Congressional Research Service Reports - 950 Matching Results
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- Economic Integration in Latin America: An Annotated Bibliography, 1959-1969
- This report provides a bibliography of sources related to economic integration in South America which were published between 1959 and 1969.
- Economic Effects of the Minimum Wage with Emphasis on the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938: References, 1937-1970
- This report provides a bibliography of resources related to the economic effects of minimum wage legislation which were published between 1937 and 1970.
- Economic Aspects of Reduced Defense Spending, 1960-1970: A Selected Bibliography Arranged Chronologically
- This report provides a bibliography of resources related to the economic effects of decreased defense spending which were published between 1960 and 1970.
- Problems of Welfare Reform
- This report discusses some major practical problems in welfare reform including national payment levels, fiscal relief to the states, economic effect of welfare on recipients, incentives to work, coverage, and the responsiveness of the system to emergency needs.
- The New Economic Policy
- This report outlines Nixon's "new economic policy", a policy created to combat high unemployment rates and inflation at the time, and to re-situate the United States place in the global trade economy.
- Government Policy Relating to Wages and Prices, with Particular Reference to Wage-Price Controls: A Selected Bibliography
- This report provides a bibliography of resources related the topic of wage-price controls.
- Development of National Urban Growth and Rural Development Policy: Legislative and Executive Actions in 1970 and 1971
- The 1970 Acts require the executive branch to submit the reports on the further development of urban growth policy, the location of Federal facilities, acceleration of the availability of government services and financial assistance (among other subjects) in support of rural community development. This report should assist in the evaluation of these submissions received from the President and executive departments and agencies. The report's basic purpose is to place individual legislative actions in the larger context of interrelated national urban and rural development objectives set forth by the Congress. The basic content of this report consists of three major components. The first summarizes 1970 legislative developments at both the State and Federal levels of government concerning contributions being made toward the development of a balanced national growth policy for the United States. The second component describes the actions taken by Congressional committees and the Congress in the first session of the 92nd Congress (1971). The final component is a detailed annotated summary of the published literature of urban and rural development made available in 1971.
- The United States Balance of Trade: Selected References, 1968-1972
- This report provides a bibliography of resources related to the balance of trade in the United States that were published between 1968 and 1972.
- The United States Balance of Payments,1968-1972: Selected References
- This report provides a bibliography of resources related to the United States's balance of payments between 1968 and 1972.
- Payroll Taxes: Economic Effects and Legislative Proposals
- This report discusses legislative proposals related to payroll/social security taxes and studies the effects of these taxes on the economy.
- Supplemental Selective Reserve Requirements on Commercial Bank Assets: An Option for Credit Allocation Based on Social Goals
- This report discuses banks' loan practices and the Federal Reserve's monetary policies and how they interact with one another as well as proposals by the Federal Reserve intended to increase loans related to the housing market while reducing them in the commercial business world.
- The Consumer Price Index: An Overview
- The consumer price index is probably the most widely used measure of inflation. Changes i n the index affect the incomes of a substantial portion of the U.S. population. This report provides background information on the history and concepts of the index. In addition, several factors which may produce biases in the index are analyzed. The objective is to provide an introduction to the CPI f o r the policy maker who wishes to acquire a working knowledge of the concept as an aid in examining economic policy alternatives.
- The Consumer Price Index: An Overview
- The consumer price index is probably the most widely used measure of inflation. Changes i n the index affect the incomes of a substantial portion of the U.S. population. This report provides background information on the history and concepts of the index. In addition, several factors which may produce biases in the index are analyzed. The objective is to provide an introduction to the CPI f o r the policy maker who wishes to acquire a working knowledge of the concept as an aid in examining economic policy alternatives.
- High Interest Rates: Causes and Effects
- This report describes the major market and policy forces that determine the general level of interest rates. The discussion is related to the recent economic experience of high interest rates and inflation, but may be generally applied to any economic environment.
