Report

Read the latest from the COP on TARP. more »

The CBPP Special Series: Economic Recovery Watch reviews the benefits of state relief in the Economic Recovery Plan. more »

CBPP Special Series: Economic Recovery Watch reviews the benefits of relief to States in the Recovery Package. more »

Our economy now faces the most serious crisis since the Great Depression. The financial crisis that was triggered by the bursting of the housing bubble has now spread to the real economy, and we face a sharp downturn that is spreading across the globe. A serious recession now seems unavoidable in the United States, as well as Europe and Japan. The developing world is already struggling with financial turmoil and economic decline. For the first time since the 1930s, we face a real risk of deep worldwide economic contraction.

Restoring economic growth will require a bold, multifaceted plan. This must begin with a recovery program for Main Street — substantial fiscal expansion to revive the real economy.

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America grew up investing in its land and its people. Today, our post-World War II infrastructure is starting to decay, and so is the educational system that helped build our modern middle class. This report comprehensively examines our investment deficit. It documents yesterday’s achievements, today’s problems and tomorrow’s solutions. more »

To put an economy on an equitable growth path, economic development must be based on social efficiency, equity, and job creation. It has been shown that unemployment has far-reaching effects, all leading to an inequitable distribution of well-being. But many economists assume that unemployment tends toward a natural rate below which it cannot go without creating inflation. The paper considers a particular employment strategy: a government job creation program, such as an employment guarantee or employer-of-last-resort scheme, that would satisfy the noninflationary criteria. The paper analyzes the international experience of government job creation programs, with particular emphasis on the cases of Argentina and India. We conclude by considering the application of an employer-of-last-resort policy to the developing world and as a vehicle to meeting the Millennium Development Goals. more »

As the financial crisis on Wall Street unfolds with intense media coverage, we are losing sight of another crisis: more than a million families across the United States will face foreclosure in the next six months as the last of the sub-prime mortgages contracted in 2006 and early 2007 reset. Accelerating job losses and low wages aggravate the lives of tens of millions of families. more »