On June 28, the U.S. Government Accountability Office reported that transportation infrastructure projects funded by the Recovery Act have created between 31,460 and 65,110 jobs.
In a June 27 commentary, economists Yonatan Ben-Shalom, Robert Moffitt, and John Karl Scholz discussed the changing welfare state in America. Benefits have risen for those viewed as deserving – the working poor, the elderly and disabled – while benefits for those viewed as undeserving, who are merely poor or suffering from self-inflicted problems such as substance abuse, have fallen sharply.
On June 23, the Center for Economic and Policy Research published a study on why work-sharing would reduce unemployment.
Also on June 23, the United Nations released the latest edition of its World Drug Report. It finds that the market for traditional illegal drugs is flat or declining, but new markets for synthetic and prescription drugs are rising.
On June 22, the Joint Economic Committee held a hearing on a national strategy for manufacturing.
Also on June 22, the House Small Business Committee held a hearing on access to credit by small businesses. Treasury Secretary Geithner testified.
And on June 22, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago published a report on shortages of high-skilled workers in the manufacturing sector despite a high unemployment rate.
In a June 20 commentary, Harvard law professor Mark Roe argued that the U.S. economy is much less capitalistic than people imagine because shareholders exercise no meaningful control over corporate assets, which are run by managers largely for their own benefit.
On June 7, Oxford Economics published a study on the new digital economy.
On April 6, the Congressional Research Service published a report that is critical of a widely-cited study by economists Nicole and Mark Crain which found that the annual cost of federal regulation is $1.75 trillion. CRS found that the methodology used in this study is highly questionable.
Bruce Bartlett is an American historian and columnist who focuses on the intersection between politics and economics. He blogs daily and writes a weekly column at The Fiscal Times. Bartlett has written for Forbes Magazine and Creators Syndicate, and his work is informed by many years in government, including as a senior policy analyst in the Reagan White House. He is the author of seven books including the New York Times best-seller, Imposter: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy (Doubleday, 2006).