Background
Blinder, Alan Stuart was born on October 14, 1945 in Brooklyn. Son of Morris and Shirley (Rothberg) Blinder.
( A hard-headed liberal economist, Alan Blinder clearly s...)
A hard-headed liberal economist, Alan Blinder clearly shows how economic policy is made in America and how good policies often make bad politics. He discusses liberal-conservative divisiveness and shows how it often prevents sound economic advice from being heeded. Blinder offers his own nonpartisan vision for the future of our economic society and challenges law-makers—Democrats and Republicans—to do better.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0201145197/?tag=2022091-20
(In the 1980s and early 1990s, a substantial number of U.S...)
In the 1980s and early 1990s, a substantial number of U.S. companies announced major restructuring and downsizing. But we don’t know exactly what changes in the U.S. and global economy triggered this phenomenon. Little research has been done on the underlying causes of downsizing. Did companies actually reduce the size of their workforces, or did they simply change the composition of their workforces by firing some kinds of workers and hiring others? Downsizing in America, one of the most comprehensive analyses of the subject to date, confronts all these questions, exploring three main issues: the extent to which firms actually downsized, the factors that triggered changes in firm size, and the consequences of downsizing. The authors show that much of the conventional wisdom regarding the spate of downsizing in the 1980s and 1990s is inaccurate. Nearly half of the large firms that announced major layoffs subsequently increased their workforce by more than 10 percent within 2 or 3 years. The only arena in which downsizing predominated appears to be the manufacturing sector—less than 20 percent of the U.S. workforce. Downsizing in America offers a range of compelling hypotheses to account for the adoption of downsizing as an accepted business practice. In the short run, many companies experiencing difficulties due to decreased sales, cash flow problems, or declining securities prices reduced their workforces temporarily, expanding them again when business conditions improved. The most significant trigger leading to long-term downsizing was the rapid change in technology. Companies rid themselves of their least skilled workers and subsequently hired employees who were better prepared to work with new technology, which in some sectors reduced the size of firm at which production is most efficient. Baumol, Blinder, and Wolff also reveal what they call the dirty little secret of downsizing: it is profitable in part because it holds down wages. Downsizing in America shows that reducing employee rolls increased profits, since downsizing firms spent less money on wages relative to output, but it did not increase productivity. Nor did unions impede downsizing. The authors show that unionized industries were actually more likely to downsize in order to eliminate expensive union labor. In sum, downsizing transferred income from labor to capital—from workers to owners. Downsizing in America combines an investigation of the underlying realities and causes of workforce reduction with an insightful analysis of the consequent shift in the balance of power between management and labor, to provide us with a deeper understanding of one of the major economic shifts of recent times—one with far-reaching implications for all American workers.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0871540940/?tag=2022091-20
( Alan S. Blinder offers the dual perspective of a leadin...)
Alan S. Blinder offers the dual perspective of a leading academic macroeconomist who served a stint as Vice-Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board -- one who practiced what he had long preached and then returned to academia to write about it. He tells central bankers how they might better incorporate academic knowledge and thinking into the conduct of monetary policy, and he tells scholars how they might reorient their research to be more attuned to reality and thus more useful to central bankers. Based on the 1996 Lionel Robbins Lectures, this readable book deals succinctly, in a nontechnical manner, with a wide variety of issues in monetary policy. The book also includes the author's suggested solution to an age-old problem in monetary theory: what it means for monetary policy to be "neutral."
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0262522608/?tag=2022091-20
(Although little noticed, the face of central banking has ...)
Although little noticed, the face of central banking has changed significantly over the past ten to fifteen years, says the author of this enlightening book. Alan S. Blinder, a former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve System and member of President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers, shows that the changes, though quiet, have been sufficiently profound to constitute a revolution in central banking. Blinder considers three of the most significant aspects of the revolution. The first is the shift toward transparency: whereas central bankers once believed in secrecy and even mystery, greater openness is now considered a virtue. The second is the transition from monetary policy decisions made by single individuals to decisions made by committees. The third change is a profoundly different attitude toward the markets, from that of stern schoolmarm to one of listener. With keenness and balance, the author examines the origins of these changes and their pros and cons.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300100876/?tag=2022091-20
Blinder, Alan Stuart was born on October 14, 1945 in Brooklyn. Son of Morris and Shirley (Rothberg) Blinder.
Bachelor of Arts Princeton University, 1967. Master of Science London School of Economies and Political Science, London, United Kingdom, 1968. Doctor of Philosophy Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America, 1971.
Instructor Finance, Rider College, Trenton, New Jersey, 1968-1969. Instructor Economics, Boston State College, Boston, Massachusetts, 1969. Assistant Professor, Association Professor, Professor of Economics, Princeton University, 1971-1976, 1976-1979,
1979-1982.
Gordon South. Rentschler Memorial Professor of Economics, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, United States of America, since 1982.
Editorial Board, Journal of Economic Literature,
1981-, J Mon.E, since 1981. Association Editor, Journal of Public Economics,1982-.
(Chapters: Desiderata for an Economic Theory of Size Distr...)
(Although little noticed, the face of central banking has ...)
( A hard-headed liberal economist, Alan Blinder clearly s...)
(In the 1980s and early 1990s, a substantial number of U.S...)
( Alan S. Blinder offers the dual perspective of a leadin...)
Inventories, income distribution, fiscal policy and social security and pensions.
Married Madeline D. Schwartz, July 9, 1967. Children: Scott, William.