Pub Date : 2021-01-11DOI: 10.1080/05775132.2020.1866907
Joaquim Vergés-Jaime
Abstract The author argues that Sufficient attention has not been paid by economists and statisticians to the fact that, given the way productivity indicators at sector and country-level are defined and determined by statistical agencies, the resulting figures—for comparisons among countries, or among sectors within a country, as well as for comparisons over time (“productivity growth”)—do not actually have the assumed meaning: that is, an increase of the index indicates that the country’s (sector’s) companies have become more productive, in the sense of producing more products or services with the same quantities of resources, or producing the same with fewer quantities of resources, etc.
{"title":"The Misinterpretation of Productivity Measures","authors":"Joaquim Vergés-Jaime","doi":"10.1080/05775132.2020.1866907","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/05775132.2020.1866907","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The author argues that Sufficient attention has not been paid by economists and statisticians to the fact that, given the way productivity indicators at sector and country-level are defined and determined by statistical agencies, the resulting figures—for comparisons among countries, or among sectors within a country, as well as for comparisons over time (“productivity growth”)—do not actually have the assumed meaning: that is, an increase of the index indicates that the country’s (sector’s) companies have become more productive, in the sense of producing more products or services with the same quantities of resources, or producing the same with fewer quantities of resources, etc.","PeriodicalId":88850,"journal":{"name":"Challenge (Atlanta, Ga.)","volume":"56 1","pages":"156 - 171"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74697309","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-06DOI: 10.1080/05775132.2020.1866906
Cleomar Gomes da Silva, A. Fishlow
Abstract The authors investigate the policies adopted by Brazil after the 2008 financial crisis. It was called the New Macroeconomic Matrix (NMM). They to detail the main measures related to NMM; analyze what causes the Great Brazilian Recession was caused by internal factors (NMM actions) or by external factors; and whether the decade that followed was indeed a lost decade for Brazil. We conclude that NMM measures played an important role in the Great Brazilian Recession and that the 2010s can be characterized as a lost decade for the Brazilian economy.
{"title":"The New Macroeconomic Matrix and the Great Brazilian Recession","authors":"Cleomar Gomes da Silva, A. Fishlow","doi":"10.1080/05775132.2020.1866906","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/05775132.2020.1866906","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The authors investigate the policies adopted by Brazil after the 2008 financial crisis. It was called the New Macroeconomic Matrix (NMM). They to detail the main measures related to NMM; analyze what causes the Great Brazilian Recession was caused by internal factors (NMM actions) or by external factors; and whether the decade that followed was indeed a lost decade for Brazil. We conclude that NMM measures played an important role in the Great Brazilian Recession and that the 2010s can be characterized as a lost decade for the Brazilian economy.","PeriodicalId":88850,"journal":{"name":"Challenge (Atlanta, Ga.)","volume":"75 1","pages":"138 - 155"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86919807","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/05775132.2020.1847528
David J. Lyon
Abstract In a variety of surveys, most people believe a free market economy is best. But the assumptions supporting the view are far too simple. A more realistic set of assumptions suggests the need for a variety of regulations.
{"title":"The Free Market Fallacy","authors":"David J. Lyon","doi":"10.1080/05775132.2020.1847528","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/05775132.2020.1847528","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In a variety of surveys, most people believe a free market economy is best. But the assumptions supporting the view are far too simple. A more realistic set of assumptions suggests the need for a variety of regulations.","PeriodicalId":88850,"journal":{"name":"Challenge (Atlanta, Ga.)","volume":"59 1","pages":"36 - 50"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73365648","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/05775132.2020.1863553
R. Hockett
Abstract There is one crucial error in America’s national planning, writes the author. It is to think of “national development” as a one-off achievement, rather than as a perpetual process of ongoing renewal. Three obstacles also must be removed. They are how to coordinate the formulation and execution of a regularly updated national development policy, how to capture and incentive-compatibly channel the gains to continuous infrastructural renewal in a mixed public/private economy, and how to control macro-financial conditions in a manner that renders investment in continuous industrial renewal privately rational. We must make three institutional reforms in response: a National Reconstruction and Development Council (NRDC) that combines all cabinet-level executive agencies into “an FSOC for continuous national development,” a National Investment Corporation (NIC) that designs price-signal-impounding and equity-stake-justifying financial instruments in connection with national infrastructure projects, and a “Spread Fed” that restores the Regional Federal Reserve Banks to their original status as a network of regional development banks. Here is the “three-legged stool” on which “Building Back Better—and Beyond” can succeed.
