The Great Recession and Racial Inequality: Evidence from Measures of Economic Well-Being

Abstract:

The Great Recession had a tremendous impact on low-income Americans, in particular Black and Latino Americans. The losses in terms of employment and earnings are matched only by the losses in terms of real wealth. In many ways, however, these losses are merely a continuation of trends that have been unfolding for more than two decades. We examine the changes in overall economic well-being and inequality, as well as changes in racial economic inequality during and since the Great Recession. We find that the Levy Institute Measure of Economic Well-Being inequality between White and Black households decreased during the Great Recession but since 2010, racial inequality in terms of LIMEW has increased. We find that changes in base income, taxes, and income from non-home wealth during the Great Recession produced declines in overall inequality, while only taxes reduced between-group racial inequality.     

城乡统筹背景的空间发展:村落衰退与重构

在现阶段全面建设小康社会和社会主义新农村背景下,我国的乡村发展进入加速重构的关键期。应结合乡村发展的特殊性,以村落重构为切入点,系统分析村落重构的类型、特征及原因,在城乡统筹发展前提下对重构村落进行改造或引导其合理消失。     

Determinants of the 1991–1993 Japanese recession: Evidence from a structural model of the Japanese economy

The objectives of this paper are to determine the extent to which various factors contributed to the most recent recession in Japan and to assess whether the recent behavior of the Japanese economy differs from that in previous recessions. Toward that end, we develop a small, structural macroeconometric model of the Japanese economy and estimate it using data from 1971 Q1 to 1991 Q1, the period just prior to the recent downturn. The important results can be summarized as follows. First, the severity of the recent recession probably does not reflect structural economic changes. Second, the poor economic performance in 1991–1993 period was to some extent predictable, reflecting the unwinding of imbalances that developed during the preceding expansion. Finally, unpredictable movements in exchange rates, land prices, and stock prices occurring after 1991 played an important, but not predominant, part in accentuating the downturn, while unusually stimulative fiscal and monetary policies appear to have contributed substantially to GDP during the recession.     

Strategies to prevent economic recessions from causing business failure

An average of more than 500,000 businesses failed in the United States during each of the 10 recessions that have occurred since the end of World War II. Yet, scholar and practitioner understanding of how to prepare for and respond to the challenges of an economic downturn remains extremely limited. This article analyzes and synthesizes the information from academic theory and business experience on managing through an economic recession. To assist firms in successfully navigating economic recessions, we suggest a program that involves positioning by investing in multiple markets and geographies, planning by developing a turnaround plan for facing sharply declining sales, promoting by maintaining marketing initiatives, and preparing by acting in anticipation of economic recovery.     

Unpacking the interplay between organisational factors and the economic environment in the creation of consumer vulnerability

ABSTRACT

Access to credit is a key enabler of modern life. Yet many consumers face factors beyond their control which sometimes render them unable to borrow from mainstream lenders. This paper documents how firm-related factors determine lending thresholds and shape who is, or is not, a creditworthy customer. The impact of the 2008 economic recession on lending decisions is explored, an aspect that has been insufficiently discussed even though recessions are cyclical events. Drawing on semiotics and using multiple case studies, the study captures not only the groups that were excluded but also the reasons for exclusion. Empirical support is offered for the notion of vulnerability as a fluid state and the role of the timing of decisions as a source of vulnerability is described.     

我国资源衰退型城市“资源诅咒”的逆袭路径研究

我国资源衰退型城市经济增长乏力,在不同程度上陷入了"资源诅咒"困境,而成功地建立战略性新兴产业基地是破解"资源诅咒"的关键。目前,我国资源衰退型城市战略性新兴产业基地主要采用外生型和内生型发展模式,但两者的实践效果均不理想。依据我国资源衰退型城市的特点实施混合型发展模式,可以推动战略性新兴产业基地顺利地建成,以突破"资源诅咒"困境。     

Recession,terms of trade,and immigrants

The current literature does not adequately analyze how economic crisis affects employment of immigrants in host countries. It is generally believed that immigrants lose jobs and return home during recession. We show that recession may instead help relatively unskilled immigrants when it leads to terms-of-trade improvement in the host country, and when the unskilled sector is protected by minimum wage regulations. We also derive the condition under which the income gap between natives and immigrants falls.     

Dating the ‘world business cycle’

By mid-2008 the world was witnessing the unfolding of a relatively rare macroeconomic phenomenon, namely, the onset of what one might call a synchronized international – or ‘world’ – recession. But what exactly is a ‘synchronized world recession’? This article proposes a practical definition of a ‘synchronized world recession’ and a putative set of historical post-WWII dates for a ‘world business cycle chronology’. Further, using a constructed ‘world coincident index of economic indicators’ and an associated ‘world leading index of economic indicators’, this article demonstrates that evidence was available from early in the second half of 2007 that the world was indeed sliding inexorably towards its fourth synchronized world recession since WWII (although, interestingly, already its second of the twenty-first century!).     

台湾资产不景气时期物价变动之计量分析

在1990-2002年中国台湾经济处于资产不景气时期,消费者物价呈温和上扬走势。为探讨在这段时期物价的走势与决定因素,本文以物价水准的计量分析,从成本面与需求面上找出最适的解释变权。并对于物价水平有较密切关系的变数,进行pearson相关系数分析,而后进行回归分析以便了解变数间的相关程度。总之,在这段分析期间,消费者物价变动的决定因素与趸售物价不尽相同。进口物价的变动直接冲击着趸售物价,然后再经由趸售物价而传递到消费者物价的变动上,此时,预期心理的因素仍扮演较重的角色。     

Well‐Being,Deprivation, and the Great Recession in the U.S.: A Study in A Multidimensional Framework

We study changes in social well‐being and deprivation in the U.S. during the Great Recession and the subsequent recovery. We outline an analytical framework for measuring well‐being and deprivation in a multidimensional fashion when data on achievement in each dimension is assumed to be ordinal and binary in nature. We use data from the American Community Survey between 2008 and 2015 and find that there was a decline in social well‐being and a rise in social deprivation in the U.S. during the recession followed by a reversal of trends during the recovery. Despite low deprivation levels among the White population, this population experienced the largest increase in deprivation during the recession and the least decline in deprivation in the recovery period. These results underscore the fact that the impact of recession and the subsequent recovery varied significantly across population groups.