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Monthly Archives: December 2015
Amazon owns the e-commerce market and soon the delivery of products too?
Via ReCode – “Macquarie estimates that Amazon accounts for half of all sales growth in U.S. e-commerce, meaning online retailers not named Amazon are battling for around 50 cents of every new $1 spent online. As if that weren’t enough, Amazon also accounts for about a quarter of every new $1 of growth in all… Continue Reading
Beyond Books – Today’s Court Library
Court Libraries Adapt to Deep Cuts, Changing Technology “Under a new staffing formula, 254 circuit library positions were authorized nationally in FY 2015, compared with 335 positions in FY 2014. That is a 24 percent fall in just one year. Similarly, court libraries are playing a significant role in a national Judiciary effort to cut… Continue Reading
Finding Long-Term Solutions for Nuclear Waste
“Today, the Department of Energy is taking a critical step toward the development of a consent-based approach to siting future nuclear waste management facilities as part of a strategy for the long-term storage and disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. The launch of our consent-based siting initiative represents an important step toward addressing… Continue Reading
2015 Was a Good Year for State Revenue Forecasters
Rockefeller Institute of Government – SUNY – 2015 Was a Good Year for State Revenue Forecasters, But the Road Ahead Is Uncertain, Donald Boyd and Lucy Dadayan, December 2015. “States must forecast revenue accurately to avoid disruption to their budgets. It is a difficult job — uncertainty about the economy, financial markets, and taxpayer behavior… Continue Reading
What Can Reforming Solitary Confinement Teach Us About Reducing Mass Incarceration?
The Marshall Project, Taylor Pendergrass – “..Eliminating solitary confinement will require more than just a policy change or closing a cell block. A comprehensive approach to eliminating solitary confinement will require a cultural change touching every part of the corrections system. It must begin by reorienting corrections away from punishment and dehumanization, and toward rehabilitation… Continue Reading
Pew – 15 striking findings from 2015
“Every year, we look back at our research to select the most memorable facts that illustrate important trends shaping our world. At Pew Research Center, the topics we analyze range from the specific subjects of video gaming and family caregivers to broader areas like political attitudes, global climate change and religious affiliation.” Continue Reading
Default rate of student loans held by aging parents increases
Bloomberg – “Twenty-seven percent of education loans held by people age 65-74 were in default in 2013, meaning they hadn’t made a payment in 270 days or more. More than half of education loans held by people 75 and older were in default. And the government can garnish wages or suspend tax refunds for anyone… Continue Reading
EPIC Urges OMB to Update Open Government Plan
“EPIC and a coalition of transparency advocates urged the Office of Management and Budget to comply with President Obama’s plan to promote open government. The OMB is expected to produce an open government plan, “describ[ing] how it will improve transparency.” However, OMB Has failed to act even as the Administration has urged other governments to… Continue Reading
Library of Congress to Receive 9/11-Responder Oral History Collection
“The Library of Congress’ American Folklife Center will become the home of a significant collection of oral histories provided by responders to the devastating Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the New York World Trade Center, U.S. Rep. Steve Israel announced today. The collection, known as the “Remembering 9/11 Oral History Project,” is being donated… Continue Reading
Rand – National Security Implications of Virtual Currency
Joshua Baron, Angela O’Mahony, David Manheim, Cynthia Dion-Schwarz: “This report examines the feasibility for non-state actors, including terrorist and insurgent groups, to increase their political and/or economic power by deploying a virtual currency (VC) for use in regular economic transactions. A VC, such as Bitcoin, is a digital representation of value that can be transferred,… Continue Reading
OECD – The Future of Productivity
OECD December 11, 2015: “This book addresses the rising productivity gap between the global frontier and other firms, and identifies a number of structural impediments constraining business start-ups, knowledge diffusion and resource allocation (such as barriers to up-scaling and relatively high rates of skill mismatch). Analysis based on micro and industry-level data highlights the importance… Continue Reading
