“Growing inequality in recent years has put increased pressure on fiscal policy to redistribute income. While the question of just how much redistribution the state should do, in the end, rests with national governments, the design of the policies themselves has a critical bearing on their effects on efficiency and growth. The design of these growth-friendly,… Continue Reading
Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002
Monthly Archives: March 2014
IMF – Redistribution, Inequality, and Growth
Redistribution, Inequality, and Growth. Jonathan D. Ostry, Andrew Berg, and Charalambos G. Tsangarides. February 2014. “Economists are increasingly focusing on the links between rising inequality and the fragility of growth. Narratives include the relationship between inequality, leverage and the financial cycle, which sowed the seeds for crisis; and the role of political-economy factors (especially the influence of the rich)… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – Military Housing, Nuclear Command/Control, Missile Defense, Afghanistan, USPS, Capital Financing
MILITARY HOUSING: Information on the Privatization of Unaccompanied Personnel Housing, GAO-14-313: Published: Mar 18, 2014. Publicly Released: Mar 18, 2014. NUCLEAR COMMAND, CONTROL, AND COMMUNICATIONS: Review of DOD’s Current Modernization Efforts, GAO-14-414R: Published: Mar 18, 2014. Publicly Released: Mar 18, 2014. REGIONAL MISSILE DEFENSE: DOD’s Report Provided Limited Information; Assessment of Acquisition Risks is Optimistic, GAO-14-248R: Published: Mar 14, 2014. Publicly Released: Mar… Continue Reading
The World Top Incomes Database
Economic and Social Research Council: “Select, retrieve and download the data and the notes to the series using the menu here. Ctrl+click (in Windows) or Cmd+click (in Mac OS) for selecting multiple contiguous or non-contiguous countries and variables. To download the complete database, tick ‘all’ countries, ‘all’ years, ‘all’ variables, and retrieve the data. Move… Continue Reading
Urgent action needed to tackle rising inequality and social divisions, says OECD
“Income inequality and social divisions could worsen and become entrenched unless governments act quickly to boost support for the most vulnerable in society, according to a new OECD report. Society at a Glance 2014 says that despite a gradually improving global economy, medium-term fiscal consolidation in many countries will pose challenges for tackling the social fallout from the… Continue Reading
Federal Reserve Statistical Release, March 6, 2014
Z.1 – Financial Accounts of the United States, Fourth Quarter 2013: “The net worth of households and nonprofits was $80.7 trillion at the end of 2013, about $3 trillion more than at the end of the third quarter. For 2013 as a whole, net worth increased $9.8 trillion, or 14 percent, driven largely by a $5.6 trillion increase in… Continue Reading
The National Atlas Will Be Removed from Service September 30, 2014
“This year we are combining the National Atlas of the United States withThe National Map to provide a single source for geospatial and cartographic information. This transformation is taking place to streamline access to information from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Geospatial Program. USGS budget austerity has compelled our organization to prioritize its civilian mapping… Continue Reading
Volkswagen: Big Data Doesn’t Have to Mean Big Brother
Ina Fried: “Given the vast amounts of data that will be collected by the cars of the future, strict protections are needed to prevent government intrusion, the chairman of Volkswagen Group said on Sunday. “The car must not become a data monster,” Martin Winterkorn said, at the start of the CeBit trade show in Germany. Car makers… Continue Reading
Cross-Agency Priority Goals
“Cross-Agency Priority goals address the longstanding challenge of tackling horizontal problems across vertical organizational silos. 15 Cross-Agency Priority Goals were announced in the 2015 Budget, these include 7 mission-oriented and 8 management-focused goals with a 4-year time horizon. To establish these goals, OMB solicited nominations from Federal agencies and several Congressional Committees. Established by the GPRA… Continue Reading
The Highly Educated Federal Workforce in Two Charts
“The federal workforce is getting smarter. Or at least it is spending more time in school. In supplementary budget documents released Monday, the White House said federal agencies employ between half to two-thirds more “highly educated workers” than private sector firms, depending on the size of the company. The Obama administration went as far as to note the increase… Continue Reading
Politico – Judge orders NSA to preserve call data
Josh Gerstein: “A federal judge in San Francisco has ordered the National Security Agency to preserve all metadata from its monitoring of U.S. phone traffic, setting up a potential clash with the Washington-based surveillance court which oversees the NSA-run counter-terrorism program. U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White issued the order Monday afternoon California time in response to requests… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – Federal Rulemaking, FY2015 Budget, Nuclear Safety
FEDERAL RULEMAKING: Regulatory Review Processes Could Be Enhanced, GAO-14-423T: Published: Mar 11, 2014. Publicly Released: Mar 11, 2014. FISCAL YEAR 2015 BUDGET REQUEST: U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-14-429T: Published: Mar 11, 2014. Publicly Released: Mar 11, 2014. NUCLEAR SAFETY: Countries’ Regulatory Bodies Have Made Changes in Response to the Fukushima Daiichi Accident, GAO-14-109: Published: Mar 6, 2014. Publicly Released: Mar 11, 2014. Continue Reading
