Income Polarization in the United States

Income Polarization in the United States PDF Author: Ali Alichi
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1475522509
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
The paper uses a combination of micro-level datasets to document the rise of income polarization—what some have referred to as the “hollowing out” of the income distribution—in the United States, since the 1970s. While in the initial decades more middle-income households moved up, rather than down, the income ladder, since the turn of the current century, most of polarization has been towards lower incomes. This result is striking and in contrast with findings of other recent contributions. In addition, the paper finds evidence that, after conditioning on income and household characteristics, the marginal propensity to consume from permanent changes in income has somewhat fallen in recent years. We assess the potential impacts of these trends on private consumption. During 1998-2013, the rise in income polarization and lower marginal propensity to consume have suppressed the level of real consumption at the aggregate level, by about 31⁄2 percent—equivalent to more than one year of consumption.

Income Polarization in the United States

Income Polarization in the United States PDF Author: Ali Alichi
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1475522568
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
The paper uses a combination of micro-level datasets to document the rise of income polarization—what some have referred to as the “hollowing out” of the income distribution—in the United States, since the 1970s. While in the initial decades more middle-income households moved up, rather than down, the income ladder, since the turn of the current century, most of polarization has been towards lower incomes. This result is striking and in contrast with findings of other recent contributions. In addition, the paper finds evidence that, after conditioning on income and household characteristics, the marginal propensity to consume from permanent changes in income has somewhat fallen in recent years. We assess the potential impacts of these trends on private consumption. During 1998-2013, the rise in income polarization and lower marginal propensity to consume have suppressed the level of real consumption at the aggregate level, by about 31⁄2 percent—equivalent to more than one year of consumption.

In the Wake of the Crisis

In the Wake of the Crisis PDF Author: Olivier Blanchard
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262526824
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Book Description
Prominent economists reconsider the fundamentals of economic policy for a post-crisis world. In 2011, the International Monetary Fund invited prominent economists and economic policymakers to consider the brave new world of the post-crisis global economy. The result is a book that captures the state of macroeconomic thinking at a transformational moment. The crisis and the weak recovery that has followed raise fundamental questions concerning macroeconomics and economic policy. These top economists discuss future directions for monetary policy, fiscal policy, financial regulation, capital-account management, growth strategies, the international monetary system, and the economic models that should underpin thinking about critical policy choices. Contributors Olivier Blanchard, Ricardo Caballero, Charles Collyns, Arminio Fraga, Már Guðmundsson, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Otmar Issing, Olivier Jeanne, Rakesh Mohan, Maurice Obstfeld, José Antonio Ocampo, Guillermo Ortiz, Y. V. Reddy, Dani Rodrik, David Romer, Paul Romer, Andrew Sheng, Hyun Song Shin, Parthasarathi Shome, Robert Solow, Michael Spence, Joseph Stiglitz, Adair Turner

International Financial Statistics Yearbook, 2018

International Financial Statistics Yearbook, 2018 PDF Author: International Monetary Fund. Statistics Dept.
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1484354281
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 1471

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Book Description
This 2018 yearbook issue of International Financial Statistics (IFS) is a standard source of statistics on all aspects of international and domestic finance. The IMF publishes calculated effective exchange rates data only for countries that have given their approval. The country, euro area, and world tables provide measures of effective exchange rates, compiled by the IMF’s Research Department, Statistics Department, and area departments. The real effective exchange rate index in line rec is derived from the nominal effective exchange rate index, adjusted for relative changes in consumer prices. Consumer price indices, often available monthly, are used as a measure of domestic costs and prices for these countries.

World Trade in Services

World Trade in Services PDF Author: Mr.Prakash Loungani
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1475589883
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 44

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Book Description
Using a newly constructed dataset on trade in services for 192 countries from 1970 to 2014, this paper shows that services currently constitute one-fourth of world trade and an increasingly important component of global production. A detailed analysis of patterns and stylized facts reveals that exports of services are not only gaining strong momentum and catching up with exports of goods in many countries, but they could also trigger a new wave of trade globalization. Research applications of the trade in service dataset on structural transformation, resilience, labor reallocation, and income distribution are outlined.

Tax Capacity and Growth

Tax Capacity and Growth PDF Author: Vitor Gaspar
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1475558171
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 40

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Book Description
Is there a minimum tax to GDP ratio associated with a significant acceleration in the process of growth and development? We give an empirical answer to this question by investigating the existence of a tipping point in tax-to-GDP levels. We use two separate databases: a novel contemporary database covering 139 countries from 1965 to 2011 and a historical database for 30 advanced economies from 1800 to 1980. We find that the answer to the question is yes. Estimated tipping points are similar at about 123⁄4 percent of GDP. For the contemporary dataset we find that a country just above the threshold will have GDP per capita 7.5 percent larger, after 10 years. The effect is tightly estimated and economically large.