{"title":"National Investment in National Renewal—Three Whys and Three Hows","authors":"R. Hockett","doi":"10.1080/05775132.2020.1863553","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/05775132.2020.1863553","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract There is one crucial error in America’s national planning, writes the author. It is to think of “national development” as a one-off achievement, rather than as a perpetual process of ongoing renewal. Three obstacles also must be removed. They are how to coordinate the formulation and execution of a regularly updated national development policy, how to capture and incentive-compatibly channel the gains to continuous infrastructural renewal in a mixed public/private economy, and how to control macro-financial conditions in a manner that renders investment in continuous industrial renewal privately rational. We must make three institutional reforms in response: a National Reconstruction and Development Council (NRDC) that combines all cabinet-level executive agencies into “an FSOC for continuous national development,” a National Investment Corporation (NIC) that designs price-signal-impounding and equity-stake-justifying financial instruments in connection with national infrastructure projects, and a “Spread Fed” that restores the Regional Federal Reserve Banks to their original status as a network of regional development banks. Here is the “three-legged stool” on which “Building Back Better—and Beyond” can succeed.","PeriodicalId":88850,"journal":{"name":"Challenge (Atlanta, Ga.)","volume":"74 1","pages":"11 - 21"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83750226","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/05775132.2020.1804740
H. Sherman, P. D. Sherman
Abstract The Trump Depression in 2020 resulted from the long run trends in U.S. capitalism toward enormous inequality and resulting lack of consumer demand. Trump added incredible mistakes toward the coronavirus in order to help his political popularity. The resulting depression had the sharpest and deepest trough of any in U.S. history in such a short time.
{"title":"The Trump Depression","authors":"H. Sherman, P. D. Sherman","doi":"10.1080/05775132.2020.1804740","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/05775132.2020.1804740","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The Trump Depression in 2020 resulted from the long run trends in U.S. capitalism toward enormous inequality and resulting lack of consumer demand. Trump added incredible mistakes toward the coronavirus in order to help his political popularity. The resulting depression had the sharpest and deepest trough of any in U.S. history in such a short time.","PeriodicalId":88850,"journal":{"name":"Challenge (Atlanta, Ga.)","volume":"98 6 1","pages":"22 - 35"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83606470","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/05775132.2020.1866905
Mary T G Findling, R. Blendon, J. Benson
Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has created widespread disruptions to Americans’ lives, including severe financial impacts among a group of households who are in crisis. This analysis of a recent public opinion poll jointly conducted by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, National Public Radio, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation examines serious financial problems facing U.S. households with employment loss during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how problems differ by income. The authors discuss their findings and their implications for the future: (1) about two-thirds of households with employment loss during COVID-19 report facing serious financial problems, including most households earning less than $30,000 in 2019; (2) serious financial problems differ markedly by employment loss and income levels; (3) these problems were reported despite trillions of dollars distributed in aid, signaling additional help is needed; (4) these problems are likely to continue and worsen over time, as more than half of households with employment loss reported using up household savings by August.