- Federal Reserve Membership and Monetary Control
- This report discusses the current state of monetary policy. Questions about the continued capability of the Federal Reserve System (FRS) to exercise effective monetary control were raised in connection with several developments over recent years that diminished, in relative terms, the deposit component of the stock of money over which the FRS maintained reserve requirement controls. The Monetary Control Act, Title 1 of P.L. 96-221 was designed to ensure that the FRS as ability to conduct monetary policy is not diminished. This Act, signed into law on Mar. 31, 1980, is one of the few major amendments to the original Federal Reserve Act of 1913.
- A Summary of Prevailing Views on the Sources of Inflation
- It is the purpose of this paper to present the range of viewpoints concerning the causes of inflation. Inflation is defined and distinguished from changes' in relative prices. The Monetarist, Post-Keynesian, and neo-Keynesian positions are discussed to illustrate the variety of perceptions as to the sources of sustained increases in the general price level.
- Merger Tactics and Public Policy
- No Description Available.
- Examining the Monetary Causes of the Economic Slowdown
- This issue brief investigates the effects of changes in money supply growth on the current economic conditions. The results presented are based upon a statistical methodology outlined in a CRS report (No.82-43E, March 1982) of the same title. The approach may be distinguished from most previous work along these lines in that it attempts to estimate the statistical significance of the 1979-82 deceleration in monetary growth. The resulting estimates are then employed in analyzing the timing implications of decelerating monetary growth for episodes of high and volatile interest rates, for lower inflation, and for unstable economic growth.
- The Sensitivity of Small Businesses to Interest Rates: A Cross-Sectional View
- No Description Available.
- Monetary Policy: Recent Changes and Current Conditions
- This report summarizes the current status of monetary conditions and policy. The report also describes the process though which Congress oversees monetary policy, the recent changes in the financial system which affect monetary policy, and the October 1979 changes in Federal Reserve operating procedures.
- Bankruptcy and Business Failure Data
- The purpose of this report is to provide statistical data on the actual number of businesses that are filing for bankruptcy or ceasing operations. Tabular data of both a historical and current nature concerning business failures and bankruptcies is provided.
- Large and Continuing Deficits: Their Influence on Macroeconomic Performance
- No Description Available.
- High Interest Rates: Causes, Consequences, and Issues
- This paper reviews the causes of the steep interest rate escalation since 1978 and the persistence of high rates during the recent recession and revival.
- Solar Energy: The Federal Program and Congressional Interest
- No Description Available.
- Should the Federal Government Sponsor a National Lottery?: Some Preliminary Considerations
- No Description Available.
- Budget Deficits: Causes, Effects and Some Remedial Options
- In 1981 Congress enacted extensive changes in taxing and spending policies that supporters of these changes expected to generate sufficient revenues, despite a series of tax rate cuts, to balance the budget by FY84. After the onset of recession in early 1982, however, the Reagan Administration's projections showed widening budget deficits, which culminated in an actual FY83 deficit of $195.4 billion. Despite enactment of the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982, and, more recently, the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984, large deficits are expected to persist, even under continued favorable economic conditions, unless Federal taxing and spending policies are altered dramatically.
- The Balanced Budget Proposal: Some Macroeconomic Implications
- This brief report outlines some possible macroeconomic implications of observing a statutory or constitutional commitment to balance the Federal budget. It does not address the legal questions about the proposal or their implementation, nor the economic and political questions related to decisions about the level of Federal revenues or expenditures. On the latter, its analysis refers to revenue and expenditure levels, in relation to total national product, typical of recent years.
- Pay Compatibility for Federal White-Collar Workers
- This report reviews the Congress's decision to freeze federal pay for one year as part of the budget resolution for the year, 1986. It discusses the standards to determine the Federal pay rate and the levels of pay that are set in place in the Federal government.
- Exchange Rates: The Dollar in International Markets
- Mainstream economic theory suggests that U.S. budget deficit was the main cause of the dollar appreciation between 1980 and early 1985. The high budget deficit forced the U.S. Government to compete against the private sector for available savings, raising interest rates in the United States. In response, net capital inflows to the United States increased, the demand for dollars on the foreign exchange market went up, and the dollar appreciated. Restrictive budgets and loose monetary policies abroad, both of which kept interest rates low abroad, also contributed to the dollar’s appreciation on over this period.
