galston
Publication Date:: 06-2010
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: When experts and pundits are asked what the president and Congress should do to promote economic growth, they typically respond with a list of policies, often mixed with stylistic and political suggestions. Few focus on institutional change, which is too easy to conflate with yawn-inducing “governmental reorganization.”
Topic:: Economics and Financial Crisis
Political Geography:: United States

20. Spurring Innovation Through Education: Four Ideas

Author:: Grover J. (Russ) Whitehurst
Publication Date:: 06-2010
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: A nation's education system is a pillar of its economic strength and international competitiveness. The National Bureau of Economic Research analyzed data from 146 countries, collected between 1950 and 2010, and found that each year of additional average schooling attained by a population translates into at least a two percent increase in economic output. A 2007 World Bank policy research working paper reported similar results. Based on these findings, if the United States increased the average years of schooling completed by its adult population from the current 12 years to 13 years—that is, added one year of postsecondary education—our gross domestic product would rise by more than $280 billion.
Topic:: Economics and Education
Political Geography:: United States

21. The Future of Small Business Entrepreneurship: Jobs Generator for the U.S. Economy

Author:: Martin Neil Baily, Karen Dynan, and Douglas J. Elliott
Publication Date:: 06-2010
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: As the nation strives to recover from the “Great Recession,” job creation remains one of the biggest challenges to renewed prosperity. Small businesses have been among the most powerful generators of new jobs historically, suggesting the value of a stronger focus on supporting small businesses— especially high-growth firms—and encouraging entrepreneurship. Choosing the right policies will require public and private decision-makers to establish clear goals, such as increasing employment, raising the overall return on investment, and generating innovations with broader benefits for society. Good mechanisms will also be needed for gauging their progress and ultimate success. This brief examines policy recommendations to strengthen the small business sector and provide a platform for effective programs. These recommendations draw heavily from ideas discussed at a conference held at the Brookings Institution with academic experts, successful private-sector entrepreneurs, and government policymakers, including leaders from the Small Business Administration. The gathering was intended to spur the development of creative solutions in the private and public sectors to foster lasting economic growth.
Topic:: Economics and Financial Crisis
Political Geography:: United States

22. Financial Globalization and Economic Policies

Author:: Shang-Jin Wei, Eswar Prasad, M. Ayhan Kose, and Kenneth Rogoff
Publication Date:: 04-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: We review the large literature on various economic policies that could help developing economies effectively manage the process of financial globalization. Our central findings indicate that policies promoting financial sector development, institutional quality and trade openness appear to help developing countries derive the benefits of globalization. Similarly, sound macroeconomic policies are an important prerequisite for ensuring that financial integration is beneficial. However, our analysis also suggests that the relationship between financial integration and economic policies is a complex one and that there are unavoidable tensions inherent in evaluating the risks and benefits associated with financial globalization. In light of these tensions, structural and macroeconomic policies often need to be tailored to take into account country specific circumstances to improve the risk-benefit tradeoffs of financial integration. Ultimately, it is essential to see financial integration not just as an isolated policy goal but as part of a broader package of reforms and supportive macro- economic policies.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Globalization, and Political Economy

23. Thresholds in the Process of International Financial Integration

Author:: Eswar Prasad, M. Ayhan Kose, and Ashley D. Taylor
Publication Date:: 05-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: The financial crisis has re-ignited the fierce debate about the merits of financial globalization and its implications for growth, especially for developing countries. The empirical literature has not been able to conclusively establish the presumed growth benefits of financial integration. Indeed, a new literature proposes that the indirect benefits of financial integration may be more important than the traditional financing channel emphasized in previous analyses. A major complication, however, is that there seem to be certain “threshold” levels of financial and institutional development that an economy needs to attain before it can derive the indirect benefits and reduce the risks of financial openness. In this paper, we develop a unified empirical framework for characterizing such threshold conditions. We find that there are clearly identifiable thresholds in variables such as financial depth and institutional quality—the cost-benefit trade- off from financial openness improves significantly once these threshold conditions are satisfied. We also find that the thresholds are lower for foreign direct investment and portfolio equity liabilities compared to those for debt liabilities.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Globalization, International Political Economy, and International Trade and Finance

24. Monetary Policy Challenges for Emerging Market Economies

Author:: Ravi Kanbur, Eswar Prasad, and Gill Hammond
Publication Date:: 08-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: This paper introduces a significant collection of papers on monetary policy in emerging market economies, written by leading analysts and policymakers. Does existing economic theory provide lessons that are pertinent for designing effective monetary policy frameworks in emerging markets? What can be learnt from cross-country studies and from experiences of individual countries that have adopted different approaches? While country-specific circumstances and initial conditions matter a great deal in formulating suitable frameworks, are there clear general principles that can serve as a guide in this process? These are among the issues addressed in the dialogue between academics and policymakers represented in the volume. In this paper, we provide an overview of the main issues, linking them to broader debates in the academic literature as well as an assessment of how individual countries have chosen to respond to specific policy challenges and what the consequences have been. We discuss many controversies where there are still sharp differences in views between and amongst theorists and practitioners. We also delineate a few key analytical issues where there is still a yawning gap between theory and practice. In the process, we set out a broad agenda for further re- search in this area.
Topic:: Economics, Emerging Markets, Markets, and Monetary Policy

25. Developing Countries, Dispute Settlement, and the Advisory Centre on WTO Law

Author:: Rachel McCulloch and Chad P. Bown
Publication Date:: 12-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Critical appraisals of the current and potential benefits from developing country engagement in the WTO focus mainly on the Doha Round of negotiations. This paper examines a different aspect of developing country participation in the WTO: use of the WTO dispute settlement system to enforce foreign market access rights already negotiated in earlier rounds of multilateral negotiations. We examine data on developing country use from 1995 through 2008 of the WTO Dispute Settlement Understanding (DSU) to enforce foreign market access. The data reveal three notable trends: developing countries' sustained rate of self-enforcement actions despite declining use of the DSU by developed countries, developing countries' increased use of the DSU to self-enforce their access to the markets of developing as well as developed country markets, and the prevalence of disputes targeting highly observable causes of lost foreign market access, such as antidumping, countervailing duties, and safeguards. The paper also examines how introduction of the Advisory Centre on WTO Law (ACWL) into the WTO system in 2001 has affected developing countries' use of the DSU to self-enforce their foreign market access rights. A first pass at the data indicates that developing country use of the ACWL mirrors their use of the DSU more broadly; the ACWL has had little effect in terms of introducing new countries to DSU self-enforcement. A closer look at the data reveals evidence on at least three channels through which the ACWL may be enhancing developing countries' ability to self-enforce foreign market access: increased initiation of sole-complainant cases, more extensive pursuit of the DSU legal process for any given case, and initiation of disputes over smaller values of lost trade.
Topic:: Development, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Markets

