May 18, 2023

The 30th Annual Levy Economics Institute Conference was a one-day, virtual event organized around the topics of climate change and fiscal/monetary policy, inflation, unemployment and job creation, and the US macroeconomic outlook.

Presenters Included:

Daniel Alpert | Westwood Capital and Cornell Law School 

Skanda Amarnath | Employ America 

Yannis Dafermos | SOAS University of London 

James K. Galbraith | LBJ School of Public Affairs 

Bruce Kasman | JPMorgan Chase 

Yeva Nersisyan | Franklin and Marshall College and Levy Institute 

Michalis Nikiforos | Levy Institute and University of Geneva 

Maria Nikolaidi | University of Greenwich 

William Oman | International Monetary Fund, Monetary and Capital Markets 

Dimitri B. Papadimitriou | Levy Institute 

Torsten Slok | Apollo Global Management, Inc. 

Pavlina Tcherneva | Levy Institute and Bard/OSUN Economic Democracy Initiative 

Isabella M. Weber | University of Massachusetts Amherst 

L. Randall Wray | Levy Institute

Videos of each panel are now available on our YouTube channel. Audio files of the proceedings can be downloaded here.

Working Paper No. 1018 | April 2023

The Unbearable Weight of Aging: How to Deal with the “Demographic Time Bomb”

Yeva Nersisyan, Xinhua Liu, and L. Randall Wray

In the face of what is called a demographic “time bomb” facing rich nations, created by rising longevity and low birthrates, policymakers are reconsidering retirement ages and programs (including the US Social Security system). Research Scholars Yeva Nersisyan and Xinhua Liu along with Senior Scholar L. Randall Wray argue that, from the resource perspective, the burden of caring for tomorrow’s seniors seems far less challenging: with fewer children and longer lives, investment in the workers of the future will ensure growth of productivity that will provide the resources necessary to support a higher ratio of retirees to those of working age.

» Read complete text (PDF)

Policy Note 2023/1 | May 2023

Greece: Higher GDP Growth at What Cost?

Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, Giuliano T. Yajima, and Gennaro Zezza

In 2022, Greek GDP grew at a higher rate than the eurozone average as the nation’s economy rebounded from the COVID-19 shock. However, it was not all welcome news. In particular, Greece registered its largest current account deficit since 2009. Despite a widespread focus on fiscal profligacy, it is excessive current account and trade deficits—largely caused by private sector imbalances—that are at the root of Greece’s multiple economic challenges. In this policy note, Institute President Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, Research Scholar Giuliano T. Yajima, and Senior Scholar Gennaro Zezza identify the major determinants causing the deterioration of the current account balance in order to devise appropriate corrective policies.

» Read complete text (PDF)

Working Paper No. 1019 | May 2023

An Inquiry Concerning Japanese Yen Interest Rate Swap Yields

Tanweer Akram and Khawaja Mamun

Tanweer Akram and Khawaja Mamun econometrically model Japanese yen (JPY)–denominated interest rate swap yields, examining whether the short-term interest rate exerts an influence on the long-term JPY swap yield after controlling for several key macroeconomic variables, such as core inflation, the growth of industrial production, the percentage change in the equity price index, and the percentage change in the exchange rate and testing whether there are structural breaks in the dynamics of Japanese swap yields and related variables. Their findings highlight the limits and scope of John Maynard Keynes’s contention that the central bank’s policy rate commands a decisive influence over the long-term market rate through the short-term interest rate.

» Read complete text (PDF)

Backed by over 30 years of proven policy impact, the Levy Institute Graduate Programs in Economic Theory and Policy provide innovative approaches to topics such as time use, poverty, gender, student debt, and employment that other programs neglect, encouraging students to evaluate policies, examine behavior, and dig deeper into the social phenomena that underlie economic outcomes.

Along with a challenging academic environment, the Levy programs also offer a supporting and caring community where students benefit from sharing their research with faculty and their peers to promote academic exchanges and intellectual collaboration.

To find out more, visit bard.edu/levygrad or follow the program’s Facebook page.

Interested students should contact the Institute at [email protected] for more information. Scholarships are available.

Senior Scholar L. Randall Wray gave his speech, "Stagflation risk – soft or hard landing?" as a keynote speaker at the University of Public Service 5th Budapest Public Finance Seminar on May 18. On May 2, he was invited as a distinguished scholar, to speak at Wilamette University's Teppola Distinguished Scholar talk, "The Value of Money: Putting Value Theory Back into Economics." He was also a keynote speaker for the Association for Institutional Thought on "How to Make Money Work for 'US'."

Research Scholar Yeva Nersisyan's new op-ed in The Hill was published on April 5: "For a truly progressive reform of Social Security, follow Alan Greenspan, not Bernie Sanders."