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Category Archives: Economy

The impact of technology on finance: A new eBook

VOXEU CEPR: “Recent cutting-edge technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, as well as the expansion of FinTech and BigTech companies into finance, have accelerated the digitalisation of financial services. The fourth report [Download Technology and Finance, the 4th Future of Banking report, here. Darrell Duffie, Thierry Foucault, Laura Veldkamp, Xavier Vives 27 May… Continue Reading

Are blockchains decentralized? Unintended Centralities in Distributed Ledgers

A new Trail of Bits research report examines unintended centralities in distributed ledgers – “Blockchains can help push the boundaries of current technology in useful ways. However, to make good risk decisions involving exciting and innovative technologies, people need demonstrable facts that are arrived at through reproducible methods and open data. We believe the risks… Continue Reading

As traditional news use declines, online news isn’t making up the gap

Nieman Lab: ” The pandemic brought a bump in news consumption that now seems to be fading away, Oxford’s Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) found in its 2022 Digital News Report, out this week. RISJ surveyed more than 90,000 people in 46 countries about their digital news consumption, and found evidence of… Continue Reading

Measuring the Life-Saving Effects of Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the U.S.

Climate Impact Lab: “As we face the punishing impacts of global climate change it can be easy to wonder, do efforts to reduce emissions by individual countries, states or cities really make a difference? Research by the Climate Impact Lab, which measures the economic and social costs of climate change, can help answer this question.… Continue Reading

Short-and Long-Term Solutions to Extreme Drought in the Western United States

CRS – Statement of Charles V. Stern, Specialist in Natural Resources Policy, Before Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, U.S. Senate Hearing on “Short-and Long-Term Solutions to Extreme Drought in the Western United States” June 14, 2022: “Chairman Manchin, Ranking Member Barrasso, and Members of the committee, thank you for inviting the Congressional Research Service… Continue Reading

Firefox rolls out Total Cookie Protection by default to all users worldwide

Mozilla Blog, June 14, 2022 – “Take back your privacy.  Starting today, Firefox is rolling out Total Cookie Protection by default to all Firefox users worldwide, making Firefox the most private and secure major browser available across Windows, Mac and Linux. Total Cookie Protection is Firefox’s strongest privacy protection to date, confining cookies to the… Continue Reading

CRS – How Treasury Issues Debt

How Treasury Issues Debt, Updated June 14, 2022 [21 pages]: “The U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury), among other roles, manages the country’s debt. The primary objective of Treasury’s debt management strategy is to finance the government’s borrowing needs at the lowest cost over time. To accomplish this Treasury adheres to three principles: (1) to… Continue Reading

Net Zero Stocktake 2022

“Assessing the status and trends of net zero target setting across countries, sub-national governments and companies. Net zero is the dominant lens through which countries, states and regions, cities and companies approach decarbonisation. With global coverage of net zero nearly universal at the national level now, the big question is whether a sufficient proportion of… Continue Reading

Why the return to the office isn’t working

Recode: “…The reasons the return to the office isn’t working out are numerous. Bosses and employees have different understandings of what the office is for, and after more than two years of working remotely, everyone has developed their own varied expectations about how best to spend their time. As more and more knowledge workers return… Continue Reading

How to buy a used car online

engadget: “…For used cars up to ten years old, the average price in March stood at $33,653, 40 percent higher than the year before. Newer used cars, those 1 to 3 years old, the average price was $41,000, up 37 percent year-over-year. “With nearly empty new car lots across the country, dealers have been holding… Continue Reading

How Fashion Giants Recast Plastic as Good for the Planet

The New York Times: “An influential system overseen by retailers and clothing makers ranks petroleum-based synthetics like “vegan leather” as more environmentally sound than natural fibers. It’s soft. It’s vegan. It looks just like leather. It’s also made from fossil fuels. An explosion in the use of inexpensive, petroleum-based materials has transformed the fashion industry,… Continue Reading

Stablecoins: Legal Issues and Regulatory Options

CRS Legal Sidebar – Stablecoins: Legal Issues and Regulatory Options, Part 1 – June 9, 2022 -“…stablecoins—cryptocurrencies whose value is pegged to a reference asset like the U.S. dollar.While stablecoin issuers attempt to maintain these pegs in different ways, most of the regulatory attention has focused on coins that are putatively backed with reserves of… Continue Reading