26. Institutions Versus Policies: A Tale of Two Islands

Author:: Peter Blair Henry and Conrad Miller
Publication Date:: 01-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Recent work emphasizes the primacy of differences in countries' colonially-bequeathed property rights and legal systems for explaining differences in their subsequent economic development. Barbados and Jamaica provide a striking counter example to this long-run view of income determination. Both countries inherited property rights and legal institutions from their English colonial masters yet experienced starkly different growth trajectories in the aftermath of independence. From 1960 to 2002, Barbados' Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita grew roughly three times as fast as Jamaica's. Consequently, the income gap between Barbados and Jamaica is now almost five times larger than at the time of independence. Since their property rights and legal systems are virtually identical, recent theories of development cannot explain the divergence between Barbados and Jamaica. Differences in macroeconomic policy choices, not differences in institutions, account for the heterogeneous growth experiences of these two Caribbean nations.
Topic:: Development, Economics, International Trade and Finance, Political Economy, and Poverty
Political Geography:: Caribbean

27. Does Openness To International Financial Flows Raise Productivity Growth?

Author:: Marco E. Terrones, Eswar Prasad, and Ayhan Kose
Publication Date:: 01-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Economic theory has identified a number of channels through which openness to international financial flows could raise productivity growth. However, while there is a vast empirical literature analyzing the impact of financial openness on output growth, far less attention has been paid to its effects on productivity growth. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between financial openness and total factor productivity (TFP) growth using an extensive dataset that includes various measures of productivity and financial openness for a large sample of countries. We find that de jure capital account openness has a robust positive effect on TFP growth. The effect of de facto financial integration on TFP growth is less clear, but this masks an important and novel result. We find strong evidence that FDI and portfolio equity liabilities boost TFP growth while external debt is actually negatively correlated with TFP growth. The negative relationship between external debt liabilities and TFP growth is attenuated in economies with higher levels of financial development and better institutions.
Topic:: Debt, Development, Economics, and Foreign Direct Investment

28. Financial Globalization and Economic Policies

Author:: Eswar Prasad, Kenneth Rogoff, M. Ayhan Kose, and Shang-Jin Wei
Publication Date:: 04-2009
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: We review the large literature on various economic policies that could help developing economies effectively manage the process of financial globalization. Our central findings indicate that policies promoting financial sector development, institutional quality and trade openness appear to help developing countries derive the benefits of globalization. Similarly, sound macroeconomic policies are an important prerequisite for ensuring that financial integration is beneficial. However, our analysis also suggests that the relationship between financial integration and economic policies is a complex one and that there are unavoidable tensions inherent in evaluating the risks and benefits associated with financial globalization. In light of these tensions, structural and macroeconomic policies often need to be tailored to take into account country specific circumstances to improve the risk-benefit tradeoffs of financial integration. Ultimately, it is essential to see financial integration not just as an isolated policy goal but as part of a broader package of reforms and supportive macroeconomic policies.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Globalization, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: Global Focus

29. Where Does the Money Go? Best and Worst Practices in Foreign Aid

Author:: William Easterly and Tobias Pfutze
Publication Date:: 06-2008
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: This paper does not address the issue of aid effectiveness—that is, the extent to which foreign aid dollars actually achieve their goals—but instead focuses on “best practices” in the way in which official aid is given, an important component of the wider debate. First, we discuss best practice for an ideal aid agency and the difficulties that aid agencies face because they are typically not accountable to their intended beneficiaries. Next, we consider the transparency of aid agencies and four additional dimensions of aid practice: specialization, or the degree to which aid is not fragmented among too many donors, too many countries, and too many sectors for each donor); selectivity, or the extent to which aid avoids corrupt autocrats and goes to the poorest countries; use of ineffective aid channels such as tied aid, food aid, and technical assistance; and the overhead costs of aid agencies. We compare 48 aid agencies along these dimensions, distinguishing between bilateral and multilateral ones. Using the admittedly limited in- formation we have, we rank the aid agencies on different dimensions of aid practice and then provide one final comprehensive ranking. We present these results as an illustrative exercise to move the aid discussion forward.
Topic:: Economics, Humanitarian Aid, Poverty, Third World, and United Nations

30. The Decline of the White Working Class and the Rise of a Mass Upper Middle Class

Author:: Alan Abramowitz and Ruy Teixeira
Publication Date:: 04-2008
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Dramatic shifts have taken place in the American class structure since the World War II era. Consider education levels. Incredible as it may seem today, in 1940 three-quarters of adults 25 and over were high school dropout s (or never made it as far as high school), and just 5 percent had a four-year college degree or higher. But educational credentials exploded in the postwar period. By 1960, the proportion of adults lacking a high school diploma was down to 59 percent; by 1980, it was less than a third, and by 2007, it was down to only 14 percent. Concomitantly, the proportion with a BA or higher rose steadily and reached 29 percent in 2007. Moreover, those with some college (but not a four-year degree) constituted another 25 percent of the population, making a total of 54 percent who had at least some college education 1 . Quite a change: moving from a country where the typical adult was a high school dropout (more accurately, never even reached high school) to a country where the typical adult not only has a high school diploma, but some college as well.
Topic:: Civil Society, Demographics, and Economics
Political Geography:: United States

31. Why Are Saving Rates of Urban Households in China Rising?

Author:: Eswar Prasad and Marcos Chamon
Publication Date:: 12-2008
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: From 1995 to 2005, the average urban household saving rate in China rose by 7 percentage points, to about one quarter of disposable income. We use household-level data to explain why households are postponing consumption despite rapid income growth. Tracing cohorts over time indicates a virtual absence of consumption smoothing over the life cycle. Saving rates have increased across all demographic groups although the age profile of savings has an unusual pattern in recent years, with younger and older households having relatively high saving rates. We argue that these patterns are best explained by the rising private burden of expenditures on housing, education, and health care. These effects and precautionary motives may have been amplified by financial underdevelopment, as reflected in constraints on borrowing against future income and low returns on financial assets.
Topic:: Economics, Education, Emerging Markets, and Health
Political Geography:: China and Israel

32. The Diversification Challenge in Africa's Resource-Rich Economies

Author:: John Page
Publication Date:: 12-2008
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: For a growing number of countries in Africa the current commodity boom is a huge opportunity. But if the economic history of resource-rich, poor countries-especially in Africa-is any guide, rather than bringing prosperity, the resource boom may drive them into what Paul Collier (2007) in his influential book The Bottom Billion terms the "Natural Resources Trap." In Africa, countries dependent on oil, gas, and mining have tended to have weaker long-run growth, higher rates of poverty, and higher inequality than Non mineral-dependent economies at similar levels of income.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Political Economy, and Poverty
Political Geography:: Africa

33. Expecting the Unexpected: Macroeconomic Volatility and Climate Policy

Author:: Warwick J. McKibbin, Adele Morris, and Peter J. Wilcoxen
Publication Date:: 11-2008
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: To estimate the emissions reductions and costs of a climate policy, analysts usually compare a policy scenario with a baseline scenario of future economic conditions without the policy. Both scenarios require assumptions about the future course of numerous factors such as population growth, technical change, and non-climate policies like taxes. The results are only reliable to the extent that the future turns out to be reasonably close to the assumptions that went into the model.
Topic:: Climate Change, Development, Economics, and Energy Policy

