WebIndexReport 2014-15 “Growing inequality is one of the defining challenges of our time. What role can the World Wide Web play in tackling it? Seven out of 10 people live in countries where the gap between rich and poor is greater than it was 30 years ago, according to Oxfam research. In some countries these disparities… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: December 2014
Revisions to the securitisation framework
“The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision’s revisions to the securitisation framework aim to address a number of shortcomings in the Basel II securitisation framework and to strengthen the capital standards for securitisation exposures held in the banking book. This framework, which will come into effect in January 2018, forms part of the Committee’s broader Basel… Continue Reading
Criteria for identifying simple, transparent and comparable securitisations
“The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) released today a consultative document on Criteria for identifying simple, transparent and comparable securitisations. The purpose of these criteria is to identify – and to assist the financial industry’s development of – simple, transparent and comparable securitisations structures, as well as to help… Continue Reading
SIGAR High Risk List
Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction December 2014 “SIGAR’s experience in Afghanistan, as well as the experience of other oversight agencies, has shown that there are several sources of risk in implementing reconstruction programs in Afghanistan. These include (but are not limited to): • limited institutional and human-capital capacity in Afghan institutions • operational demands and constraints imposed by an… Continue Reading
Fiscal 2015: All Things ‘Cromnibus’
Via CQ Roll Call: ” Lawmakers have released the so-called cromnibus, which would to fund the entire government, except the Department of Homeland Security, through the end of fiscal 2015. DHS would be funded with a shorter-term continuing resolution (putting the “cr” in cromnibus). Congress will likely vote by the end of the week of the… Continue Reading
Rape and Sexual Assault Victimization Among College-Age Females, 1995–2013
U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics, Special Report, December 2014 “Among college-age females (ages 18 to 24), the rate of rape and sexual assault was 1.2 times higher for nonstudents than students for the period 1995–2013, the Bureau of Justice Statistics announced today. Nonstudents (65,700) accounted for more than double… Continue Reading
U.S. Population Projections: 2014-2060
“Projections of the U.S. resident population by age, sex, race, Hispanic origin and nativity annually over this time period. These are the second series of projections to be published based on the 2010 Census (updating projections released in 2012). They include the first projections by nativity to be published in 14 years.” Continue Reading
Predicting the Fallout from King v. Burwell – Exchanges and the ACA
Predicting the Fallout from King v. Burwell — Exchanges and the ACA – Nicholas Bagley, J.D., David K. Jones, Ph.D., and Timothy Stoltzfus Jost, J.D., December 10, 2014. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp1414191. “The U.S. Supreme Court’s surprise announcement on November 7 that it would hear King v. Burwell [759 F.3d 358] struck fear in the hearts of supporters of the… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – DOD Contract Services, Flood Insurance, Nuclear Weapons, DOJ Professional Misconduct
DOD Contract Services: Improved Planning and Implementation of Fiscal Controls Needed, GAO-15-115: Published: Dec 11, 2014. Publicly Released: Dec 11, 2014. DOE and NNSA Project Management: Analysis of Alternatives Could Be Improved by Incorporating Best Practices, GAO-15-37: Published: Dec 11, 2014. Publicly Released: Dec 11, 2014. Federal Subcontracting: Linking Small Business Subcontractors to Prime Contracts Is Not… Continue Reading
Measuring the Digital Economy – OECD
Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation: “The growing role of the digital economy in daily life has heightened demand for new data and measurement tools. Internationally comparable and timely statistics combined with robust cross-country analyses are crucial to strengthen the evidence base for digital economy policy making, particularly in a context of rapid change. This report… Continue Reading
America the frugal: US Consumer Sentiment Survey
McKinsey & Co.: The slow start to the US holiday shopping season is no anomaly. Our latest Consumer Economic Sentiment survey finds that some six years after the Great Recession, Americans remain reluctant spenders. December 2014 | by Anne Martinez, Rukhshana Motiwala, and Ali Sher – “First the good news: The way Americans feel about their own… Continue Reading
Federal Reserve Board proposes rule to further strengthen capital positions of the largest, most systemically important U.S. bank holding companies
” The Federal Reserve Board on [December 9, 2014] proposed a rule to further strengthen the capital positions of the largest, most systemically important U.S. bank holding companies. The proposal establishes a methodology to identify whether a U.S. bank holding company is a global systemically important banking organization, or GSIB. A firm identified as a GSIB would… Continue Reading
