Publications -- Economy
Jul 27, 2004 |
BA #480 – How Outsourcing Creates Jobs for AmericansThough the pace of U.S. job creation has quickened recently, some "Benedict Arnold" companies are still being criticized for outsourcing work from the United States to other countries. U.S. manufacturers have outsourced operations to countries such as China to lower wage costs and escape from high taxes, burdensome government regulations and intransigent unions at home. For similar reasons, service jobs in information technology (IT) are outsourced to India. Less well known, though, is that increased economic globalization has caused jobs to move to the United States as well as away from it. And because of the higher, increasing productivity of American workers, the jobs that move here pay more than the ones that leave. |
Apr 08, 2004 |
BA #471 – Deficits and TaxesThe president's budget for fiscal year 2005, which starts October 1, 2004, projects that the deficit will be cut in half as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2010. After record deficits of $375 billion in 2002 and $520 billion in 2003, the deficit is projected to slowly decline. In 2009, however, the shortfall will still be $237 billion. [See Figure I.] And a number of factors will make even that modest goal difficult to meet. |
Jan 19, 2004 |
Economic Freedom Index of North America 2004The statistical results of this year's study persuasively confirm those published last year: economic freedom is a powerful driver of growth and prosperity and those provinces and states that have low levels of economic freedom continue to leave their citizens poorer than they need or should be. |
Sep 17, 2003 |
BA #456 – The State of U.S. ManufacturingEverybody seems to be worried about manufacturing these days. For years, manufacturers have been outsourcing operations to foreign countries to lower labor costs and escape high taxes, government regulations and union demands. |
Sep 04, 2003 |
BA #453 – Piling Up Future DebtsRecent federal budget projections show much larger deficits over the next five years than were expected just a short while ago. However, these short-term projections convey almost no information about the true magnitude of our nation's financial problems. We need to adopt a comprehensive fiscal accounting system that communicates the size of unfunded future federal spending commitments under current policies. |
Jul 23, 2003 |
BA #449 – Economic MobilityThe rising demand for more educated, experienced and technologically able workers has produced a more dispersed distribution of income. The increasing income gap between the highest and lowest paid workers is a concern if some groups of workers are fated to remain at the bottom of the economic ladder throughout their working lives. |
Jan 15, 2003 |
BA #428 – How Not to Be PoorAbout 31 million Americans live in households with incomes below the poverty level, according to the latest U.S. Census data. Poverty is more than a lack of income. It is also the consequence of specific behaviors and decisions. |
Oct 25, 2002 |
BA #422 – Making Sense of Sustainable DevelopmentThe idea of sustainable development, the focus of the recent United Nations Earth Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, is both commonsensical and contentious. |
Jul 24, 2002 |
BA #407 – Kyoto Misses Targets -- Hits Poor InsteadIn March 2001, President Bush announced that the United States would not be a party to the Kyoto Protocol on Global Climate Change. |
Jun 28, 2002 |
ST #252 – The Economic Cost of the Social Security Payroll TaxThe payroll tax that funds Social Security, Medicare and Disability Insurance, called FICA, is already the largest tax most American families pay. In the future, it will claim an even greater share of Americans' incomes. From its current level of 15.3 percent (combining the employer and employee shares), the payroll tax will need to rise above 25 percent of workers' incomes by the middle of the century in order to pay benefits to today's teenagers when they retire. |