{"title":"Serious Financial Burdens Facing U.S. Households with Employment Loss During COVID-19","authors":"Mary T G Findling, R. Blendon, J. Benson","doi":"10.1080/05775132.2020.1866905","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/05775132.2020.1866905","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has created widespread disruptions to Americans’ lives, including severe financial impacts among a group of households who are in crisis. This analysis of a recent public opinion poll jointly conducted by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, National Public Radio, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation examines serious financial problems facing U.S. households with employment loss during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how problems differ by income. The authors discuss their findings and their implications for the future: (1) about two-thirds of households with employment loss during COVID-19 report facing serious financial problems, including most households earning less than $30,000 in 2019; (2) serious financial problems differ markedly by employment loss and income levels; (3) these problems were reported despite trillions of dollars distributed in aid, signaling additional help is needed; (4) these problems are likely to continue and worsen over time, as more than half of households with employment loss reported using up household savings by August.","PeriodicalId":88850,"journal":{"name":"Challenge (Atlanta, Ga.)","volume":"52 1","pages":"3 - 10"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76342986","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/05775132.2020.1842021
R. Benedikter
Abstract The question: “Can machines create art?” is becoming a “hot” topic in the international art business. While some speculate that there will be a “machine-art” explosion as the trigger for new heights of turnover and profit in this sector, others believe art will never be truly created by machines so that investment will just be into a bubble destined to burst once the initial hype is over. And while the former are convinced that the unprecedented Artificial Intelligence revolution will also open up a new epoch of art that may put an end to the presently known art world, the latter insist that any aspiration to have machines as authors or even “inventors” of art is, in the literal sense, an artificial construct launched by a few who want to reap easy and fast profits. The author weighs the pros and cons in play.*
{"title":"Can Machines Create Art?","authors":"R. Benedikter","doi":"10.1080/05775132.2020.1842021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/05775132.2020.1842021","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The question: “Can machines create art?” is becoming a “hot” topic in the international art business. While some speculate that there will be a “machine-art” explosion as the trigger for new heights of turnover and profit in this sector, others believe art will never be truly created by machines so that investment will just be into a bubble destined to burst once the initial hype is over. And while the former are convinced that the unprecedented Artificial Intelligence revolution will also open up a new epoch of art that may put an end to the presently known art world, the latter insist that any aspiration to have machines as authors or even “inventors” of art is, in the literal sense, an artificial construct launched by a few who want to reap easy and fast profits. The author weighs the pros and cons in play.*","PeriodicalId":88850,"journal":{"name":"Challenge (Atlanta, Ga.)","volume":"106 1","pages":"75 - 86"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77145314","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/05775132.2020.1863547
J. Komlos
Abstract The official U.S. unemployment rate is an inadequate measure of labor market conditions. This poses a major challenge for basic research and for successful economic policy. In this piece, the author proposes a new definition of unemployment is proposed. It considers those part-time workers who would like to work full time as 62.7% employed and 37.3% unemployed inasmuch as this is the proportion of time they work relative to full-time workers. New monthly estimates of the unemployment rate are calculated for the period 1994–2019 and find that their average during this 25-year period was 10.7% or 5.0 percentage points above the official rate of 5.7%.
{"title":"The Actual U.S. Unemployment Rate in 2019 Was Twice the Official Rate, and the Phillips Curve","authors":"J. Komlos","doi":"10.1080/05775132.2020.1863547","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/05775132.2020.1863547","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The official U.S. unemployment rate is an inadequate measure of labor market conditions. This poses a major challenge for basic research and for successful economic policy. In this piece, the author proposes a new definition of unemployment is proposed. It considers those part-time workers who would like to work full time as 62.7% employed and 37.3% unemployed inasmuch as this is the proportion of time they work relative to full-time workers. New monthly estimates of the unemployment rate are calculated for the period 1994–2019 and find that their average during this 25-year period was 10.7% or 5.0 percentage points above the official rate of 5.7%.","PeriodicalId":88850,"journal":{"name":"Challenge (Atlanta, Ga.)","volume":"293 1","pages":"51 - 74"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73474072","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：