- Bank Failures: Recent Trends and Policy Options
- During the 1980s the U.S. banking industry has experienced a rapidly growing number of failures. Many factors have contributed to this trend including deregulation, technology, individual bank management, and economic conditions. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) handles insured bank failures. Congress has been monitoring the recent trend and is concerned with the FDIC’s ability to continue to perform its supervisory and insurance operations. The present situation, information on key factors affecting the banking industry, and the FDIC’s role when a bank fails is discussed in this report. The reference section of this issue brief contains a list of CRS products providing background on the FDIC and legislative issues relevant to the agency.
- Gramm-Rudman-Hollings: Potential Economic Effects of Meeting Deficit Targets
- This report discusses the reduction of federal budget deficit and the effect on the rise of interest rates.
- The Labor Market of the 1980s: Unemployment Omens in a Growing Economy
- This report provides discussion over the nature of job growth, the labor market of the 1980s, and the skill and pay ladder.
- The Labor Market of the 1980s: Unemployment Omens in a Growing Economy
- This report provides discussion over the nature of job growth, the labor market of the 1980s, and the skill and pay ladder.
- Japan: Prospects for Greater Market Openness
- Japan has made considerable progress in opening its economy to imports, but significant obstacles remain. This report analyzes the underlying causes of Japan's market protection and assesses the prospects for Japan moving in the direction of greater market openness.
- China's Prospects After Tiananmen Square: Current Conditions, Future Scenarios, and a Survey of Expert Opinion
- Since the violent military crackdown around Tiananmen Square, most Western observers have struggled to understand and explain three major questions concerning the Chinese situation: first, why a forward-looking and reform-minded Chinese leadership chose such violent force over a more accommodating approach toward the peaceful public protests of June 1989; second, how to assess current political and economic conditions in China in light of Tiananmen Square; and third, what the events of the last two years mean for China's future prospects.
- The Delaney Clause: The Dilemma of Regulating Health Risk for Pesticide Residues
- Under the authority of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for establishing tolerances for pesticide residues in or on foods and feeds. Tolerances are legal limits to the amount of pesticide residues that can be found on a raw agricultural commodity at the farm gate or in a processed food. The FFDCA has two sections, 408 and 409, which set up different and inconsistent criteria for setting tolerances for pesticide residues in foods.
- The Delaney Dilemma: Regulating Pesticide Residues in Foods -- Seminar Proceedings, March 16, 1993
- A provision in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the Delaney Clause, appears to lower risks in the setting of tolerances for pesticide residues. It prohibits any substance from being added to processed foods if it induces cancer in man or animals. In reality, the provision created a dilemma because the zero-risk statute makes it difficult to regulate pesticides. Because of the prescription of Delaney, tolerances (legal limits) are established differently for carcinogens and non-carcinogens and in raw and processed foods.
- Trade, Competitiveness, and International Economic Policy: A Bibliography of CRS Products
- Trade-related issues promise to play a major role in legislative actions of the 103nd Congress. This bibliography lists the currently available products issued since 1991 by CRS researchers on trade-related topics, including U.S. trade policy, NAFTA and the Uruguay Round, industry and technology issues, foreign investment concerns, and relations with major trading partners.
- NAFTA: A Broad Economic Perspective
- Most economists believe that the main economic benefit of NAFTA will be that, over time, it will increase productivity and incomes in the United States, Mexico and Canada. In this view, living standards of all three countries will be higher than without a NAFTA. In the near term, some reallocation of resources will occur within each country, generating gains for some producers and costs for others. New industries emerge, some industries expand, some contract, and some die. Since the Mexican and Canadian economies are small relative to the U.S. economy, it is expected that both the aggregate benefits and costs of the NAFTA to the United States will be relatively small.