Recognizing Reality—Unification of Official and Parallel Market Exchange Rates

Recognizing Reality—Unification of Official and Parallel Market Exchange Rates PDF Author: Mr.Simon T Gray
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1513568639
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 45

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Book Description
Some central banks have maintained overvalued official exchange rates, while unable to ensure that supply of foreign exchange meets legitimate demand for current account transactions at that price. A parallel exchange rate market develops, in such circumstances; and when the spread between the official and parallel rates is both substantial and sustained, price levels in the economy typically reflect the parallel market exchange rate. “Recognizing reality” by allowing economic agents to use a market clearing rate benefits economic activity without necessarily leading to more inflation. But a unified, market-clearing exchange rate will not stabilize without a supportive fiscal and monetary context. A number of country case studies are included; my thanks to Jie Ren for pulling together all the data for the country case studies, and the production of the charts.

IMF Programs

IMF Programs PDF Author: Robert J. Barro
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Economic assistance
Languages : en
Pages : 66

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Book Description
IMF lending practices respond to economic conditions but are also sensitive to political-economy variables. Specifically, the sizes and frequencies of loans are influenced by a country's presence at the Fund, as measured by the country's share of quotas and professional staff. IMF lending is also sensitive to a country's political and economic proximity to some major shareholding countries of the IMF -- the United States, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. We measured political proximity by voting patterns in the United Nations and economic proximity by bilateral trading volumes. These results are of considerable interest for their own sake but also provide instrumental variables for estimating the effects of IMF lending on economic performance. Instrumental estimates indicate that the size of IMF lending is insignificantly related to economic growth in the contemporaneous five-year period but has a significantly negative effect in the subsequent five years.

Long-Term Macroeconomic Effects of Climate Change: A Cross-Country Analysis

Long-Term Macroeconomic Effects of Climate Change: A Cross-Country Analysis PDF Author: Matthew E. Kahn
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1513514598
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 59

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Book Description
We study the long-term impact of climate change on economic activity across countries, using a stochastic growth model where labor productivity is affected by country-specific climate variables—defined as deviations of temperature and precipitation from their historical norms. Using a panel data set of 174 countries over the years 1960 to 2014, we find that per-capita real output growth is adversely affected by persistent changes in the temperature above or below its historical norm, but we do not obtain any statistically significant effects for changes in precipitation. Our counterfactual analysis suggests that a persistent increase in average global temperature by 0.04°C per year, in the absence of mitigation policies, reduces world real GDP per capita by more than 7 percent by 2100. On the other hand, abiding by the Paris Agreement, thereby limiting the temperature increase to 0.01°C per annum, reduces the loss substantially to about 1 percent. These effects vary significantly across countries depending on the pace of temperature increases and variability of climate conditions. We also provide supplementary evidence using data on a sample of 48 U.S. states between 1963 and 2016, and show that climate change has a long-lasting adverse impact on real output in various states and economic sectors, and on labor productivity and employment.

Financial Sector Assessment

Financial Sector Assessment PDF Author: World Bank
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 9780821364321
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 494

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Book Description
In the wake of the financial crises of the late 1990s, there was a surge of interest in the systematic assessment of financial sectors, with a view to identifying vulnerabilities and evaluating the sector's developmental needs. Consequently, there has been an increased demand from financial sector authorities in many countries for information on key issues and sound practices in the assessment of financial systems and the appropriate design of policy responses. In response, Financial Sector Assessmsnet presents a general analytical framework and broad guidance on approaches, methodologies and key techniques for assessing the stability and development needs of financial systems. It synthesizes current global sound practices in financial sector assessment.

Media Sentiment and International Asset Prices

Media Sentiment and International Asset Prices PDF Author: Samuel P. Fraiberger
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1484389212
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 33

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Book Description
We assess the impact of media sentiment on international equity prices using more than 4.5 million Reuters articles published across the globe between 1991 and 2015. News sentiment robustly predicts daily returns in both advanced and emerging markets, even after controlling for known determinants of stock prices. But not all news-sentiment is alike. A local (country-specific) increase in news optimism (pessimism) predicts a small and transitory increase (decrease) in local returns. By contrast, changes in global news sentiment have a larger impact on equity returns around the world, which does not reverse in the short run. We also find evidence that news sentiment affects mainly foreign – rather than local – investors: although local news optimism attracts international equity flows for a few days, global news optimism generates a permanent foreign equity inflow. Our results confirm the value of media content in capturing investor sentiment.