Policy Discussion Papers
Providing you with in-depth analysis of monetary and financial policy.
2004
- No. 7
- Measuring Labor’s Share of Income
- Recent Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data show labor’s share of income at a historic low. This Policy Discussion Paper explores the BLS calculations with an eye to understanding the factors leading to the recent fall in labor’s share. While data limitations prohibit replication of the BLS series, alternative measures of labor’s share of income, based on either the nonfinancial corporate business sector or the macroeconomy more generally, are near their historic averages, quite unlike the BLS series. (PDF)
- No. 6
- Walking on a Fence: Brazil’s Public-Sector Debt
- Brazil is walking on a fence between sustainable and unsustainable public-debt dynamics. How it treads could affect not only its own economic prosperity but that of its neighbors, emerging markets in general, and U.S. financial institutions in particular. Relatively small improvements in Brazilian economic conditions and a continuation of that country’s recent fiscal improvements could push Brazil in the right direction, particularly if the dollar continues to depreciate. (PDF)