- Japan's Economy: From Bubble to Bust
- In the 1980s, Japan's economy posted strong economic growth, in stark contrast to the more pedestrian growth other developed economies experienced. In this period, referred to as the "bubble" economy, Japan experienced a sharp increase in the values of land and stocks. The fast paced growth came to a halt in 1991, however, as the Ministry of Finance grew concerned over prospects of a rising rate of inflation, and, accordingly, tightened the nation's money supply. Since then, Japanese economic growth has fallen sharply and the economy has experienced asset deflation, rising levels of unemployment, and falling corporate profits and investments.
- Japan's Budget: Role in Economic Policymaking
- The Japanese economy has been in recession for three years, making it the longest recession in Japan's post-war experience. Groups within and outside Japan are calling on Japan to adopt aggressive fiscal policy measures to boost the Japanese economy and to aid in the recovery of the world economy. Japan has enacted a number of limited measures to stimulate, but it is unlikely to move more aggressively to adopt deficit-financing measures to stimulate its economy for a number of reasons: political and government leaders oppose deficit financing in principle; and under present economic conditions, Japanese officials are more concerned with the effects a fiscal stimulus program will have on the yen, on Japan's trade account, and on its economic recovery.
- Competitiveness: Economic Issue or Illusion?
- While "competitiveness" has a clear meaning when applied to a baseball team, or a firm or industry, it is of limited usefulness when applied to a country's overall economic performance. Moreover, focussing on competitiveness can lead to questionable economic policies.
- South Korea's Economy and Trade
- South Korea has become a mid-level economy with a growing consumer market and industrial base. It now is in transition. It can no longer compete easily in low-wage, low-technology manufacturing with other countries of Asia, yet it does not have the technology and expertise to compete fully with industries from Japan, the United States, and Europe.
- Japan's Looming Bank Crisis: A Half Trillion Dollars in Non-Performing Loans?
- Japan's top 21 banks have reported Y13.6 trillion (US$136 billion) in non-performing loans, but experts consider the true figure to be in the range of Y40 to Y60 trillion (US$400 to US$600 billion). If 90, Japan's banks may take five to seven more years to write off their bad loans and restore health to their balance sheets. Current write-offs are being financed primarily by sales of stocks held by banks whose values have appreciated. This problem of bad loans is depressing Japan's economic growth rate and making resolution of trade disputes and further opening of Japan's financial markets more difficult.
- Korea: Procedural and Jurisdictional Questions Regarding Possible Normalization of Relations with North Korea
- The Clinton Administration signed an agreement with North Korea on October 21, 1994, detailing steps to end the crisis caused by North Korea's nuclear program and pledging to "move toward full normalization of political and economic relations." Many details of the accord have not been disclosed, including the precise mechanisms to be used to provide light water nuclear reactors and annual shipments of U.S. heavy oil to North Korea, and a clear process to be followed in normalizing political and economic relations.
- The Former Soviet Union and U.S. Foreign Aid: Implementing the Assistance Program, 1992-1994
- In fiscal year 1994, the new states of the former Soviet Union became collectively the second largest recipient of U.S. foreign assistance made available from all sources. Whether and how the assistance program is helping to bring about democratic systems and free market economies is increasingly a question of interest to Congress and the public at large.
- Cost-Benefit Analysis: Issues in Its Use in Regulation
- This report sketches issues underlying broader use of cost-benefit analysis. It focuses on cost-benefit as one of several related frameworks for assessing regulatory actions or policies. Cost-benefit is the broadest of these frameworks, which also include impact assessment, risk assessment, and cost-effectiveness. Which analytical framework is appropriate depends on the regulatory context.
- Food Additive Regulations: A Chronology
- The 104th Congress is actively debating proposals to reform several aspects of the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) process for regulating consumer products, including its approval process for food additives. In June 1995, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced at a House Government Reform and Oversight Subcommittee hearing several policy shifts in its food additive pre-market approval process which will soon be implemented.
- Safe Drinking Water Act: State Revolving Fund Program
- No Description Available.
- "Mad Cow Disease" or Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy: Scientific and Regulatory Issues
- This report discusses the regulatory issues regarding cattle disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), and a rare, fatal human illness, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD).