David Rosnick

Are Shorter Work Hours Good for the Environment? A Comparison of U.S. and European Energy Consumption

European employees work fewer hours per year, and use less energy per person, than their American counterparts. This article compares the European and U.S. models of labor productivity, supply, and energy consumption. It finds that if employees in the EU-15 worked as many hours as those in the United States, they would consume at least 15 percent more energy. This aspect of the debate over Europes economic model reaches globally. Over the coming decades, developing countries will decide how to make use of their increasing productivity. If, by 2050, the world works as do Americans, total energy consumption could be 15 to 30 percent higher than it would be if following a more European model. Translated directly into higher carbon emissions, this could mean an additional 1 to 2 degrees Celsius in global warming.

The Scorecard on Development: 25 Years of Diminished Progress

This article looks at the available data on economic growth and various social indicators—including health outcomes and education—and compares the past 25 years (1980–2005 or latest available year) with the prior two decades (1960–1980). The past 25 years have seen a sharp slowdown in the rate of economic growth for the vast majority of low- and middle-income countries. For the health indicators, there is a marked decrease in progress for life expectancy and for infant, child, and adult mortalities. For education, there is a reduction in progress in secondary school enrollment and in public spending on education, and reduced progress in primary school enrollment for the bottom two quintiles of countries. The results are discussed in the context of a number of economic reforms implemented over the past 25 years, with the intention of promoting growth and development. The authors conclude that economists and policymakers should devote more effort to determining the causes of the economic and development failure of the last quarter-century.

The Impact of the Housing Crash on the Wealth of the Baby Boom Cohorts

The collapse of the housing bubble and the resulting plunge in the stock market destroyed more than

Poverty Rates in Venezuela: Getting the Numbers Right

10 trillion in household wealth. The impact was especially severe for the baby boom cohorts who are at or near retirement age. This paper uses data from the Federal Reserve Boards 2007 Survey of Consumer Finances to compare the wealth of the baby boomer cohorts just before the crash with projections of household wealth following the crash. These projections show that most baby boomers will be almost entirely dependent on their Social Security income after they stop working.

The Wealth of the Baby Boom Cohorts After the Collapse of the Housing Bubble

This article looks at household and individual poverty rates in Venezuela over the past seven years. For more than a year, the statement that poverty in Venezuela has increased under the government of President Hugo Chávez has appeared in scores of major newspapers, on major television and radio programs, and even in publications devoted to foreign policy. There are no data to support such statements, and in fact the available data show a decline in poverty for both individuals and households over the seven-year period: the percentage of people in poverty declined from 50 percent in the first quarter of 1999 to 43.7 percent in 2005. Further, there is no evidence to suggest any change in the methodology for measuring poverty during this period, as has been alleged in a number of reports. The article also examines briefly the impact of significant changes in non-cash benefits such as free health care, which are not taken into account in the measured poverty rate, on poor people in Venezuela. Finally, the authors look at how the mistakes in reporting on Venezuelas poverty rate were made; an appendix gives examples of mistakes in major media and foreign policy publications.