Search Results
Journal Article
Lessons from variations in state Medicaid expenditures
Because Medicaid is absorbing a large and growing share of government spending in every state, policymakers are under intense pressure to control the cost of this budget-breaking program. In search of clues concerning Medicaid cost containment, this article examines state data on per-recipient Medicaid spending by type of service. This effort suggests focusing on nursing homes, because per-recipient payments to these institutions are highly variable across states. Indeed, the article concludes that a key explanation for cross-state differences in per-recipient Medicaid expenses is the ...
Conference Paper
The impact of demographic change on U. S. labor markets
According to the U. S. Census Bureau projections, the United States will face dramatic demographic changes over the next one hundred years. Indeed, the country will be entering largely uncharted territory. In the twenty-first century, the population is expected to grow more slowly than ever before over an extended period. The population will also age rapidly, with the share of the population over 65 climbing to a succession of new record highs. Finally, the United States will once again become a nation of immigrants. Over the past decade, the wave of new immigrants has already neared ...
Journal Article
Anatomy of a currency crisis
Conference Paper
Technology and growth: conference proceedings
Journal Article
Why the interest in reforming the International Monetary System?
The recent spate of severe financial crises has provoked an interest in international monetary reform not seen since the breakdown of the fixed exchange rate system 30 years ago. Indeed, the crises have forced both academic economists and policymakers to question some of their most basic assumptions about the appropriate design of the international monetary system. This article was the introductory paper at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston's conference on "Rethinking the International Monetary System," held in June 1999. The article reviews recent changes in the economic environment that ...
Report
Re-balancing act : global imbalances in a changing world
The world has been confronting unusually large current account imbalances for so long now that international policy makers have almost stopped warning that these represent a major risk to the world economic outlook. This essay featured in the 2006 annual report summarizes presentations and discussion at the 51st economic conference of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, ?Global Imbalances - As Giants Evolve,? which was held in June 2006.
Journal Article
Public-private cost shifts in nursing home care
This article presents estimates of the degree to which individuals paying privately for nursing home services are being asked to subsidize their states Medicaid program. Recently published data permit making some first rough estimates of the extent of this activity. Although these crude measures must be interpreted with great care, the data suggest that cost-shifting activity is widespread and sizable. ; Because, as the article shows, cost-shifting activity undermines policy makers efforts to regulate nursing home costs, the article suggests that private patients should not be asked to ...
Journal Article
Foreign investment in the United States: a cause for concern?
Briefing
Inflation targeting: central bank practice overseas
This policy brief, which is based on an internal memo, summarizes the institutional and operational features observed in the 27 countries that have gained experience with inflation targeting (IT). It finds considerable convergence in many IT practices across countries over the past 10 to 15 years but much variation in policymakers? choices concerning such key issues as how they treat the borders of the target range. On the whole, most IT banks have chosen to practice inflation targeting in a more flexible and, thus, resilient fashion than many analysts once feared?seemingly without much loss ...