Congressional Research Service Reports - 950 Matching Results
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- 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.
- 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.
- The Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program
- This report discusses the Special Inspector General provisions in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, H.R. 1424, which was enacted as P.L. 110-343 on October 3, 2008. This Act created a Special Inspector General (SIG) for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). This report will compare the duties and authorities of the SIG TARP to those of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) and the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), as well as statutory IGs under the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended (IG Act).
- Canada's Financial System: An Overview
- This report discusses the relative stability of Canada's financial system in comparison to the financial systems of other nations around the globe that are suffering from the current financial crisis. This report presents an overview of Canada's financial system and its supervisory framework and draws some distinctions between that system and the current U.S. framework.
- The Size and Role of Government: Economic Issues
- The appropriate size and role of the government is one of the most fundamental and enduring debates in American politics. What role does the state play in economic activity? How is the economy affected by government intervention? Many of the arguments surrounding the proper size of government are economic in nature, and they will be discussed in this report.
- 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.
- Long-Term Growth of the U.S. Economy: Significance, Determinants, and Policy
- The rate of long-term economic growth is the salient measure of the nation's ability to steady advance its material living standard. The pace of long-term economic growth is likely to be a center of attention in the decades just ahead, as the U.S. economy confronts the need to undertake unprecedentedly large generational transfers of income to pay for the retirement of the huge baby-boom generation as well as large transfers to the rest of the world to meet the debt service costs of the United States' large and still growing foreign debt.
- The Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIG TARP)
- This report discusses the Special Inspector General provisions in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, H.R. 1424, which was enacted as P.L. 110-343 on October 3, 2008. This Act created a Special Inspector General (SIG) for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). This report will compare the duties and authorities of the SIG TARP to those of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) and the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), as well as statutory IGs under the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended (IG Act).
- Inflation: Causes, Costs, and Current Status
- No Description Available.
- "Fast Track" Parliamentary Procedures of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act
- The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (Division A of H.R. 1424, P.L. 110-343) empowers the Secretary of the Treasury to purchase certain "troubled assets" as a means to stabilize the economy. This report examines this procedure and explains how it differs from the regular parliamentary mechanisms of the House and Senate.
- S. 2557, “Oil and Gas Industry Antitrust Act of 2006”: Brief Legal Analysis
- This report analyzes ways to improve antitrust laws through S.557. These include, but are not limited to: mitigating regional shortages of oil petroleum and natural gas products, creating a federal task force to analyze information-sharing in the industry, and make U.S. antitrust laws applicable to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
- Business Investment Spending Slowdown
- This report discusses the slowdown in business investment spending over the last decade and various reasons why the slowdown may have occurred.
- The African Union
- This report summaries the history of the African Union (AU) from the Organization of African unity (OAU) and the functionality of the AU. Specifically, the report claims that the main difference between the AU and the OAU is that the AU places more emphasis on economic growth and development.
- Additional Standard Tax Deduction for the Elderly: A Description and Assessment
- This report briefly summarizes the history, reasoning, and current tax deductions (as of May 7th 2008) for the elderly. The report suggests that the current tax deduction for both the elderly and the blind will result in the loss of 9 billion in tax revenue. Moreover, the report suggests that corrections could be made with alternative solutions.
- Globalized Supply Chains and U.S. Policy
- This report discusses the challenges and opportunities raised by the globalized world of business, in which production becomes fragmented into discrete activities that can be spread geographically within and across national borders while remaining integrated organizationally within a multinational company or network of companies. Such globalized production networks are called supply chains or value-added networks.
- Unemployment: Issues in the 112th Congress
- This report briefly reviews the situation in the 2012 labor market, expands on the policy steps taken to date, and analyzes policy issues that typically arise during consideration of stimulus legislation. Three policy issues are examined: whether to take additional measures to increase jobs, what measures might be most effective, and how job creation proposals should be financed.
- 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.
- Monetary Policy: Current Policy and Conditions
- No Description Available.
- The U.S. Long-Term Growth Rate: Has it Increased?
- No Description Available.
- Monetary Policy: Current Policy and Conditions
- No Description Available.
- Monetary Policy: Current Policy and Conditions
- No Description Available.
- Monetary Policy: Current Policy and Conditions
- No Description Available.
- Monetary Policy: Current Policy and Conditions
- No Description Available.
- The Current Economic Recession: How Long, How Deep, and How Different From the Past?
- This report examines the current recession and recessions of the previous three decades in detail. It gives a brief overview of the other post-war recessions. It outlines the fiscal and monetary policy response to each recession. It also looks at theories of why recessions occur. The report concludes by asking the question that many commentators in the news have asked recently: is this recession different from the past?
- Monetary Policy: Current Policy and Conditions
- No Description Available.
