PUBLIC AFFAIRS - American Embassy
Sylvie VACHERET Tel: 01 43 12 48 97 E‑Mail: vacheretsr@state.gov
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
Will Fast Productivity Growth Persist?
FRB San Francisco - Economic Letter - April 6, 2007 – 4 pages
http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/letter/2007/el2007-09.html
“This Letter begins to answer the title question by focusing on the factors that underlay the most recent productivity boom and what they may portend for the future.”
The U.S. Productivity Acceleration and the Current Account Deficit
FRB San Francisco - Economic Letter - March 30, 2007 – 4 pages
http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/letter/2007/el2007-08.html
“This Letter reviews the current facts about the current account deficit and its determinants and describes the channels through which it is affected by an increase in trend labor productivity growth.”
David C. Wheelock
Housing Slump Could Lean Heavily on Economy
FRB St. Louis - Regional Economist - April 2007
http://www.stlouisfed.org/publications/re/2007/b/pages/slump.html
“Just because there was a boom in the housing market doesn't mean there will be a bust. But if the decline in prices that has hit some markets spreads across the country, the overall economy could suffer on multiple levels.”
After the Boom, Housing Affordability a Growing Challenge
FRB Atlanta – EconSouth - First Quarter 2007
http://www.frbatlanta.org/invoke.cfm?objectid=8F7F362A-5056-9F12-124168F1446F1678&method=display_body
“As Americans' rate of home ownership nears historical highs, home prices have risen simultaneously. Ensuring a supply of affordable housing for those aspiring to their share of the American dream remains a challenge in many areas, including the Southeast.”
ECONOMIC GROWTH
Repairing the Economic Ladder: A Transformative Investment Strategy to Reduce Poverty and Expand America’s Middle Class
Conference of Mayors - Taskforce on Poverty, Work, and Opportunity - Findings and Recommendations – January 24, 2007 – 28 pages
http://www.preschoolcalifornia.org/assets/US-Conf-Mayors-Poverty-Work-and-Opp-Task-Force-Jan-2007.pdf
How can the United States work to alleviate poverty and create work opportunities for its residents? This report draws on the observations of mayors around the country and their colleagues. The report notes that there are a number of opportunities, such as the fact that the globalization of trade and commerce has spurred demand for highly skilled labor and accountability in the educational systems of large cities. The document also spells out three primary investment strategies for the short and long term, including making substantial investments in the life-long education and skills development of tomorrow’s workers.
The Role of Public Investment in Promoting Economic Growth
House Financial Services Committee – Hearing - March 23, 2007
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/financialsvcs_dem/ht032307.shtml
Witness List & Prepared Testimony:
Ambassador Felix Rohatyn, Rohatyn Associates; Dr. Michael Drake, Chancellor University of California, Irvine; Cliff Winston, Senior Fellow of Economic Studies, Brookings Institution; Miles Rapoport, President Demos; Andrew F. Haughwout, Research and Statistics Group, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
An Education Strategy to Promote Opportunity, Prosperity, and Growth
The Hamilton Project, The Brookings Institution - Strategy Paper - February 20, 2007 – 25 pages
http://www1.hamiltonproject.org/views/papers/200702education.pdf
This paper offers a framework for educational policy from early childhood to post-secondary education. Evidence shows that education is critical to economic growth and an investment in education returns benefits to society and individuals. America’s educational system is not in crisis nor is it reaching its full potential. This paper outlines a strategy for new investments in early education and suggests structural reforms such as a teacher tenure system. A proposed early educational program for disadvantaged children and federally-funded student financial aid systems are also addressed.
TAX AND FISCAL POLICIES
Curtis S. Dubay
State and Local Tax Burdens Hit 25-Year High
Tax Foundation - Special Report No. 153 - April 6, 2007 – 12 pages
http://www.taxfoundation.org/files/sr153.pdf
“State and local taxes will consume a record-setting 11 percent of the nation's income in 2007. Since 1986, the state-local tax burden had never fallen below 10 percent or risen above 10.9 percent. This estimate of state-local tax burdens at an all-time high comes at a time when personal and corporate incomes have risen for almost four consecutive years, sometimes at a remarkable pace. Along with low unemployment, these rising incomes have boosted tax collections substantially and helped most states meet their revenue expectations with ease since 2004.”
Growing Number of States Considering a Key Corporate Tax Reform
Center on Budget and Policy - Priorities – April 7, 2007 – 9 pages
http://www.cbpp.org/4-5-07sfp.htm
“A growing number of states are giving serious consideration to a major reform in their corporate income taxes long advocated by state tax experts. The governors of six states - Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania - all recommended this year that their states implement this policy, which is known as "combined reporting." New York enacted combined reporting legislation on April 1 as part of the state's budget bill for FY2007-08.”
Alice M. Rivlin and Joseph R. Antos, editors
Restoring Fiscal Sanity 2007: The Health Spending Challenge
Brookings Institution Press. Web posted March 26, 2007. 252 pages
http://www.brookings.edu/dybdocroot/es/research/projects/budget/fiscalsanity/2007full.pdf
“This book examines the health spending crisis and calls for a broad agenda of experimentation and reform to slow health care spending growth.” The authors provide suggestions to reform federal health care programs that could reduce the growth in spending, increase efficiency and effectiveness of care, and enhance health outcomes. The authors see this proposal as a “catalyst for improvements of the whole health system.”
MONETARY POLICY
William Poole
Understanding Inflation
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis – Remarks to NABE - April 2, 2007
http://www.stlouisfed.org/news/speeches/2007/04_02_07.html
“The causes of our current prosperity will be studied by economists for some time. Today, I wish to discuss one of those: our improved understanding of how price stability contributes to overall economic stability. That understanding is reflected in the Federal Reserve’s commitment to maintaining a low, stable rate of inflation. Efforts to improve communications and increase the transparency of policymaking are essential aspects of that commitment.”
