“This is the twelfth edition of the Brown Center Report. The structure of the report remains the same from year to year. Part I examines the latest data from state, national, or international assessments. This year the focus is on the latest results from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and Trends in… Continue Reading
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Author Archives: Sabrina I. Pacifici
Opinion column by security technologist – The Internet is a surveillance state
Bruce Schneier is a security technologist and author of “Liars and Outliers: Enabling the Trust Society Needs to Survive.” “The Internet is a surveillance state. Whether we admit it to ourselves or not, and whether we like it or not, we’re being tracked all the time. Google tracks us, both on its pages and on… Continue Reading
NOAA proposes plan to address environmental injuries from 2005 Gulf oil spill
“NOAA today released a draft damage assessment and restoration plan addressing environmental injuries from the 2005 Tank Barge DBL 152 oil spill in federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico. The draft plan describes the steps NOAA has taken to see if natural resources, such as marine habitats, were injured by the nearly two million… Continue Reading
New GAO Report – Dietary Supplements
Dietary Supplements – FDA May Have Opportunities to Expand Its Use of Reported Health Problems to Oversee Products, GAO-13-244, Mar 18, 2013 “From 2008 through 2011, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) received 6,307 reports of health problems–adverse event reports (AER)–for dietary supplements; 71 percent came from industry as… Continue Reading
Pew – State of the News Media 2013
Pew Research Center Project for Excellence in Journalism: “In the news media, a continued erosion of reporting resources has converged with growing opportunities for newsmakers, such as political figures, government agencies, companies and others, to take their messages directly to the public. The public, for its part, is not very aware of the financial struggles… Continue Reading
CRS – Guns, Excise Taxes, and Wildlife Restoration
Guns, Excise Taxes, and Wildlife Restoration, M. Lynne Corn, Specialist in Natural Resources Policy; Jane G. Gravelle, Senior Specialist in Economic Policy. March 12, 2013 “As a result of the recent debate over guns, gun rights, and gun-related violence, there has been a marked increase in sales of many weapons as well as ammunition. Through… Continue Reading
CRS – An Overview of the Housing Finance System in the United States
An Overview of the Housing Finance System in the United States, Sean M. Hoskins, Analyst in Financial Economics; Katie Jones, Analyst in Housing Policy; N. Eric Weiss, Specialist in Financial Economics. March 13, 2013 “The characteristics of the borrower and of the mortgage determine the classification of the loan. What happens to a mortgage in… Continue Reading
Paper – The Dietary Intake of Wheat and other Cereal Grains and Their Role in Inflammation
The Dietary Intake of Wheat and other Cereal Grains and Their Role in Inflammation, Karin de Punder and Leo Pruimboom. Nutrients 2013, 5(3), 771-787; doi:10.3390/nu5030771. Published: March 12, 2013 “Wheat is one of the most consumed cereal grains worldwide and makes up a substantial part of the human diet. Although government-supported dietary guidelines in Europe… Continue Reading
Paper – Dividends as Signaling Device and the Disappearing Dividend Puzzle
Shapiro, Dmitry and Zhuang, Anan, Dividends as Signaling Device and the Disappearing Dividend Puzzle (March 14, 2013). Available at SSRN “In the paper we provide an extension of the Baker and Wurgler (2012) model where managers use dividends to signal firms earning to investors. We introduce heterogeneity among investors and firms; we also introduce investors’… Continue Reading
Paper – The Hidden Supply of High-Achieving, Low Income Students
The Missing “One-Offs”: The Hidden Supply of High-Achieving, Low Income Students, by Caroline M. Hoxby, Christopher Avery. NBER Working Paper No. 18586, December 2012, via SSRN. See related article and chart via New York Times. “We show that the vast majority of very high-achieving students who are low-income do not apply to any selective college… Continue Reading
Report – Key Metrics Series: Women on Boards
Key Metrics Series: Women on Boards, March 13, 2013: “Gender diversity improves board functioning, and may also contribute to stock price performance in certain circumstances. [A new report helps] identify companies whose boards are lagging with regard to female representation.” Continue Reading
The BIS Quarterly Review for March 2013 says markets grow confident on continued support
March 2013 Quarterly Review: Markets grow confident on continued support – March 18, 2013 “Market participants’ renewed sense of optimism has accompanied further policy accommodation, but macroeconomic performance is lagging behind. In the third quarter of 2012, BIS reporting banks posted their smallest increase in cross-border claims in 13 years. They increased their crossborder claims… Continue Reading
