Winter 2003

The Changing Nature of Unemployment
Understanding the Trend Toward Long-Term Joblessness
Unemployment in the United States rose for 15 years (1968-1983) and fell over the next 17 years (1983-2000), with cyclical swings in between. In the 1990s, the unemployment rate fell below 4 percent for the first time since 1969. Today, the boom times are clearly over. Furthermore, new research shows that in terms of the big picture, the often-praised boom of the 1990s actually represented little progress for American male workers.
Research by Kevin M. Murphy and Robert H. Topel

Reversing Japan's Downward Spiral
Japan's Financial Crisis Requires a Comprehensive Solution
New research estimates that taxpayer liability for the Japanese financial crisis will total at least 24 percent of Japan's GDP.
Research by Anil Kashyap

Building a High-Tech Neighborhood
What Does It Take to Create the Economic Environment for Entrepreneurship?
Policymakers around the world have sought to emulate the industrial conditions that gave rise to the Silicon Valley economic dynamo of the 1990s.
Research by Toby Stuart

The Value of Control
Protecting Minority Shareholders and Developing Better Financial Markets
U.S. corporate scandals such as Enron and Tyco have highlighted the fact that insiders enjoy benefits above and beyond those of the average shareholder-the so-called "private benefits of control."
Research by Luigi Zingales