34. Technological Scarcity, Compliance Flexibility and the Optimal Time Path of Emissions Abatement

Author:: Bryan K. Mignone
Publication Date:: 11-2008
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: The overall economic efficiency of a quantity-based approach to greenhouse gas mitigation depends strongly on the extent to which such a program provides opportunities for compliance flexibility, particularly with regard to the timing of emissions abatement. Here I consider a program in which annual targets are determined by choosing the optimal time path of reductions consistent with an exogenously prescribed cumulative reduction target and fixed technology set. I then show that if the availability of low-carbon technology is initially more constrained than anticipated, the optimal reduction path shifts abatement toward later compliance periods. For this reason, a rigid policy in which fixed annual targets are strictly enforced in every year yields a cumulative environmental outcome identical to the optimal policy but an economic outcome worse than the optimal policy. On the other hand, a policy that aligns actual prices (or equivalently, costs) with expected prices by simply imposing an explicit price ceiling (often referred to as a "safety valve") yields the opposite result. Comparison among these multiple scenarios implies that there are significant gains to realizing the optimal path but that further refinement of the actual regulatory instrument will be necessary to achieve that goal in a real cap-and-trade system.
Topic:: Climate Change, Economics, and Environment

35. Prices in Emissions Permit Markets: The Role of Investor Foresight and Capital Durability

Author:: Bryan K. Mignone
Publication Date:: 11-2008
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Of the many regulatory responses to climate change, cap-and-trade is the only one currently endorsed by large segments of the scientific, economic and political establishments. Under this type of system, regulators set the overall path of carbon dioxide (CO2) reductions, allocate or auction the appropriate number of emissions allowances to regulated entities and – through trading – allow the market to converge upon the least expensive set of abatement opportunities. As a result, the trading price of allowances is not set by the regulator as it would be under a tax system, but instead evolves over time to reflect the underlying supply and demand for allowances. In this paper, I develop a simple theory that relates the initial clearing price of CO2 allowances to the marginal cost premium of carbon-free technology, the maximum rate of energy capital replacement and the market interest rate. This theory suggests that the initial clearing price may be lower than the canonical range of CO2 prices found in static technology assessments. Consequently, these results have broad implications for the design of a comprehensive regulatory solution to the climate problem, providing, for example, some intuition about the proper value of a possible CO2 price trigger in a future cap-and-trade system.
Topic:: Climate Change, Economics, Environment, and Markets

36. Candidate Issue Index: Trade

Author:: Lael Brainard
Publication Date:: 02-2008
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Compiled by Brookings Institution experts, this chart is part of a series of issue indices to be published during the 2008 Presidential election cycle. The policy issues included in this series were chosen by Brookings staff and represent the most critical topics facing America's next President. Available voting records and statements vary based on time in office. For candidates who have not been a Member of Congress, public statements are noted when available.
Topic:: Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Politics
Political Geography:: United States and America

37. America's Infrastructure: Ramping Up or Crashing Down

Author:: Bruce Katz
Publication Date:: 01-2008
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Infrastructure has a dramatic effect on the economic competitiveness of our nation, the health of our environment and our quality of life. And infrastructure—freight ports, airports, bridges, roads, rail and transit networks, water and sewer systems, web of channel communications—is the connective tissue of our nation. Smart policies and investments can enhance and further national prosperity and the health and vitality of metropolitan areas, where the bulk of our population lives and jobs are located.
Topic:: Debt, Economics, and Political Economy
Political Geography:: United States

38. The Future of Red, Blue and Purple America

Author:: Ruy Teixeira
Publication Date:: 01-2008
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Political polarization in the United States has a number of causes, ranging from media hype to gerrymandering to hyper- ideological elites to cultural “sorting” between the parties. But there is another key contributor that is frequently overlooked: demographic and geographic changes in the electorate that have altered the sizes of different population groups and even shifted their political orientations over time. These changes have helped produce the current deadlock between coalitions of roughly equal size and opposed outlooks. But these same changes—since they will continue to alter group sizes and political orientations in the future—could also provide the impetus for unlocking this polarization and policy gridlock in the future.
Topic:: Democratization, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:: United States and America

39. Reform of Quota and Voting Shares in the International Monetary Fund: "Nothing" Is Temporarily Preferable to an Inadequate "Something"

Author:: Ralph C. Bryant
Publication Date:: 01-2008
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: A prosperous, stable world economy is in the self interest of every nation—large or small, rich or poor. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a worldwide intergovernmental institution that can facilitate that prosperity and stability. Because every nation has a stake, each should participate in the IMF's governance and operations. The value to each nation of an effective IMF increases as the world economy and financial system become more integrated.
Topic:: Development, Economics, International Organization, and International Political Economy

40. Bridging the Social Security Divide: Lessons From Abroad

Author:: R. Kent Weaver
Publication Date:: 06-2008
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Efforts by President George W. Bush to promote major reforms in the Social Security retirement program have not led to policy change, but rather to increased polarization between the two parties. And the longer we wait to address Social Security's long-term funding problem, the bigger and more painful the changes will need to be.
Topic:: Economics, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:: United States

41. Measuring the Cost of Aid Volatility

Author:: Homi Kharas
Publication Date:: 07-2008
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Flows of official development assistance (ODA) to recipient countries have been highly volatile and this reduces their value. At the macro level, empirical evidence suggests that volatile ODA can negatively impact growth through several channels. At the micro level, volatility can affect fiscal planning and the level and composition of investment. This working paper develops a simple financial metric that policy makers can use to estimate (and reduce) the cost of aid volatility. Unlike other estimates, our measure does not depend on parameter estimates from cross-country regressions, nor on country-specific model simulations.
Topic:: Economics and Humanitarian Aid

42. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank: It's Time to Separate the Conjoined Twins

Author:: Lex Rieffel
Publication Date:: 09-2008
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: The IMF and the World Bank were created in 1944 to be at the center of the international financial system, but they have not adapted well to the far- reaching changes in the global economy over the past twenty years. Their legitimacy has been called into question due to their antiquated governance structures, and as a consequence they are losing relevance and effectiveness.
Topic:: Economics, International Organization, International Political Economy, International Trade and Finance, and International Monetary Fund

43. Can America Still Lead in the Global Economy?

Author:: Lael Brainard and David Lipton
Publication Date:: 08-2008
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: From the vantage point of 2008, some of the most memorable initiatives of U.S. international economic leadership—the Paris and Louvre Accords, the support for Poland and Russia after the fall of communism, the Uruguay Round, and the Mexican Financing Loan—seem like quaint reminders of a simpler time. In the coming years, the exercise of international economic leadership will surely prove more complex than in the past. The very success of the American vision of a global spread of vibrant and competitive markets has created a huge, rapidly integrating private economy of trade and finance much less amenable to guidance, let alone control, by governments. Unlike in diplomacy and defense, where non state actors are growing in importance but still a side show, in inter- national economics, households, corporations, labor unions, and non-profits are now the dominant players in most parts of the world. While they respond to national laws and policies, their interests are varied and their operations often span borders.
Topic:: Economics, International Political Economy, International Trade and Finance, and Markets
Political Geography:: Russia, United States, Paris, Poland, Uruguay, and Mexico

