News release: “Manufacturing sector multifactor productivity declined at a 5.7 percent annual rate in 2009, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This was the largest annual decline in multifactor productivity since the series started in 1987. The multifactor productivity decline in 2009 reflected a 12.5 percent decrease in output and a 7.2 percent decrease in combined inputs. Multifactor productivity measures the change in output per unit of combined inputs. Multifactor productivity is designed to measure the joint influences on economic growth of technological change, efficiency improvements, returns to scale, reallocation of resources, and other factors, allowing for the effects of capital, labor and, in the case of the manufacturing sector, also intermediate inputs (energy, materials, purchased business services). Multifactor productivity, therefore, differs from labor productivity (output per hour worked) measures that are published quarterly by BLS since it includes information on capital services and intermediate inputs that are not available on a quarterly basis.”
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Daily Archives: August 10, 2011
Civility in America: A Nationwide Survey 2011
“One year ago, Weber Shandwick and Powell Tate, in partnership with KRC Research, released its first annual Civility in America: A Nationwide Survey. Due to the increased attention paid to civility over the past year, we wanted to re-assess Americans attitudes towards the subject. Coverage in the media, community attention to the issue and creation… Continue Reading
Economic Recovery: Sustaining U.S. Economic Growth in a Post-Crisis Economy
Economic Recovery: Sustaining U.S. Economic Growth in a Post-Crisis Economy – Craig K. Elwell, Specialist in Macroeconomic Policy, July 18, 2011 “In regard to the long-term debt problem, in an economy operating close to potential output, government borrowing to finance budget deficits will in theory draw down the pool of national saving, crowding out private… Continue Reading
Report: Leading Innovation in Government
Snapshot|What Drives Innovation in the Federal Government: “How innovative is the federal government? What drives innovation in federal agencies? And, what can leaders do, if anything, to promote innovation within their agencies and teams? Given the importance of improving government effectiveness and delivering better results for the American people within todays budgetary constraints, these are… Continue Reading
Weathering the financial crisis: good policy or good luck?
Weathering the financial crisis: good policy or good luck? by Stephen Cecchetti, Michael R King and James Yetman. Working Papers No 351, Bank for International Settlements, August 2011 “The macroeconomic performance of individual countries varied markedly during the 2007-09 global financial crisis. While China’s growth never dipped below 6% and Australia’s worst quarter was no… Continue Reading
IMF – Mexico: Staff Report for the 2011 Article IV Consultation
Mexico: Staff Report for the 2011 Article IV Consultation, August 08, 2011 “Following a sharp decline in 2009, output growth has rebounded strongly, attesting to Mexicos strong fundamentals and skillful policy making. Strong exports are leading the recovery, with a rebound in domestic demand sustaining the momentum. Strong growth is envisaged to continue this year… Continue Reading
Data-Enabled Government: How Well Is Our Personal Information Used and Protected?
Data-Enabled Government: How Well Is Our Personal Information Used and Protected? – HP Business White Paper “This is a summary of a longer report written in co-operation with the Economist Intelligence Unit. It examines the key issues surrounding the use and protection of personal data and draws on in-depth interviews with experts working on the… Continue Reading
New GAO Report – Long-Term Care Insurance
Long-Term Care Insurance – Carrier Interest in the Federal Program, Changes to Its Actuarial Assumptions, and OPM Oversight, GAO-11-630. August 10, 2011 “Since 2002, the federal government has offered long-term care insurance to its employees, retirees, and certain others through the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program (FLTCIP). Enrollees pay the full cost of their… Continue Reading
UK FSA publishes Recovery and Resolution Plans consultation
News release: “The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has published a Consultation Paper (CP) and Discussion Paper (DP) on its proposals for Recovery and Resolution Plans (RRP), required of financial institutions. The publication also covers policy proposals aimed at reducing the impact of firms’ failure in relation to their investment business client money and custody assets… Continue Reading
Work-Based Predictors of Mortality: A 20-Year Follow-Up of Healthy Employees
Work-based predictors of mortality: A 20-year follow-up of healthy employees. Shirom, A., Toker, S., Alkaly, Y., Jacobson, O. & Balicer, R. (in press). Health Psychology. “Objectives. This study investigated the effects of the Job-Demand- Control-Support (JDC-S) model’s components, workload, control, peer and supervisor social support, on the risk of all-cause mortality. Also examined was the… Continue Reading
Mobile App Security Study: appWatchdog Findings
“Data (in)security is rapidly gaining consumer attention in major media. In 2011 major breaches at Sony, Epsilon and others have highlighted the risk consumers face from their data being compromised. Major corporations are now recognizing the urgency to implement strong and innovative security measures to ensure the security of their customers data. At the same… Continue Reading
