“This brief provides a side-by-side comparison of recent proposals to transform Medicare into a premium support program and slow the future growth in Medicare spending. These proposals each would convert Medicare from a defined benefit program, in which beneficiaries are guaranteed coverage for a fixed set of benefits, to a defined contribution or “premium support”… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: March 2012
The State Integrity Investigation Project Review – 50 Statehouses
“The State Integrity Investigation is a $1.5 million public collaboration designed to expose practices that undermine trust in state capitols — and spotlight the states that are doing things right. The State Integrity Investigation is an unprecedented, data-driven analysis of each states laws and practices that deter corruption and promote accountability and openness. Experienced journalists… Continue Reading
EIA – How can we compare or add up our energy consumption?
Energy in Brief – What everyone should know about energy “How can we compare or add up our energy consumption? To compare or aggregate energy consumption across different energy sources like oil, natural gas, and electricity, we must use a common unit of measure. This is similar to calculating your food energy intake by adding… Continue Reading
China 2030 Building a Modern, Harmonious, and Creative High-Income Society
China 2030 – Building a Modern, Harmonious, and Creative High-Income Society, The World Bank Development Research Center of the State Council, the Peoples Republic of China “Chinas economic performance over the past 30 years has been remarkable. It is a unique development success story, providing valuable lessons for other countries seeking to emulate this successlessons… Continue Reading
Brookings – Immigrant Workers in the U.S. Labor Force
Immigrant Workers in the U.S. Labor Force: “Debates about illegal immigration, border security, skill levels of workers, unemployment, job growth and competition, and entrepreneurship all rely, to some extent, on perceptions of immigrants role in the U.S. labor market. These views are often shaped as much by politics and emotion as by facts. To better… Continue Reading
Paper – The Effect of TARP on Bank Risk-Taking
The Effect of TARP on Bank Risk-Taking, Lamont Black and Lieu Hazelwood. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, International Finance Discussion, IFDP 1043, March 2012 “One of the largest responses of the U.S. government to the recent financial crisis was the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). TARP was originally intended to stabilize the… Continue Reading
Demographic Challenges and Opportunities for U.S. Housing Markets
Demographic Challenges and Opportunities for U.S. Housing Markets, Prepared for the Bipartisan Policy Center | March 2012 “This paper summarizes six key demographic trends against the backdrop of the still unfolding U.S. housing crisis, which has thrown markets into disarray and disrupted long-term trends in demography and housing demand. In 2010, young adults lived in… Continue Reading
OECD – Meeting the Water Reform Challenge
“At the release of the OECDs Meeting the Water Reform Challenge, OECD Secretary-General, Angel Gurría warned: Without major policy changes, we risk high costs to economic growth, human health, and the environment. But with sustainable financing, effective governance and coherent policies,governments can harness waters potential. Economic instruments like tariffs, taxes and transfers the 3Ts… Continue Reading
EIA – Who are the major players supplying the world oil market?
EIA – “The world oil market is complicated. Companies are often thought of as the primary actors in this market, but governments play a large role as well. To answer this question, we’ll explore the role oil companies and governments play in the world oil market and their interactions. The United States has no national… Continue Reading
WTO launches new database on preferential trade arrangements
“After four years of negotiations and a year of work by WTO members on implementation measures and data collection, the WTO launched on 14 March 2012 a new publically available database on non-reciprocal preferential schemes – Database on Preferential Trade Arrangements. The Transparency Mechanism for Preferential Trade Arrangements is a WTO agreement concluded in December… Continue Reading
Monetary Policy in Emerging Market Economies: What Lessons From the Global Financial Crisis?
Monetary Policy in Emerging Market Economies: What Lessons from the Global Financial Crisis? Brahima Coulibaly, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, February 2012 “During the 2008-2009 global financial crisis, emerging market economies (EMEs) loosened monetary policy considerably to cushion the shock. In previous crises episodes, by contrast, EMEs generally had to tighten monetary… Continue Reading
OECD Environmental Outlook to 2050: The Consequences of Inaction
News release: “Humanity has witnessed unprecedented growth and prosperity in the past decades, with the size of the world economy more than tripling and population increasing by over 3 billion people since 1970. This growth, however, has been accompanied by environmental pollution and natural resource depletion. The current growth model and the mismanagement of natural… Continue Reading