44. Better Workers for Better Jobs: Improving Worker Advancement in the Low-Wage Labor Market

Author:: Harry J. Holzer
Publication Date:: 12-2007
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: This paper proposes a new federal funding stream to identify, expand, and replicate the most successful state and local initiatives designed to spur the advancement of low-wage workers in the United States. In the Worker Advancement Grants for Employment in States (WAGES) program, the federal government would offer up to $5 billion annually in matching funds for increases in state, local, and private expenditures on worker advancement initiatives. To gain funding, states would have to develop local advancement “systems,” which would provide career-oriented education and training to youth, working poor adults and “hard-to-employ” workers. Partnerships would be developed between local training providers (like community colleges), employer associations, and intermediaries. Additional financial supports for the working poor—including child care, transportation, and stipends for working students—would have to be funded as well. Initially, the WAGES program would require states to compete for federal grants, which would ultimately be renewable. The program would generate a “learning system” in which states would have an incentive to innovate and use information from other initiatives. The federal government would provide substantial technical assistance and oversight. Performance measurement and rigorous evaluation would be required for program renewal; states achieving substantial worker advancement would be awarded major bonuses and more rapid renewal of funding.
Topic:: Economics, Markets, and Political Economy
Political Geography:: United States

45. Immigration: Wages, Education and Mobility

Author:: Ron Haskins
Publication Date:: 08-2007
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: The idea of economic mobility in America often evokes a personal story. For many Americans, it is one of immigrant parents or grandparents, or even one's own journey and arrival. In recent decades, immigration has been rising steadily, with nearly one million legal immigrants entering the country per year throughout the 1990s and in the early years of this century, compared to only about 300,000 per year in the 1960s. In addition to legal immigrants, it is estimated that about 500,000 illegal immigrants now arrive each year.
Topic:: Economics, Human Welfare, and Migration
Political Geography:: United States

46. Utility Payments as Alternative Credit Data: A Reality Check

Author:: Sara Burr and Virginia Carlson
Publication Date:: 03-2007
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Access to credit is one of the cornerstones of wealth-building in the United States. Yet, between 35 million and 54 million persons are not participating in the credit market. Many individuals outside the credit mainstream are unable to access credit, or credit at competitive rates, because of the lack of traditional information, such as mortgage and credit card payments, available on their credit files. However, there is evidence that the inclusion of alternative data on credit-like payments, such as utility payments, in credit reporting can help bridge this information gap. The first step toward filling this gap requires utility companies to systematically report these data to the major credit bureaus.
Topic:: Civil Society, Demographics, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:: United States

47. The Third California: The Golden State's New Frontier

Author:: Joel Kotkin and William H. Frey
Publication Date:: 03-2007
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: For most Americans, California evokes coastal images, the sunny beaches of south or the spectacular urban vistas of San Francisco Bay. Yet within California itself, the state's focus is shifting increasingly beyond the narrow strip of land between the coast- line and its first line of mountain ranges.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Environment
Political Geography:: United States, America, and California

48. Committing to Prosperity: Moving Forward on the Agenda to Renew Pennsylvania

Publication Date:: 03-2007
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Pennsylvania is at once the same and different, three years after the release of the 2003 Brookings Institution report “Back to Prosperity,” which proposed a new vision for how Pennsylvania might revitalize its cities, towns, and regions in order to compete more energetically in today's global economy.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:: United States and Pennsylvania

49. A Pathway to the Middle Class: Migration and Demographic Change in Prince George's County

Author:: Alice M. Rivlin and Brooke DeRenzis
Publication Date:: 04-2007
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: The Washington area is growing and decentralizing. From 1990 to 2000, the District of Columbia's population declined while the number of people living in surrounding suburbs increased. Prince George's County was among the suburban jurisdictions that experienced population growth, increasing by 10 percent from about 729,000 residents in 1990 to over 800,000 in 2000. Prince George's continues to grow, with an estimated 840,000 residents in 2005.
Topic:: Demographics, Development, Economics, and Migration
Political Geography:: Washington

50. A Local Ladder for Low-Income Workers: Recent Trends in the Earned Income Tax Credit

Author:: Elizabeth Kneebone
Publication Date:: 04-2007
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: The first half of this decade brought with it a range of economic challenges, including increased unemployment, stagnant family incomes, and rising poverty.
Topic:: Demographics, Development, Economics, and Government

51. Katrina Index: Tracking Recovery of New Orleans and the Metro Area

Publication Date:: 05-2007
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: On the eve of its second Mardi Gras since Katrina, New Orleans stands poised to gain a larger economic benefit from the event than in did in 2006. Twenty additional hotels have opened since last year's Mardi Gras, and the New Orleans airport is now accommodating 100,000 more arriving passengers each month.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Environment
Political Geography:: United States

52. Restoring Prosperity: The State Role in Revitalizing America's Older Industrial Cities

Author:: Jennifer S. Vey
Publication Date:: 05-2007
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: The evidence is clear. On the whole, America's central cities are coming back. Employment is up, populations are growing, and many urban real estate markets are hotter than ever, with increasing numbers of young people, empty-nesters, and others choosing city life over the suburbs.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Globalization, and Government
Political Geography:: America

53. A Statistical Analysis of the Quality of Impact Assessment in the European Union

Author:: Caroline Cecot, Robert Hahn, and Andrea Renda
Publication Date:: 05-2007
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: In 2002, the European Union required that an impact assessment be done for all major initiatives, including many regulations, directives, decisions, and communications. This paper is the first paper to statistically analyze these impact assessments using the largest available dataset. As a benchmark, we compare our results in the EU with recent results on the quality of regulatory analysis in the U.S. We score impact assessments using a number of objective measures of quality, such as whether a particular assessment provides any quantitative information on costs or benefits, and use the scores to develop two indices of quality.
Topic:: Economics, Government, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:: Europe

54. Nigeria's Economic Reforms Progress and Challenges

Author:: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Philip Osafo-Kwaako
Publication Date:: 03-2007
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Following years of economic stagnation, Nigeria embarked on a comprehensive reform program during the second term of the Obasanjo administration. The program was based on the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) and focused on four main areas: improving the macroeconomic environment, pursuing structural reforms, strengthening public expenditure management, and implementing institutional and governance reforms. This paper reviews Nigeria's recent experience with economic reforms and outlines major policy measures that have been implemented. Although there have been notable achievements under the program, significant challenges exist, particularly in translating the benefits of reforms into welfare improvements for citizens, in improving the domestic business environment, and in extending reform policies to states and local governments. Consequently, we argue that the recent reform program must be viewed as the initial steps of a much longer journey of economic recovery and sustained growth. This paper concludes by outlining a number of outstanding issues that future Nigerian administrations must address.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:: Africa and Nigeria

55. Making Trade Agreements Relevant for Poor Countries: Why Dispute Settlement Is Not Enough

Author:: Bernard Hoekman and Chad Brown
Publication Date:: 02-2007
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Poor countries are rarely challenged in formal WTO trade disputes for failing to live up to commitments, reducing the benefits of their participation in international trade agreements. This paper examines the political-economic causes of the failure to challenge poor countries and discusses the static and dynamic costs and externality implications of this failure. Given the weak incentives to enforce WTO rules and disciplines against small and poor members, bolstering the transparency function of the WTO is important to make trade agreements more relevant to trade constituencies in developing countries. While our focus is on the WTO system, our arguments also apply to reciprocal North-South trade agreements.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Government, and International Trade and Finance

56. Reducing Poverty in Washington, D.C. and Rebuilding the Middle Class from Within

Author:: Brooke DeRenzis and Martha Ross
Publication Date:: 03-2007
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Washington's future as a vibrant, inclusive city depends on its commitment to rebuilding the middle class from within. The District has experienced job growth, big increases in city revenues, and remarkable commercial and residential development over the past several years. Still, one out of every three DC residents is low-income, and many residents live in areas of concentrated poverty. More than most cities, Washington is a city of high and low incomes, with a small and declining middle class.
Topic:: Civil Society, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:: United States and Washington

57. 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

58. 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

59. 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

60. 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

61. Global Service Fellowships: Building Bridges through American Volunteers

Author:: David L. Caprara, John Bridgeland, and Harris Wofford
Publication Date:: 07-2007
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: As policy-makers search for ways to share the best of America with the world, they should start with our international volunteers, who embody this country's spirit of generosity, resourcefulness and hope. With the support of Congress and the Bush Administration, volunteers can become the first face of America to communities in many nations, while advancing concrete initiatives that lift up the lives of the poor throughout the world.
Topic:: Foreign Policy, Economics, and Humanitarian Aid
Political Geography:: United States and America

62. Beyond Microfinance: Getting Capital to Small and Medium Enterprises to Fuel Faster Development

Author:: David de Ferranti and Anthony J. Ody
Publication Date:: 03-2007
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), typically employing between 10 and 250 workers, form the backbone of modern economies and can be crucial engines of development through their role as seedbeds of innovation. In much of the developing world, though, SMEs are under-represented, stifled by perverse regulatory climates and poor access to inputs. A critical missing ingredient is often capital.
Topic:: International Relations, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:: United States

63. Credit Crisis: The Sky is not Falling

Author:: Anthony Downs
Publication Date:: 10-2007
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: U.S. stock markets are gyrating on news of an apparent credit crunch generated by defaults among subprime home mortgage loans. Such frenzy has spurred Wall Street to cry capital crisis. However, there is no shortage of capital – only a shortage of confidence in some of the instruments Wall Street has invented. Much financial capital is still out there looking for a home.
Topic:: Economics and Markets
Political Geography:: United States

64. 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

65. 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

66. 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

67. 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

68. 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

69. Using the Earned Income Tax Credit to Stimulate Local Economies

Author:: Alan Berube
Publication Date:: 11-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Over the 30 years of its existence the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) has been described variously as a wage supplement, a program to reduce tax burdens, an antipoverty tool, a welfare-to-work program, and a form of labor market insurance. The program has enjoyed expansions under both Republican and Democratic administrations, and in 2006, the EITC will provide more than $40 billion to low-income working families. The credit lifts nearly 5 million Americans above the poverty line each year. Moreover, because the EITC aids only those families with earnings from work, researchers have credited it with raising labor force participation levels and helping families transition from welfare to work.
Topic:: Economics, Human Welfare, and Markets
Political Geography:: United States and America

70. Measuring the Informal Economy - One Neighborhood at a Time

Author:: Yusef Freeman, John Talmage, and Jamie Alderslade
Publication Date:: 09-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: The study of the urban informal economy has expanded in the last thirty years, challenging researchers to find more accurate methods of quantifying its activity. This paper examines recent works that focused on the urban informal economy in particular, and evaluates different definitions and techniques for measuring it. Methods discussed include indirect estimation methods, such as currency demand, electricity consumption, and labor force statistical profiles, as well as direct estimation measures such as labor force and household surveys. This paper discusses the prospects for applying these largely macro-level methods to more micro-market analysis and speculates on the avail ability and usefulness of existing data sources in the United States. It concludes by suggesting that there is much room for further research on the size, determinants and implications of the informal economy in American cities and calls for new efforts to align different methods of measuring the inform al economy so they can be increasingly used to support decision-making processes in the public and private sectors.
Topic:: Demographics, Economics, and Markets
Political Geography:: United States and America

71. Corporate Citizenship and Urban Problem Solving: The Changing Civic Role of Business Leaders in American Cities

Author:: Royce Hanson, Hal Wolman, David Connolly, and Katherine Pearson
Publication Date:: 09-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Business-led civic organizations have historically played an important role in urban policymaking, planning, and renewal. These elite organizations of CEOs of the area's largest employers could quickly mobilize their members' personal devotion to the community, their deal making talent, and their ability to commit corporate financial resources to their city's emerging needs.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Emerging Markets, and Industrial Policy
Political Geography:: America

72. New Goals and Outcomes for Temporary Assistance: State Choices in the Decade after Enactment

Author:: Sean Fremstad and Margy Waller
Publication Date:: 08-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: State officials are spending Temporary Assistance funds quite differently from the early years after welfare reform. States now spend a majority of Temporary Assistance funds on benefits and services other than cash assistance, and the beneficiaries of these benefits and services include a substantial number of families who do not receive cash assistance.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Humanitarian Aid
Political Geography:: United States

73. Annexation and the Fiscal Fate of Cities

Author:: David Rusk
Publication Date:: 08-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: An analysis of the relationship between the annexation patterns and fiscal health of the nation's largest cities shows that: A city's ability to annex land from its surrounding county is a primary determinant of its fiscal health. Cities with greater abilities to annex have much higher bond rating scores. Of cities in large metropolitan areas, every city that expanded its boundaries by as little as 15 percent between 1950 and 2000 had a high bond rating in 2002. Conversely, all cities with low bond ratings are those that had been unable to expand their boundaries. The ability to annex land varies widely by region and state. Most high- bond-rated cities are located in “big box” states (primarily in the South and West) where land is more easily annexed. Most low-bond-rated cities are in “little box” states (primarily in the Northeast and Midwest) where land is more difficult, or impossible, to annex. Annexation is far from an outmoded, dying practice. During the 1990s, about 90 percent of the central cities that could annex additional land did so. Collectively, in just one decade they expanded their municipal territory by more than 3,000 square miles.
Topic:: Demographics, Economics, and Poverty
Political Geography:: United States