- Monetary Policy: Current Policy and Conditions
- No Description Available.
- Monetary Policy: Current Policy and Conditions
- Monetary policy can be defined broadly as any policy relating to the supply of money. Monetary policy can have important effects on aggregate demand and through it on real Gross Domestic Product (GDP), unemployment, real foreign exchange rates, real interest rates, the composition of output, etc., all of which are short-term effects. Over the longer run, the major effect of monetary policy is on the rate of inflation. A growing money supply is important for the subsequent growth in money spending or aggregate demand. The Federal Reserve executes monetary policy by setting a target for an overnight interest rate called the federal funds rate. Changes in the federal funds rates affect primarily short-term interest rates, and through these changes, money spending.
- Monetary Policy: Current Policy and Conditions
- Monetary policy can be defined broadly as any policy relating to the supply of money. Monetary policy can have important effects on aggregate demand and through it on real Gross Domestic Product (GDP), unemployment, real foreign exchange rates, real interest rates, the composition of output, etc., all of which are short-term effects. Over the longer run, the major effect of monetary policy is on the rate of inflation. A growing money supply is important for the subsequent growth in money spending or aggregate demand. The Federal Reserve executes monetary policy by setting a target for an overnight interest rate called the federal funds rate. Changes in the federal funds rates affect primarily short-term interest rates, and through these changes, money spending.
- Federal Regulation of Working Hours: The Ballenger and Ashcroft Proposals (H.R. 1 and S.4)
- No Description Available.
- Monetary Policy: Current Policy and Conditions
- No Description Available.
- Monetary Policy: Current Policy and Conditions
- No Description Available.
- Monetary Policy: Current Policy and Conditions
- No Description Available.
- Monetary Policy: Current Policy and Conditions
- No Description Available.
- Monetary Policy: Current Policy and Conditions
- No Description Available.
- Monetary Policy: Current Policy and Conditions
- This report discusses monetary policy, which can also be defined in terms of the directives, policies, statements, and actions of the Federal Reserve, particularly those from its Board of Governors that have an effect on aggregate demand or national spending.
- Monetary Policy: Current Policy and Conditions
- This report discusses monetary policy, which can also be defined in terms of the directives, policies, statements, and actions of the Federal Reserve, particularly those from its Board of Governors that have an effect on aggregate demand or national spending.
- Monetary Policy: Current Policy and Conditions
- This report discusses monetary policy, which can also be defined in terms of the directives, policies, statements, and actions of the Federal Reserve, particularly those from its Board of Governors that have an effect on aggregate demand or national spending.
- Monetary Policy: Current Policy and Conditions
- This report discusses monetary policy, which can also be defined in terms of the directives, policies, statements, and actions of the Federal Reserve, particularly those from its Board of Governors that have an effect on aggregate demand or national spending.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- The American Community Survey: Development, Implementation, and Issues for Congress
- Report that discusses the American Community Survey (ACS) and the gathering of detailed socioeconomic and housing data from a representative population sample in conjunction with the once-a-decade count of the population of the United States.
- Monetary Policy and the Federal Reserve: Current Policy and Conditions
- This report discusses U.S. monetary policy and the Federal Reserve. It provides an overview of monetary policy and recent developments, a summary of the Fed's actions following the financial crisis, and ends with a brief overview of the Fed's regulatory responsibilities.
- Acquisition Services Reorganization at the General Services Administration
- This report discusses the reorganization of the General Services Administration (GSA) after the GSA's Inspector General discovered that funds were acquired in a manner not consistent with congressionally authorized procedures. Congressional approval was required for this reorganization due to the replacement of the congressionally authorized fund with a new one.
- Negative Interest Rates
- In a few foreign economies, including the euro area, Switzerland, and Japan, central banks have purposely set some short-term interest rates used to carry out monetary policy at negative levels. This report briefly discusses the reasons behind this phenomenon.
- Financial Regulation: The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (S. 2155)
- This report discusses the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (S. 2155) which was reported by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on December 18, 2017. The bill generally aims to provide regulatory relief to banks, relax mortgage lending rules, and provide additional consumer protections related to credit reporting and other areas. This report briefly highlights major policy proposals.
- U.S. Trade Deficit and the Impact of Changing Oil Prices
- This report provides an estimate of the initial impact of changing oil prices on the United States's merchandise trade balance.
- The Section 179 and Section 168 (k) Expensing Allowances: Current Law and Economic Effects
- This report examines the current status, legislative history, and main economic effects (including their efficacy as a tool for economic stimulus) of the Section 179 and bonus depreciation allowances.
- Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (S. 2155) and House Legislation: Common Issue Areas
- This report discusses the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (S. 2155) and compares its provisions with sections of bills passed in the House that proposed similar or identical changes to the law.