Governor Frederic S. Mishkin
Monetary Policy and the Dual Mandate
FRB – Remarks at Bridgewater College, Bridgewater, Virginia. April 10, 2007
http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2007/20070410/default.htm
“The Federal Reserve's mandate is "to promote effectively the goals of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates." Because long-term interest rates can remain low only in a stable macroeconomic environment, these goals are often referred to as the dual mandate; that is, the Federal Reserve seeks to promote the two coequal objectives of maximum employment and price stability.”
Ben S. Bernanke
Globalization and Monetary Policy
Federal Reserve Board - Remarks At the Fourth Economic Summit, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, Stanford, California - March 2, 2007
http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2007/20070302/default.htm
“At the broadest level, globalization influences the conduct of monetary policy through its powerful effects on the economic and financial environment in which monetary policy must operate… Consequently, one direct effect of globalization on Federal Reserve operations has been to increase the time and attention that policymakers and staff must devote to following and understanding developments in other economies, in the world trading system, and in world capital markets.”
A Falling Dollar: Good or Bad News?
FRB Atlanta – EconSouth - First Quarter 2007
http://www.frbatlanta.org/invoke.cfm?objectid=8FBC5CFC-5056-9F12-12DEE2A422FA9E30&method=display_body
“While no consensus exists about the timing or speed of the adjustment to the value of the dollar, the natural correction mechanisms appear to be in place. As long as the current situation of strong global growth and impressive macroeconomic stability continues, the United States should be able to correct its external deficits smoothly, without enduring significant hardships.”
Edwin M. Truman, Peterson Institute
The Role of US and EU Financial Markets in the Global Economy
Remarks at the conference "The Euro and the Dollar: Pillars in Global Finance"- FRB New York - April 17, 2007
www.iie.com/publications/papers/paper.cfm?ResearchID=728
“Europe and the United States have huge stakes and responsibilities for the stability of the international economy and financial system. They should promote healthy, and minimize unhealthy, competition between the euro and the dollar. Their collaboration in the IMF just completed multilateral consultation process has been disappointing because of the absence of new policy commitments and any mention of exchange rates. Nevertheless, the euro area and the United States should cooperate in other areas to achieve substantial IMF governance reform, manage the international diversification of foreign exchange reserves through increased transparency, and discourage international money laundering.”
FINANCE
A Special Focus on Safe and Sound Banking: Past, Present, and Future
FRB Atlanta – First and Second Quarters 2007
http://www.frbatlanta.org/invoke.cfm?objectid=0F644CED-5056-9F12-128C9A6CA5296F50&method=display_body
“This issue of the Economic Review presents the papers, commentaries, and discussions from an August 2006 conference that assessed the legislative and regulatory changes in the banking industry during the past two decades and discussed the challenges still ahead.”
Financial Innovations and the Real Economy: Conference Summary
FRB San Francisco - Economic Letter - March 2, 2007
http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/letter/2007/el2007-05.html
“This Letter summarizes the papers presented at the conference "Financial Innovations and the Real Economy" held by the Bank's Center for the Study of Innovation and Productivity (CSIP) in November 2006.” It includes links to conference papers.
Ben S. Bernanke
Financial Regulation and the Invisible Hand
Federal Reserve Board – Remarks at the New York University Law School - April 11, 2007
http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2007/20070411/default.htm
“Although the market system is the principal source of America’s economic dynamism, economic theory and practice both suggest that targeted government regulation and intervention can sometimes benefit the economy. In the particular case of financial markets, for example, government regulation helps to promote general financial stability and to protect investors and consumers against fraud. Of course, the benefits of regulation come with direct and indirect costs.”
Financial Market Regulation: Agencies Engaged in Consolidated Supervision Can Strengthen Performance Measurement and Collaboration
U.S. General Accountability Office (GAO) - Web posted March 15, 2007 - 86 pages
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d07154.pdf
Financial institutions are increasingly operating globally; consequently, supervision of these institutions on a consolidated basis has become a necessity. The General Accountability Office (GAO) reviewed the policies and management of these programs at the Federal Reserve System (Federal Reserve), Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The GAO recommends that the heads of all three agencies develop clearer and more consistent objectives and performance measurements specific to consolidated supervision. The GAO also advises these agencies to collaborate more systematically.
Jeffrey Fankel
Responding To Financial Crises
Faculty Research Working Paper Series, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. February 14, 2007 – 13 pages
http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/Research/wpaper.nsf/rwp/RWP07-010/$File/rwp_07_010_frankel.pdf
Most financial analysts agree there is a need for a Lender of Last Resort in the event of banking panics or disruptions, but crises should not be the basis for public policy. “The response must be appropriate and careful. It must be informed by the longer term perspective offered in the lessons of historical precedent. . .” This paper details lessons learned from past crises such as inflation, stock market crashes, housing crashes, and various international crises.
Bank Deregulation Helps Small Business
FRB St. Louis - Regional Economist - April 2007
http://www.stlouisfed.org/publications/re/2007/b/pages/deregulation.html
“Once banking markets were opened up to geographic diversity and competition, more banks were in a better position to lend money to small businesses—even in tough times.”
Timothy Clark, Astrid Dick, Beverly Hirtle, Kevin Stiroh, and Robard Williams
The Role of Retail Banking in the U.S. Banking Industry: Risk, Return, and Industry Structure
FRB New York - Economic Policy Review, forthcoming – 18 pages
http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/epr/forthcoming/0703hirt.pdf
The U.S. banking industry is experiencing a renewed interest in retail banking, broadly defined as the range of products and services provided to consumers and small businesses. This article documents the “return to retail” in the U.S. banking industry and offers some insight into why the shift has occurred. At the bank level, the principal attraction of retail banking seems to be the belief that its revenues are stable and thus can offset volatility in nonretail businesses. At the industry level, the authors show that interest in retail activities fluctuates in rather predictable ways with the performance of nonretail banking and financial market activities.”
The Angel Investor Market in 2006: The Angel Market Continues Steady Growth
Center for Venture Research, University of New Hampshire - Web posted March 20, 2007 – 3 pages
http://unhinfo.unh.edu/news/docs/2006angelmarketanalysis.pdf
This report reports the growth in the angel investor market during 2006. The angel investor market totaled $25.6 billion in 2006, an increase of 10.8% over the previous year. Healthcare services accounted for the largest increase, followed by the software market and the biotech market. Angel investment also created 201,400 jobs in the U.S. in 2006, women angels accounted for 13.8% of the market, and women-owned ventures represented 12.9% of the entrepreneurs. Minority angels were 3.4% of the angel populations and minority-owned firms were 6.9% of the entrepreneurs.
Mortgage Market Turmoil: Causes and Consequences
US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs – Hearing – Mach 22, 2007
http://banking.senate.gov/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Hearings.Detail&HearingID=254
“You cannot pick up a newspaper lately without seeing another story about the implosion of the subprime mortgage market. The checks and balances that we are told exist in the marketplace, and the oversight that the regulators are supposed to exercise, have been absent until recently.”
OTHER ECONOMIC POLICIES
Thomas M. Sullivan
Report on the Regulatory Flexibility Act FY 2006: Annual Report of the Chief Counsel for Advocacy on Implementation of the Regulatory Flexibility Act and Executive Order 13272
Office of Advocacy, U.S. Small Business Administration - February 2007 – 77 pages
http://www.sba.gov/advo/laws/flex/06regflx.pdf
The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) requires federal agencies “to review the potential impact of proposed regulations on small businesses and other small entities and to examine significant alternatives that minimize small entity impacts while still meeting the purpose of the regulation.” This annual report from the Small Business Administration measures the success of RFA during 2006.
Jonathan Baker
Beyond Schumpeter vs. Arrow: How Antitrust Fosters Innovation
AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies - Related Publication - Feb 2007 – 23 pages
http://www.aei-brookings.org/admin/authorpdfs/page.php?id=1369&PHPSESSID=ef380882adcd0e633019b25beca20a0f
“The modern economic learning about the connection between competition and innovation helps clarify the types of firm conduct and industry settings where antitrust interventions are most likely to foster innovation. Measured against this standard, contemporary competition policy holds up well. Today’s antitrust institutions support innovation by targeting types of industries and practices where antitrust enforcement would enhance research and development incentives the most. It is time to move beyond the “on-the-one-hand Schumpeter, on-the-other-hand Arrow” debate and embrace antitrust as essential for fostering innovation.”
LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development
http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/hpaied/
“The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development was started in 1987 by Professors Stephen Cornell and Joseph P. Kalt. The Project’s primary goal is “to understand and foster the conditions under which sustained, self-determined social and economic development is achieved among American Indian nations.” To accomplish this goal, the Project has sponsored a number of conferences and events, and as also offered advisory services to interested persons and tribal leaders. The “Publications” area is a good way to take a look at the fruits of their labors, as it includes the archives of the Joint Occasional Papers on Native Affairs and a variety of field reports, such as “Renewing Beauty: Options for Navajo Land Management and Decision Making”.
Rural Sprawl
FRB Minneapolis - FedGazette – Focus - March 2007
http://www.minneapolisfed.org/pubs/fedgaz/07-03/
“As city dwellers seek bucolic bliss, sprawl is spreading to the countryside. Problem, or opportunity?”
BUSINESS
Florida Drives the National Auto Market
FRB Atlanta – EconSouth - First Quarter 2007
http://www.frbatlanta.org/invoke.cfm?objectid=8FB9D7D3-5056-9F12-1273D72F6DECA3AF&method=display_body
“The Sunshine State represents the nation's second-largest car market. Changes in the marketplace—from sagging fleet sales to strong import performance—reverberate from Florida to Detroit and beyond.”
The Best of All Worlds—Globalizing the Knowledge Economy
FRB Dallas – Annual Report – Essay – April 2007
http://www.dallasfed.org/fed/annual/2006/index.cfm
“The conquest of physical distance to deliver medical services testifies to the benefits of globalizing the Knowledge Economy. Our greatly expanded capacity to calculate, communicate and coordinate has toppled barriers that for centuries constrained so many economic activities. It has led to immensely increased productivity, thus lowering costs and raising living standards in ways unimaginable just a few years ago. We're only beginning to fathom the consequences.”
Options on the Outs
FRB Richmond - Region Focus - Winter 2007 – 7 pages
http://www.richmondfed.org/publications/economic_research/region_focus/winter_2007/pdf/cover_story.pdf
“Today, granting options is no longer painless: 2006 is the first year that public companies are being required to subtract the cost of stock options from their income. The change, which was years in the making, came about in large part because of clamoring for corporate governance reforms. Accounting scandals at Enron and WorldCom gave the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) support for a long-proposed rule to make stock option expensing mandatory, instead of something that since 1995 was relegated to footnotes in annual company filings…Across the nation, this one small accounting change is affecting the use of employee stock options in a significant way.”
David de Ferranti and Anthony J. Ody
Beyond Microfinance: Getting Capital to Small and Medium Enterprises to Fuel Faster Development
The Brookings Institution - Policy Brief - Web posted March 26, 2007 – 10 pages
http://www3.brookings.edu/comm/policybriefs/pb159.pdf
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are those that employ between 10 and 250 workers. SMEs are the backbone of modern economies and are the “seedbeds of innovation.” In the developing world, SMEs are “under-represented, stifled by perverse regulatory climates, and poor access to inputs.” The authors provide two new governmental options to promote SMEs: (1) remove artificial policies and regulatory obstacles; and (2) stimulate competition and develop credit information systems. The authors argue that SMEs need more attention to build more dynamic competitive economies in developing countries.
ENERGY
Annual Energy Outlook 2007: With Projections to 2030
Energy Information Administration - U.S. Department of Energy - February 2007 - 242 pages
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/index.html
This report presents a long-term projection of energy supply, demand, and prices through 2030. It provides a summary of referenced cases; discusses evolving legislation and regulation issues including an update of key provisions of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT2005); and supplies a summary of sunset provisions in selected fuel taxes and tax credits.
State of the Markets Report: 2006
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), U.S. Department of Energy. Web posted February 20, 2007 – 59 pages
http://www.ferc.gov/market-oversight/st-mkt-ovr/som-rpt-2006.pdf
“In 2005 and 2006, electric and natural gas markets in the United States proved sufficiently robust to successfully meet various supply- and demand-related challenges with no major failures of service. While these markets continued to produce evidence of long-term developmental trends, the most striking forces affecting these markets since late 2005 were short term.” These forces were disruption of natural gas supplies by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, a glut of natural gas because of mild weather, and heat waves drove new peak electric loads. However, short-term supply and demand disruptions caused challenges to energy market oversight efforts.
International Perspectives on Alternative Energy Policy: Incentives and Mandates and their Impacts
Senate - Subcommittee on Energy, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure – Hearing - April 12, 2007
http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/hearing041207a.htm
“The system we have developed to provide incentives to achieve it is not a simple system. Perhaps as a result, we have had many discussions about the manner in which the current law tax incentives have helped, and sometimes hurt, the development of alternative energy production in this country. So as we prepare to address the issue of energy policy and energy taxes again this year, we want to identify those energy tax provisions that have helped us achieve our energy policy goals, apply these successful concepts to promising new markets, and look to successful markets for new ideas.”
Eugene Gholz and Daryl G. Press
Energy Alarmism: The Myths That Make Americans Worry about Oil
Cato Institute - Policy Analysis no. 589 - April 5, 2007 – 24 pages
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa589.pdf
“Our overarching message is simply that market forces, modified by the cartel behavior of OPEC, determine most of the key factors that affect oil supply and prices. The United States does not need to be militarily active or confrontational to allow the oil market to function, to allow oil to get to consumers, or to ensure access in coming decades.”
The Future of Coal
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
http://web.mit.edu/coal/
Senate – Energy and natural Resources Committee – Hearing – March 22, 2007
http://energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Hearing&Hearing_ID=1617
“This report, the future of coal in a carbon-constrained world, evaluates the technologies and costs associated with the generation of electricity from coal along with those associated with the capture and sequestration of the carbon dioxide produced coal-based power generation.”
Crude Oil: Uncertainty about Future Oil Supply Makes It Important to Develop a Strategy for Addressing a Peak and Decline in Oil Production
GAO – Report - February 28, 2007 – 82 pages
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-283
“GAO (1) examined when oil production could peak, (2) assessed the potential for transportation technologies to mitigate the consequences of a peak in oil production, and (3) examined federal agency efforts that could reduce uncertainty about the timing of a peak or mitigate the consequences. To address these objectives, GAO reviewed studies, convened an expert panel, and consulted agency officials.”
Energy Innovation
Senate - Science, Technology, and Innovation – Hearing - March 20, 2007
http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Hearing&Hearing_ID=1832
Mr. Bill Prindle, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy
Mr. Michael Eckhart, American Council on Renewable Energy
Dr. Jim Katzer, MIT Laboratory for Energy and the Environment
Dr. K.R. Sridhar, Bloom Energy
Dr. Francis R. Preli, Jr., UTC Power, LLC Bruce Stokes
Amy Abel
Electric Transmission: Approaches for Energizing a Sagging Industry
Congressional Research Service (CRS), Library of Congress - February 12, 2007 – 26 pages
http://opencrs.cdt.org/rpts/RL33875_20070212.pdf
This report provides background information on the regulatory structure of the electric utility industry and its transmission systems at both the federal and state levels. Some of the issues covered are congested transmission systems, security of physical assets, transmission line locations, cost implications, pricing of new projects, and funding.
AGRICULTURE
Investing in Our Nation's Future through Agricultural Research
Senate - Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee – Hearing - March 7, 2007
http://agriculture.senate.gov/Hearings/hearings.cfm?hearingId=2583
“While there has been excellent success in the past we must look to not only immediate scientific needs, but build an even stronger foundation to maintain our world leadership in agriculture. This is imperative if this nation’s agriculture system is to continue as a world leader and not be severely crippled by the ever increasing disease threats, changing world market competition, and drought and other natural impacts.”
Economic Challenges and Opportunities Facing American Agricultural Producers Today
Senate – Committee on Agriculture – April 2007
Part 1 (livestock, poultry, and competition issues for the 2007 Farm Bill):
http://agriculture.senate.gov/Hearings/hearings.cfm?hearingId=2699
Part 2 (speciality crops, dairy, sugar, organic productoin and marketing, and honey issues for the 2007 Farm Bill): http://agriculture.senate.gov/Hearings/hearings.cfm?hearingId=2723
Part 3 (general farm and commodity-specific organizations):
http://agriculture.senate.gov/Hearings/hearings.cfm?hearingId=2724
EMPLOYMENT
Closing the Gap: Equal Pay for Women Workers
Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions – Hearing - April 12, 2007
http://help.senate.gov/Hearings/2007_04_12/2007_04_12.html
Witnesses:
-- Evelyn Murphy, Founder and President of The WAGE Project, Inc, Boston, MA
-- Jocelyn Samuels, Vice President for Education and Employment, National Women's Law Center, Washington, DC
-- Dr. Philip Cohen, Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Sociology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
-- Barbara Brown, Attorney, Paul Hastings, Washington, DC
Strengthening the Middle Class: Ensuring Equal Pay for Women
House – Committee on Education and Labor – Hearing - April 24, 2007
http://edworkforce.house.gov/hearings/fc042407.shtml
Witnesses
Catherine Hill, Research Director, American Association of University Women
Heather Boushey, Senior Economist, Center for Economic and Policy Research
Dedra Farmer, Plaintiff in the Walmart Sex-Discrimination Class Action Suit
Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Director, Center for Employment Policy, Hudson Institute
Marie-Claire Guillard
A Chartbook of International Labor Comparisons: The Americas—Asia-Pacific—Europe
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. January 2007. 67 pages
http://www.dol.gov/asp/media/reports/chartbook/chartbook_jan07.pdf
This Chartbook provides a comparative labor market perspective of employment levels, jobless rates, hours worked, labor costs, and productivity trends of all advanced and emerging economies. It is a “snapshot of where the United States stands today in relation to key economies of the rest of the world.” The purpose of the Chartbook is to assist policy and decision makers in preparing the nation’s workforce for future challenges and opportunities.
Phoning It In
FRB Richmond - Region Focus - Winter 2007 – 5 pages
http://www.richmondfed.org/publications/economic_research/region_focus/winter_2007/pdf/feature1.pdf
“Telecommuting hasn't become the commonplace work alternative its advocates anticipated. Still, the flexibility it offers has helped a significant number of companies and employees.”
Increasing Economic Security for American Workers
Committee on Ways and Means - Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support – Hearing – March 15, 2007
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=detail&hearing=540
Witnesses:
-- Robert Reich, J.D., Professor of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley
-- Thea Lee, Assistant Director of Public Policy, AFL-CIO
-- Howard Rosen, Visiting Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics
-- Maurice Emsellem, Policy Director, National Employment Law Project
-- Douglas J. Holmes, President, UWC – Strategic Services on Unemployment and Worker’s Compensation
Jacob Funk Kirkegaard
Offshoring, Outsourcing, and Production Relocation—Labor-Market Effects in the OECD Countries and Developing Asia
The Peterson Institute - Working Paper 07-2 – April 2007 – 51 pages
www.iie.com/publications/wp/wp07-2.pdf
Data for the United States, EU-15, and Japan indicate only a limited impact of offshoring/outsourcing on employment in the three regions. Correspondingly, developing Asia is unlikely to experience large employment gains as an offshoring/outsourcing destination region. The paper highlights the Indian information technology (IT) industry, where the majority of job creation has been in local Indian companies rather than foreign multinationals.
How Effective are Existing Programs in Helping Workers Impacted by International Trade?
House – Committee on Education and Labor – Hearing - March 26, 2007
http://edworkforce.house.gov/hearings/fc032607.shtml
“Today the Committee will begin its examination of U.S. trade policy and how it is affecting American workers. It is true that there have been many winners from free trade. In the U.S…Yet it is becoming ever clearer that the free trade process is at a standstill… too many workers are being hurt by international outsourcing and its resulting plant shutdowns… We are going to discuss the effectiveness of federal programs that are intended to assist dislocated workers, like unemployment insurance, trade adjustment assistance, COBRA health benefits, and the health care tax credit.”
INTERNATIONAL TRADE
William Poole
Changing World Demographics and Trade Imbalances
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis – Remarks at the American European Community Association (AECA) - April 16, 2007
http://www.stlouisfed.org/news/speeches/2007/04_16_07.html
“My analysis combines demographic and economics facts with economic theory to provide some insights into the connections between demographic changes and international trade. I hope that my comments will contribute at least in some small measure to increasing international understanding, especially given the critical importance of an open international trading system to improvements in economic growth in all our countries.”
2007 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers
U.S.T.R. – Report – April 2007
http://www.ustr.gov/Document_Library/Reports_Publications/2007/2007_NTE_Report/Section_Index.html
“The 2007 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers (NTE) is the twenty-first in an annual series that surveys significant foreign barriers to U.S. exports. The report provides, where feasible, quantitative estimates of the impact of these foreign practices on the value of U.S. exports. Information is also included on actions taken to eliminate barriers.”
Pirating the American Dream: Intellectual Property Theft’s Impact on America’s Place in the Global Economy and Strategies for Improving Enforcement
Senate, Committee on Security and International Trade and Finance – Hearing – April 12, 2007
banking.senate.gov/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Hearings.Detail&HearingID=255
Statements by:
Dr. Moises Naim, Editor in Chief, Foreign Policy Magazine
Dr. Loren Yager, Director of International Affairs and Trade, Government Accountability Office
Mr. Brad Huther, Senior Advisor for Intellectual Property Enforcement, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Mr. Tim Demarais, Vice President, ABRO Industries
Daniella Markheim
Why Free Trade Works for America
The Heritage Foundation - Backgrounder #2024 - April 16, 2007
http://www.heritage.org/Research/TradeandForeignAid/bg2024.cfm
“Armed with the facts, Congress should bolster itself against "free trade fatigue" and protectionist sentiment and revitalize the drive to promote economic growth and prosperity by eliminating international trade barriers. Renewing the President's trade promotion authority to facilitate the completion of new bilateral free trade agreements, reforming and reducing the scope of the U.S. farm bill to promote a successful conclusion to the WTO Doha Development Round, and generally guarding against populist, protectionist trade policy changes would go far toward expanding economic opportunity in the U.S. and around the world.”
Carolyn C. Smith
Trade Promotion Authority and Fast-Track Negotiating Authority for Trade Agreements: Major Votes
Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress. Updated January 31, 2007. 6 pages
http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/80216.pdf
This report identifies significant legislation from 1974 forward which authorized the use of the presidential Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) known as fast-track. It also identifies significant bills and resolutions that had floor votes as well as provides a list of floor votes on implementing legislation for trade agreements from 1979 forward.
Robert Z. Lawrence
The United States and the WTO Dispute Settlement System
The Bernard and Irene Schwartz Series on American Competitiveness, Council on Foreign Relations. Web posted March 30, 2007. 51 pages
http://www.cfr.org/content/publications/attachments/WTO_CSR25.pdf
The author reflects on the effectiveness of the World Trade Organization (WTO) especially the dispute settlement system. He argues that any radical change to the system could be detrimental. However, he offers some reforms in the multilateral negotiations sector such as enhancing transparency and improving steps for multilateral negotiations.
Steven Zahniser
NAFTA at 13: Implementation Nears Completion
Outlook Report, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture - Web posted March 29, 2007 - 49 pages
http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/wrs0701/wrs0701.pdf
After 13 years, implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is drawing to a close-- transitional restrictions on agriculture will be removed next year. During this implementation period, the agricultural sectors in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada have become more integrated and have grown dramatically. This report on NAFTA’s effects on U.S. agriculture covers trade data through 2005 and economic and policy developments through 2006.
J.F. Hornbeck
U.S. Trade Policy and the Caribbean: From Trade Preferences to Free Trade Agreements
Congressional Research Service (CRS), Library of Congress - April 4, 2007 - 24 pages
http://www.opencrs.com/rpts/RL33951_20070404.pdf
The U.S. has relied on unilateral trade preferences to promote export-led development in poor countries. These trade preferences provide goods, duty-free or at tariffs below normal rates to selected developing countries. Over the past thirty years, the Caribbean region has benefited from these multiple preferential trade agreements. The 110th Congress faces a number of issues that challenge the U.S. trade policies in the Caribbean region. This report discusses these challenges and the “evolution of the U.S. trade policy toward the Caribbean, focusing on the implications of moving from unilateral tariff preferences to reciprocal FTAs [Free Trade Agreements].”
MISCELLANEOUS
Lisa Barrow Cecilia Elena Rouse
The Changing Value of Education
Chicago Fed Letter – April 2007 – 6 pages
http://www.chicagofed.org/publications/fedletter/cflapril2007_237.pdf
“Why has the economic value of education stopped rising over the past ten years? The most likely explanation seems to be that the booming economy of the late 1990s helped to increase the average earnings of all workers, including those at the low end of the skills distribution.”
J.P. Wieske
Understanding the Uninsured and What to Do About Them
Council for Affordable Health Insurance (CAHI) - 2007 – 20 pages
http://www.cahi.org/cahi_contents/resources/pdf/UnderstandingTheUninsured0307.pdf
“Every year the U.S. Census Bureau reports that the number of uninsured has grown — reaching 46.6 million Americans in 2005. Of course, the primary reason the number is growing is that the U.S. population is growing. However, less reported is that the percentage of the population that is uninsured has been much more stable, averaging about 15 percent for the past 15 years. Before elected officials look for solutions, they need to understand who the uninsured are and why so many people lack coverage.”
David A. Wirth
Globalization and the Environment: Why All the Fuss?
Boston College Law School Faculty Papers, Boston College Law School - February 2007 – 10 pages
http://lsr.nellco.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1190&context=bc/bclsfp
The relationship between globalization and environmental policies is not just “free trader versus self-serving protectionists.” This report sets out a structural and analytical framework for addressing some of the major issues between these two views points. The author discusses unilateral trade-based measures to protect the environment, science-based tests applied through trade agreements, foreign investment disciplines that may have a “chilling” effect on environmental issues, and the relationship between free trade agreements and multilateral environmental agreements. U.S. domestic laws including federal administrative law and federal-state relations are also examined.
vendredi 4 mai 2007
vendredi 13 avril 2007
US ENERGY 2007
ENERGY
Ending Oil Dependence
The Brookings Institute – Position Paper and Fact Sheet – March 2007
http://www.opportunity08.org/Issues/OurWorld/32/r1/Default.aspx
“Oil use continues to climb in the United States and around the world, creating national security, environmental and economic problems. Yet new technologies and an emerging political consensus bring solutions within reach. David Sandalow present options for ending the United States’ oil dependence.”
First in a Series of Hearings on Energy and Tax Policy
House Committee on Ways and Means – Hearing - February 28, 2007
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=detail&hearing=529
“In announcing the hearing, Chairman Rangel said, “Climate change and global warming will have a tremendous impact on the quality of life here in America and around the world. The Federal government needs a better understanding of what contributes to global warming so that we may play a significant role in preventing further damage.” This hearing will focus on a scientific discussion of the factors contributing to global warming and the effects of such changes on climate changes.”
Challenges Remain for Developing and Deploying Advanced Energy Technologies to Meet Future Needs
Jim Wells House Committee on Appropriations, GAO-07-550T – February 28, 2007 – 15 pages
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-550T
This report “examined the (1) R&D funding trends and strategies for developing advanced energy technologies; (2) key barriers to developing and deploying advanced energy technologies; and (3) efforts of the states and six selected countries to develop and deploy advanced energy technologies. GAO reviewed DOE R&D budget data and strategic plans and obtained the views of experts in DOE, industry, and academia, as well as state and foreign government officials.”
Advanced Energy Technologies
Senate – Committee on Energy and Natural Resources – Hearing – March 7, 2007
http://energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Hearing&Hearing_ID=1612
“The purpose of the hearing is to investigate market constraints on large investments in advanced energy technologies and investigate ways to stimulate additional private-sector investment in the deployment of these technologies.”
Public Transportation and Petroleum Savings in the U.S.: Reducing Dependence on Oil
Linda BaileyICF International for the American Public Transportation Association - January 2007 – 35 pages
http://www.apta.com/research/info/online/documents/apta_public_transportation_fuel_savings_final_010807.pdf
This analysis looks at what public transportation could save in gasoline consumption both individually and nationally, and it explores the possible future benefits of more Americans using public transportation. The study found that public transportation usage reduces gasoline consumption by 1.4 billion gallons each year--based on current public transportation usage. It also found that this savings amounts to 108 million fewer cars on the road; 34 fewer supertankers leaving the Middle East; over 140,000 fewer tanker trucks making deliveries; and a cumulative saving of 3.9 million gallons of gas each day.
California’s Electricity Market: A Post-Crisis Progress Report
Carl Pechman Public Policy Institute of California – Report - January 2007 - 21 pages
http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/cep/EP_107CPEP.pdf
“California's electric power crisis of 2000-2001 raised the blood pressure of millions of state residents. It also pushed a major utility into bankruptcy, and cost the state billions of dollars in lost productivity and expensive spot-market power. Most experts point the blame at the flawed way California deregulated its electric power markets in the late 1990s. This issue of CEP provides a progress report on the problems and successes of the state's post-crisis re-regulation strategies. These seek to balance consumer costs, environmental protection, and competition in the power marketplace.”
The Ethanol Mandate Should Not Be Expanded
Ben LiebermanThe Heritage Foundation - Backgrounder #2020 - M arch 28, 2007
http://www.heritage.org/Research/EnergyandEnvironment/bg2020.cfm
“The new ethanol mandate is perhaps the most disappointing program in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Since taking effect in 2006, this measure has increased energy and food prices while doing little to reduce oil imports or improve the environment.”
Ending Oil Dependence
The Brookings Institute – Position Paper and Fact Sheet – March 2007
http://www.opportunity08.org/Issues/OurWorld/32/r1/Default.aspx
“Oil use continues to climb in the United States and around the world, creating national security, environmental and economic problems. Yet new technologies and an emerging political consensus bring solutions within reach. David Sandalow present options for ending the United States’ oil dependence.”
First in a Series of Hearings on Energy and Tax Policy
House Committee on Ways and Means – Hearing - February 28, 2007
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=detail&hearing=529
“In announcing the hearing, Chairman Rangel said, “Climate change and global warming will have a tremendous impact on the quality of life here in America and around the world. The Federal government needs a better understanding of what contributes to global warming so that we may play a significant role in preventing further damage.” This hearing will focus on a scientific discussion of the factors contributing to global warming and the effects of such changes on climate changes.”
Challenges Remain for Developing and Deploying Advanced Energy Technologies to Meet Future Needs
Jim Wells House Committee on Appropriations, GAO-07-550T – February 28, 2007 – 15 pages
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-550T
This report “examined the (1) R&D funding trends and strategies for developing advanced energy technologies; (2) key barriers to developing and deploying advanced energy technologies; and (3) efforts of the states and six selected countries to develop and deploy advanced energy technologies. GAO reviewed DOE R&D budget data and strategic plans and obtained the views of experts in DOE, industry, and academia, as well as state and foreign government officials.”
Advanced Energy Technologies
Senate – Committee on Energy and Natural Resources – Hearing – March 7, 2007
http://energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Hearing&Hearing_ID=1612
“The purpose of the hearing is to investigate market constraints on large investments in advanced energy technologies and investigate ways to stimulate additional private-sector investment in the deployment of these technologies.”
Public Transportation and Petroleum Savings in the U.S.: Reducing Dependence on Oil
Linda BaileyICF International for the American Public Transportation Association - January 2007 – 35 pages
http://www.apta.com/research/info/online/documents/apta_public_transportation_fuel_savings_final_010807.pdf
This analysis looks at what public transportation could save in gasoline consumption both individually and nationally, and it explores the possible future benefits of more Americans using public transportation. The study found that public transportation usage reduces gasoline consumption by 1.4 billion gallons each year--based on current public transportation usage. It also found that this savings amounts to 108 million fewer cars on the road; 34 fewer supertankers leaving the Middle East; over 140,000 fewer tanker trucks making deliveries; and a cumulative saving of 3.9 million gallons of gas each day.
California’s Electricity Market: A Post-Crisis Progress Report
Carl Pechman Public Policy Institute of California – Report - January 2007 - 21 pages
http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/cep/EP_107CPEP.pdf
“California's electric power crisis of 2000-2001 raised the blood pressure of millions of state residents. It also pushed a major utility into bankruptcy, and cost the state billions of dollars in lost productivity and expensive spot-market power. Most experts point the blame at the flawed way California deregulated its electric power markets in the late 1990s. This issue of CEP provides a progress report on the problems and successes of the state's post-crisis re-regulation strategies. These seek to balance consumer costs, environmental protection, and competition in the power marketplace.”
The Ethanol Mandate Should Not Be Expanded
Ben LiebermanThe Heritage Foundation - Backgrounder #2020 - M arch 28, 2007
http://www.heritage.org/Research/EnergyandEnvironment/bg2020.cfm
“The new ethanol mandate is perhaps the most disappointing program in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Since taking effect in 2006, this measure has increased energy and food prices while doing little to reduce oil imports or improve the environment.”
US TRADE 2007
GLOBALIZATION
Hearing on Trade and Globalization
House - Committee on Ways and Means – Hearing - January 30, 2007
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=detail&hearing=512
“During the hearing, Members hope to elicit responses from witnesses on the following: (1) the philosophy that more trade is always better, no matter its terms or contents; (2) whether the benefits of globalization are being spread broadly to working people, farmers, businesses and consumers in the United States, and if not, what specific changes to U.S. trade policy and international trading rules should be recommended to maximize the benefits and minimize the costs of globalization; and (3) what have been some of the most important successes of U.S. trade policy in the recent past in terms of maximizing the benefits of globalization and minimizing its costs.”
Robert L. Thompson
Globalization and the Benefits of Trade
Chicago Fed Letter - March 2007 (Number 236) Essays On Issues – 4 pages
http://www.chicagofed.org/publications/fedletter/cflmarch2007_236.pdf
“Globalization involves increasing integration of economies around the world, from the national to the most local levels, thereby promoting international trade in goods and services and cross-border movement of information, technology, people, and investments. This article examines the benefits and costs to the U.S. and other countries.”
Pan A. Yotopoulos
The Asymmetric Benefits of Globalization
Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research - Policy Brief – March 2007 – 6 pages
http://siepr.stanford.edu/papers/briefs/policybrief_mar07.html
“Although this brief has focused on the risk that globalization becomes the epitaph of growth in the third world, the increasing divide between the rich and the poor within countries, be they developed or developing, may prove even more ominous for the future of globalization itself. Unless the gains from free trade are shared more equally between rich and poor countries, and among the rich and the poor within them, the future of this second globalization may be short-lived.”