74. Special Edition of the Katrina Index: A One-Year Review of Key Indicators of Recovery in Post-Storm New Orleans

Author:: Amy Liu, Matt Fellowes, and Mia Mabanta
Publication Date:: 08-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: A review of dozens of key social and economic indicators on the progress of recovery in the New Orleans region since the impact of Hurricane Katrina finds that: Housing rehabilitation, and demolition, are well underway while the housing market tightens, raising rent and home prices. Across the most hard-hit parishes in the New Orleans area, the pace of demolitions has accelerated in the last six months while the number of permits issued for rehab has nearly doubled in the city. Yet, housing is less affordable as rent prices in the region have increased by 39 percent over the year and home sale prices have spiked in suburban parishes. Across the city, public services and infrastructure remain thin and slow to rebound. Approximately half of all bus and streetcar routes are back up and running, while only 17 percent of buses are in use, a level of service that has not changed since January. Gas and electricity service is reaching only 41 and 60 percent of the pre-Katrina customer base, respectively. The labor force in the New Orleans region is 30 percent smaller today than one year ago and has grown slowly over the last six months; meanwhile, the unemployment rate remains higher than pre-Katrina. The New Orleans metro area lost 190,000 workers over the past year, with the health and education services industries suffering the largest percentage declines. In the past six months, the region has seen 3.4 percent more jobs but much of that may reflect the rise in new job seekers. The unemployment rate is now 7.2 percent, higher than last August. Since last August, over $100 billion in federal aid has been dedicated to serving families and communities impacted by hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. In the meantime, the number of displaced and unemployed workers remains high. To date, the federal government has approved approximately $109 billion in federal aid to the Gulf Coast states most impacted by the storms. Of these funds, nearly half has been dedicated to emergency and longer-term housing. In the meantime, an estimated 278,000 workers are still displaced by the storm, 23 percent of whom remain unemployed.
Topic:: Development, Disaster Relief, Economics, and Environment

75. Lessons and Limits: Tax Incentives and Rebuilding the Gulf Coast after Katrina

Author:: Michael J. Rich and Robert P. Stoker
Publication Date:: 08-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: In the wake of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, Congress enacted legislation creating Gulf Opportunity Zones (GO Zones) in localities in Alabama, Louisiana, and Missis- sippi that suffered the most extensive storm damage. Special tax incentives created in these areas are designed to encourage investment, job creation, and economic growth. While many studies have been done to evaluate the effectiveness of federal and state tax-based efforts to redevelop distressed areas, none of the learning has been reflected in policy debates about the Katrina recovery effort. The evidence suggests that tax incentives alone are not enough—they work better when combined with good planning, local capacity-building, and good governance across sectors. This paper will summarize the purpose of the Gulf Opportunity Zone tax program and explain how this latest endeavor reflects the 25-year evolution of federal efforts to use tax incentives as a core tool for revitalizing distressed areas.
Topic:: Development, Disaster Relief, Economics, and Environment
Political Geography:: Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi

76. Bearing the Brunt: Manufacturing Job Loss in the Great Lakes Region, 1995-2005

Author:: Howard Wial and Alec Friedhoff
Publication Date:: 07-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Analysis of manufacturing employment and production in seven Great Lakes states and their metropolitan areas from 1995 through 2005 finds that: More than one-third of the nation's loss of manufacturing jobs between 2000 and 2005 occurred in seven Great Lakes states: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Between 1995 and 2005, the United States lost more than 3 million manufacturing jobs. Nearly all of this job loss occurred during the last five years, and 37.5 percent of the loss occurred in the seven Great Lakes states. Michigan lost the most manufacturing jobs between 2000 and 2005 (nearly 218,000), followed by Ohio, Illinois, and Pennsylvania. Despite these job losses, manufacturing remains a major driver of the nation's economy and the economy of the Great Lakes region. Because productivity was higher in manufacturing than in other sectors of the economy, in 2004, manufacturing accounted for a higher share of gross state product than its share of employment, both nationwide and in six of the seven states in the Great Lakes manufacturing belt. In addition, productivity in the manufacturing sector increased by 38 percent between 1997 and 2004, a much higher increase than the 24.4 percent growth in productivity for all non-farm businesses during that same time period. Manufacturing job losses were pervasive in Great Lakes metropolitan areas. All but one of the 25 largest manufacturing-dependent metropolitan areas in the Great Lakes region lost manufacturing jobs during the last decade (1995–2005), often at a faster rate than the United States as a whole. Chicago and Detroit lost the most manufacturing jobs in the last five years (over 100,000 jobs each), while Canton, OH, and Flint, MI, lost the greatest shares of manufacturing employment. The metropolitan areas in which manufacturing employment peaked between 1995 and 1997 tended to experience more severe manufacturing job losses between 1995 and 2005 than those in which manufacturing peaked later. The 13 metropolitan areas where manufacturing employment peaked between 1995 and 1997 saw an average 26.8 percent decline in manufacturing employment between 1995 and 2005. In the other 11 metropolitan areas where manufacturing employment peaked later, between 1998 and 2000, the average metropolitan area lost 18.9 percent of its manufacturing jobs during the decade. Manufacturing job losses were a major reason for slow overall job growth, and sometimes overall job losses, in Great Lakes metropolitan areas. Furthermore, employment gains in high-wage advanced service industries, which occurred in all but one of the 25 metropolitan areas studied, were not large enough to offset the loss of manufacturing jobs in most areas.
Topic:: Civil Society, Demographics, Economics, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:: United States, New York, Pennsylvania, Chicago, Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan

77. From Poverty, Opportunity: Putting the Market to Work for Lower Income Families

Author:: Matt Fellowes
Publication Date:: 07-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Public and private leaders have a substantial, and widely overlooked, opportunity today to help lower income families get ahead by bringing down the inflated prices they pay for basic necessities, such as food and housing.
Topic:: Demographics, Economics, Markets, and Poverty

78. Tools to Avoid Disclosing Information About Individuals in Public Use Microdata Files

Author:: Cynthia Taeuber
Publication Date:: 06-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Statistical agencies walk a fine line to meet the needs of two sets of customers: those who demand more detailed data to better understand complex policy questions, and those who demand that their responses to surveys or their use of public services be kept confidential.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Government, and Science and Technology

79. Where Did They Go? The Decline of Middle-Income Neighborhoods in Metropolitan America

Author:: George Galster, Jackie Cutsinger, and Jason C. Booza
Publication Date:: 06-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Middle-income families, the icon of the American Dream, have become a somewhat less prominent part of the American demographic profile over the last quartercentury. Numerous researchers have documented how growing economic inequality in the U.S., characterized by an increasing bifurcation of the income distribution, has slowed the growth of a once-broad American middle class.
Topic:: Demographics, Economics, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:: United States and America

80. Katrina and Rita Impacts on Gulf Coast Populations: First Census Findings

Author:: William H. Frey and Audrey Singer
Publication Date:: 06-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: In the late summer of 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita wrought severe damage along much of the Gulf Coast, stretching from Alabama west - ward to Texas, with perhaps the most devastating consequences for the greater New Orleans area.
Topic:: Demographics, Development, Economics, and Environment

81. Delivering a Local EITC: Lessons from the San Francisco Working Families Credit

Author:: Tiana Wertheim and Tim Flacke
Publication Date:: 05-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: For families struggling to make ends meet on earnings from low-wage jobs, the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) has become an essential form of support, boosting the size of annual tax refunds by as much as several thousand dollars. The program is widely recognized for its accessibility (working through the tax code and tax filing system), administrative efficiency and simplicity, and its effectiveness in lifting working poor house- holds out of poverty. Why then shouldn't the EITC serve as a model for other programs for working families, particularly in parts of the country where high costs of living create added difficulties for lower-income residents?
Topic:: Demographics, Economics, and Poverty
Political Geography:: United States and San Francisco

82. Fulfilling the Promise: Seven Steps to Successful Community-Based Information Strategies

Author:: Pari Sabety
Publication Date:: 05-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: While some neighborhoods in American cities are resurgent, many others remain stubbornly entrenched in a cycle of underinvestment. A contributing factor is that—despite thriving immigrant populations, high volumes of cash transactions, and relatively stable housing markets—these neighborhoods are victims of an urban information gap which undervalues their commercial potential. The importance of good information for private and public investments is widely acknowledged, but fragmented funding, lack of standards, and spotty data has impeded either effective or universal use of these tools. This paper sets forth seven steps for practitioners and investors to follow in investing in local community information initiatives and, in turn, close the urban information gap and accelerate investment in these markets.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Poverty
Political Geography:: United States and America

83. Financial Access for Immigrants: Lessons from Diverse Perspectives

Author:: Audrey Singer, Jeremy Smith, Robin Newberger, and Anna Paulson
Publication Date:: 05-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: The United States has long benefited from the aspirations, talents, and hard work of the many immigrants who have settled here. Each generation has debated the costs of immigration and its benefits and grappled with how best to incorporate immigrants into U.S. society. The unparalleled size and growth of the contemporary immigrant population means that these conversations and debates continue today in communities throughout the country. The well-being of the nation increasingly depends on whether immigrants' economic progress keeps up with their demographic growth.
Topic:: Economics, Markets, and Migration
Political Geography:: United States

84. Credit Scores, Reports, and Getting Ahead in America

Author:: Matt Fellowes
Publication Date:: 05-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Everyday, more than 27,000 employees in the credit bureau industry walk into over 1,000 locations around the country and process over 66 million items of information. Out of this massive churning of activity, credit bureaus produce consumer credit reports and scores, two of the most powerful determinants of modern American consumer life.
Topic:: Civil Society, Economics, and Markets
Political Geography:: United States and America

85. The Shape of Metropolitan Growth: How Policy Tools Affect Growth Patterns in Seattle and Orlando

Author:: William Fulton, Linda E. Hollis, Chris Williamson, and Erik Kancler
Publication Date:: 04-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Land use, infrastructure, and open space policy play an important role in shaping metropolitan growth, and whether or not they are coordinated on the policy level, they do interact with each other in shaping those patterns. However, the exact interplay of these policies is not well understood. This paper uses two metropolitan areas—Orlando and Seattle—with differing growth management regimes to explore the effects of conscious growth policy on metropolitan form.
Topic:: Civil Society, Development, Economics, and Industrial Policy

86. Federal Allocations in Response to Katrina, Rita, and Wilma

Author:: Amy Liu and Matthew Fellowes
Publication Date:: 03-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Federal allocations in response to hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma now total over $88 billion. Additionally, over $8 billion in tax relief is available, and another $19.8 billion in spending has been proposed by the Bush administration in February 2006. While these numbers appear quite large, widespread uncertainty exists over how much of this money has actually been spent and where.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Environment, and Government

87. Making Sense of Clusters: Regional Competitiveness and Economic Development

Author:: Joseph Cortright
Publication Date:: 03-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: In recent years, "cluster strategies" have become a popular economic development approach among state and local policymakers and economic development practitioners. An industry cluster is a group of firms, and related economic actors and institutions, that are located near one another and that draw productive advantage from their mutual proximity and connections. Cluster analysis can help diagnose a region's economic strengths and challenges and identify realistic ways to shape the region's economic future. Yet many policymakers and practitioners have only a limited understanding of what clusters are and how to build economic development strategies around them.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:: United States

88. One-Fifth of the Nation: America's First Suburbs

Author:: David Warren and Robert Puentes
Publication Date:: 02-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: One of the more encouraging metropolitan policy trends over the last several years is the increased attention on America's older, inner-ring, “first” suburbs. Beginning generally with Myron Orfield's Metropolitics in 1997, a slow but steady stream of research has started to shine a bright light on these places and begun to establish the notion that first suburbs have their own unique set of characteristics and challenges that set them apart from the rest of metropolitan America. Since then first suburbs in a few regions have assumed a small, but significant, role in advancing research and policy discussions about metropolitan growth and development.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Migration
Political Geography:: United States and America

89. The New Safety Net: How the Tax Code Helped Low-Income Working Families During the Early 2000s

Author:: Alan Berube
Publication Date:: 02-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: The early years of the twenty- first century marked a period of change in both the labor market and in public policy for the nation's low-income working families. Most prominently, employment conditions deteriorated after 2000. The nation's unemployment rate climbed from 4 percent in 2000 to 6 percent in 2003. The unemployment rate for workers with less than a high school education rose to nearly 9 percent in 2003. Real hourly wages continued to increase slightly for most workers during this period, but the weak labor market reduced the number of hours worked, along with overall earnings and family incomes. The steady rise in labor force participation among low-income families during the 1990s, spurred in part by the 1996 welfare reform law and other policies to “make work pay,” gave way to a decline after 2000.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Government, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:: New York

90. The Earned Income Tax Credit at Age 30: What We Know

Author:: Steve Holt
Publication Date:: 02-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), the nation's largest antipoverty program for working families, plays an important role in the economic life of America's low- income households and communities. It increases the ability of workers in lower paying jobs to support themselves and their families. It represents a large inflow of resources into local economies. It magnifies the importance of the annual tax filing process. The federal EITC turned 30 years old in 2005. During the past 20 years, many states and localities have enacted versions of the federal credit to benefit their own residents. Meanwhile, a new generation of local leaders has emerged to publicize the availability of the EITC and related tax credits for lower-income families and neighborhoods, and to argue for progressive federal tax policies.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:: America

91. Firm Sizes: Facts, Formulae and Fantasies

Author:: Robert L. Axtell
Publication Date:: 02-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Recently discovered facts concerning the size distribution of U.S. firms are recapitulated—in short, these sizes are closely approximated by the Zipf distribution, a Pareto (power law) distribution with exponent of unity. Interesting consequences of this result are then developed, having primarily to do with formulae for the distribution's moments, and difficulties of reasonably characterizing a 'typical' firm. Then, a leading candidate explanation for these data—the Kesten random growth process—is assessed in terms of its realism vis-á-vis actual firm growth. Insofar as it has fluctuations that are quite different in character from actual firm size variability, the Kesten and related stochastic growth processes qualify more as fables of firm growth than as credible explanations. Finally, new explanations of the facts are proposed by considering firms to be partitions of the set of all workers. Assuming all partitions to be equally likely, the observed distribution of firm sizes is hypothesized to be the distribution of block sizes in the most likely partitions. An alternative derivation of this distribution as a constrained optimization problem is also described. Given that these calculations involve unimaginably vast magnitudes, it seems just short of fantastic to consider them relevant empirically.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Industrial Policy
Political Geography:: United States

92. The Affordability Index

Publication Date:: 01-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: This brief describes a new information tool developed by the Urban Markets Initiative to quantify, for the first time, the impact of transportation costs on the affordability of housing choices. This brief explains the background, creation, and purpose of this new tool. The first section provides a project overview and a short summary of the method used to create the Affordability Index. The next section highlights the results from testing the index in a seven-county area in and around Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN. To demonstrate the usefulness of this tool at a neighborhood level, the third section projects the effect of transportation and housing choices on three hypothetical low- and moderate-income families in each of four different neighborhoods in the Twin Cities. The brief concludes with suggested policy recommendations and applications of the new tool for various actors in the housing market, and for regulators, planners, and funders in the transportation and land use arenas at all levels of government.
Topic:: Economics, Emerging Markets, and Government
Political Geography:: United States

93. An Inherent Bias? Geographic and Racial-Ethnic Patterns of Metropolitan Planning Organization Boards

Author:: Thomas W. Sanchez
Publication Date:: 01-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Among the most important transportation reforms initiated by the federal government in recent decades was the increased focus on metropolitan areas and the devolution of greater responsibility for planning and implementation to metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs). 2 By empowering MPOs to play a more active and authoritative role in transportation planning and programming, these reforms created a policy framework for increased local and regional decisionmaking. By requiring sustained and meaningful public involvement, they also demanded increased sensitivity to the community effects of large-scale public investments.
Topic:: Demographics, Economics, Government, and Migration

94. Principles for a U.S. Public Freight Agenda in a Global Economy

Author:: Martin E. Robins and Anne Strauss-Weider
Publication Date:: 01-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: All the products consumers use and all the products businesses use get to market via America's freight system. And though Americans are utterly dependent on the freight system and its carriers, there is little understanding of the system's impact on our daily personal and business lives on either the macro level—as the gate- way to the global economy—or the micro level—as deliverer of e-commerce purchases. Freight also affects the nation in other ways. U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) statistics show that truck traffic makes up more than 30 percent of the traffic on about 20 percent of Interstate System mileage and is expected to grow substantially over the next 20 years. 2 And the dynamics related to some freight businesses have, in many locations, consumed inexpensive greenfields on the suburban fringe, lengthening trips, and exacerbating existing congestion problems.
Topic:: Economics and Globalization
Political Geography:: United States

95. Central Asia Human Development Report

Author:: Johannes F. Linn
Publication Date:: 01-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Increased cooperation among the Central Asian republics stands to produce big gains for the people of the region. The benefits from reducing trade costs, increasing remittances from migrant workers, and more efficient use of water and energy resources could generate a regional economy twice as large and well off 10 years from now. The price of non-cooperation could also be large, a heavy toll extracted from the spread of disease, lost economic opportunities, natural disasters and environmental destruction, as well as conflict and insecurity. Both costs and benefits will be felt most among the region's poorer populations.
Topic:: International Relations, Development, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:: Central Asia

96. Higher Education in Pennsylvania: A Competitive Asset for Communities

Author:: Jennifer S. Vey
Publication Date:: 01-2006
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: In 2003, the Brookings Institution released a report on how to enhance Pennsylvania's economic competitiveness. “Back to Prosperity: A Competitive Agenda for Renewing Pennsylvania” called for the state to rejuvenate its many distinctive cities, towns, and older suburbs and to invest in the high quality service industries often located there. The Commonwealth's institutions of higher learning are among those industries.
Topic:: Development, Economics, Education, and Government
Political Geography:: Pennsylvania

97. Leaders Among Us: Developing a Community Health Worker Program in Washington, D.C.

Author:: Martha Ross and Kathy Patrick
Publication Date:: 10-2006
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Low-income residents of Washington, DC are in poorer health and have less access to regular medical care than more affluent residents. A citywide community health worker program could increase primary care visits among low-income residents, improve their health and reduce potentially avoidable emergency department visits and hospitalizations. Community health workers (CHWs) are well-trained community members whose backgrounds are similar to those they serve, and who provide health education, links to health services, and support in managing health conditions. CHWs serve communities with cultural, linguistic, or economic barriers to health care services. A growing body of research suggests that CHW programs improve access to primary and preventive care, reduce emergency department overcrowding, and are cost-effective.
Topic:: Economics, Health, Human Welfare, and Poverty
Political Geography:: Washington

98. Health Status and Access to Care Among Low-Income Washington, D.C. Residents

Author:: Martha Ross and Nicole Lurie
Publication Date:: 10-2006
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Low-income residents of Washington, DC have poorer health outcomes and less access to primary care than more affluent residents of the city. Residents in low-income areas of the city are less likely to have insurance and a regular doctor, are more likely to have chronic health problems, and are more likely to be hospitalized for conditions that should not result in hospitalization if treated early and effectively in a primary care setting.
Topic:: Economics, Health, Human Welfare, and Poverty
Political Geography:: Washington

99. The Vital Center: A Federal-State Compact to Renew the Great Lakes Region

Author:: Britany Affolter-Caine and Justin Austin
Publication Date:: 10-2006
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: The Great Lakes region of the United States is a unique economic, social, and cultural area made up of all or part of 12 states, including the western portions of New York, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia; northern Kentucky; all of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin; and eastern Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri. Home to 97 million people, this region is defined by a shared geography and natural resources, a dynamic political and economic history, and strong principles of social organization that together have shaped its growth and development. One of the largest industrial production centers and consumer marketplaces in the world, this highly urbanized “mega-region” is a vital global hub of economic activity and growth.
Topic:: Development, Economics, and Industrial Policy
Political Geography:: United States, New York, North America, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, West Virginia, North Kentucky, East Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri

100. Finding Exurbia: America's Fast-Growing Communities at the Metropolitan Fringe

Author:: William H. Frey, Alan Berube, Audrey Singer, and Jill H. Wilson
Publication Date:: 10-2006
Content Type:: Policy Brief
Institution:: The Brookings Institution
Abstract:: Beyond the suburbs, at the far edges of metropolitan areas, communities both new and old are developing the capacity to house large flows of incoming residents.
Topic:: Demographics, Development, and Economics
Political Geography:: United States

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COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS