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Daily Archives: April 8, 2015

World Bank Enterprise Surveys

“An Enterprise Survey is a firm-level survey of a representative sample of an economy’s private sector. The surveys cover a broad range of business environment topics including access to finance, corruption, infrastructure, crime, competition, and performance measures. Since 2002, the World Bank has collected this data from face-to-face interviews with top managers and business owners in over 130,000 companies in 135 economies. More detailed information about the Enterprise Surveys can be found on the Methodology page. Since 2005-06, most data collection efforts have been centralized within the Enterprise Analysis Unit; these surveys are conducted using the Global Methodology. To date, over 94,000 interviews in 126 countries have taken place under the Global Methodology. The World Bank’s Enterprise Analysis Unit is a team of economists and firm-level survey experts that both 1) conducts Enterprise Surveys and 2) draws upon this wealth of firm-level data from developing countries to produce research on the micro-economic foundations of growth. Our findings and recommendations are helping policy makers identify, prioritize and implement reforms of policies and institutions that support efficient private economic activity. Key research topics of the unit include firm performance and job creation, legal gender parity for entrepreneurs and workers, informality, and export performance.”

New Report Projects When Women in Each U.S. State Will Achieve Equal Pay

“The first release from Status of Women in the States: 2015, a project of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR), finds that, if current trends in narrowing the pay gap in the states continue, the date when women in the United States will achieve equal pay is 2058, but new projections for each state… Continue Reading

The Economic Consequences of Investor Relations: A Global Perspective

Karolyi, George Andrew and Liao, Rose C., The Economic Consequences of Investor Relations: A Global Perspective (April 6, 2015). Available for download at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2591079 “We offer new evidence on the economic value of investor relations (IR) activity using the results of a 2012 global survey of IR officers and their activities at over 800… Continue Reading

The FR 2420 Data Collection: A New Base for the Fed Funds Rate

Marco Cipriani and Jonathan Cohn – “On April 1, 2014, the Federal Reserve began collecting transaction-level data on federal funds, Eurodollars, and certificates of deposits from a large set of domestic banks and agencies of foreign banks operating in the United States. Previously, the Fed had only received fed funds and Eurodollar data from major… Continue Reading

Minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee, March 17-18, 2015

FOMC Minutes – Summary of Economic Projections “In conjunction with the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting held on March 17-18, 2015, meeting participants submitted their projections of the most likely outcomes for real output growth, the unemployment rate, inflation, and the federal  likely to affect economic outcomes. The longer-run projections represent each participant’s assessment… Continue Reading

Massive AT&T Consumer Privacy Violation Results in $25 Million FCC Penalty

EPIC – “The Federal Communications Commission has settled an enforcement action against AT&T for the company’s massive consumer privacy violations. According to the Commission, employees at AT&T call centers around the world accessed the “CPNI” (call record information) of nearly 280,000 U.S. customers without their permission. Then AT&T distributed that information to traffickers of stolen… Continue Reading

Excess bound volumes of NLRB Decisions and Orders will be available to the public

A bit late, but: “Since the enactment of the National Labor Relations Act, the Decisions and Orders of the National Labor Relations Board have been published in bound volumes.  The Agency’s headquarters in Washington, DC will be moving to a smaller location this summer. Following this move, the Agency will retain only a limited number… Continue Reading