Jeff Faux
Globalization That Works for Working Americans
Economic Policy Institute - Briefing Paper - January 11, 2007 – 22 pages
http://www.sharedprosperity.org/bp179/bp179.pdf
The author advocates for better management of globalization through better international trade and investment agreements and policies. The author states that the present system rewards those at the top of the income ladder while working families suffer from stagnant wages and benefits. He further writes that over the last two decades, the mismanagement of trade policies has damaged the U.S.’s competitiveness and has caused trade deficits to soar. The paper offers a new, comprehensive strategy to change these imbalances.
Lee Hudson Teslik
The Global Auto Industry
Council on Foreign Relations – Backgrounder - March 2, 2007
www.cfr.org/publication/12764/global_auto_industry.html
“In February 2007, DaimlerChrysler executives announced a plan to restructure Chrysler's operations. As part of the restructuring, the company will cut thirteen thousand jobs, reduce its total production capacity, and consider divesting the Chrysler brand altogether. The announcement, analysts said, could mark the beginning of the end for an unhappy nine-year marriage between the companies, a merger celebrated in its time… Regardless of what happens to Chrysler, DaimlerChrysler’s woes highlight the shifting realities of the global auto industry. As Detroit’s automakers have struggled, Japan’s Toyota is commanding increased influence. A handful of Chinese manufacturers are also elbowing for global significance, especially in the auto-parts market.”
_______________________________________________________________
INTERNATIONAL TRADE
U.S. Trade Agenda
House Committee on Ways and Means – Hearing - February 14, 2007
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=detail&hearing=526
The hearing will examine the direction and content of U.S. trade policy, including:
(1) the status of the WTO Doha Round negotiations and the role U.S. positions on agriculture, services, and industrial market access (including non-tariff barriers) have played in the talks; (2) the status of signed and yet-to-be-completed U.S. FTAs, including a review of open issues; (3) the U.S. policy responses to the U.S. trade deficit and debt… (4) the operation of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body…; (5) the status of Russia’s, and other countries’, accession to the WTO; (6) whether U.S. preference programs are effective in promoting growth and economic development, particularly in low-income and least developed countries, including Haiti; (7) issues related to extension of presidential trade negotiating authority; and (7) other issues.
Perspectives on the 2007 Trade Agenda
Senate – Committee on Finance – Hearing - March 8, 2007
http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/hearing030807.htm
Testimonies by:
Larry Summers, Harvard University
Fred Smith, CEO, Federal Express, Washington, DC
Bob Baugh, Executive Director, Industrial Union Council, AFL-CIO, Washington, DC
Craig Lang, President, Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, West Des Moines, IA
Andy Warlick, President, Parkdale Mills, Inc., Gastonia, NC
Daniella Markheim
Renew Trade Promotion Authority
The Heritage Foundation - Backgrounder #2014 - March 2007
http://www.heritage.org/Research/TradeandForeignAid/bg2014.cfm
“Congress should renew TPA as it is without adding new conditions that open the door to protectionist policies that undermine America's ability to remain a dynamic and dominant player in the global economy. Current TPA rules support the development and protection of effective labor and other economic policies without forcing unrealistic and detrimental regulations on developing economies.”
Robert Z. Lawrence
The United States and the WTO Dispute Settlement System
Council on Foreign Relations – Report – March 2007 - 56 pages
http://www.cfr.org/content/publications/attachments/WTO_CSR25.pdf
“In this Council Special Report, Professor Lawrence addresses the critics of the dispute settlement mechanism—both those who think it should be tougher on countries that violate trade rules and those who think it is already so tough as to violate sovereignty. He points out the successes of the WTO since its creation in 1995 and argues that radical changes to the system are ill-advised. Lawrence nonetheless suggests several areas for reform, from steps that require multilateral negotiations, such as improving opportunities for nonstate actor participation in and enhancing transparency of the process, to changes the United States could make in its own behavior.”
C. Fred Bergsten
Toward a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific
Peterson Institute - Policy Brief – February 2007 – 13 pages
http://www.petersoninstitute.org/publications/pb/pb07-2.pdf
“At their latest annual summit in Vietnam in November 2006, the leaders of the 21 members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum agreed to “seriously consider” negotiating a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP). The FTAAP initiative may well turn out to be the best, or perhaps only, way to catalyze a substantively successful Doha Round. If it cannot do that, an FTAAP can still offer a Plan B to restore the momentum of trade liberalization, prevent further proliferation of bilateral and subregional preferential trade arrangements, avoid renewed risk of ”drawing a line down the middle of the Pacific,“ channel the US-China economic conflict into a more constructive, less confrontational context, and revitalize APEC itself.”
__________________________________________________________________
U.S-CHINA ECONOMIC RELATIONS
Trade with China
House Committee on Ways and Means – Hearing - February 15, 2007
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=detail&hearing=525
“This hearing is the first in a series on U.S.-China economic and trade relations. The hearings will focus on the impact of U.S.-China trade on jobs, wages, prices, manufacturing competitiveness, and other aspects of the U.S. economy; the causes of the U.S. trade deficit with China; China’s compliance with its WTO commitments; and China’s role in the world economy. This hearing will be divided into two panels. The first panel will focus on the role and effect of subsidies in the Chinese market and their impact on competition with U.S. products in China. The other panel will focus on China’s enforcement of intellectual property rights.”
C. Fred Bergsten
China and Economic Integration in East Asia: Implications for the United States
Peterson Institute - Policy Brief – March 2007 – 10 pages
http://www.petersoninstitute.org/publications/pb/pb07-3.pdf
“An essential pillar of a US strategy toward East Asian integration is acceptance of the legitimacy and desirability of that process. US acceptance of the economic integration of Europe is the model. Further, the United States—as well as Canada and Mexico—should seek to nest any new Pacific-Asia trade arrangements in a broader Asia-Pacific framework: Creation of a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP) would embed Pacific Asia in the Asia Pacific. Another part of the US strategy should be to strengthen the substantive capabilities and political legitimacy of the global economic institutions, especially the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund, to minimize the need for (and appeal of) new Asia-only regional compacts.”
Craig K. Elwell
Chinese Economic Growth: How Will It Affect the U.S. Gains from Trade?
Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress Report - December 6, 2006 – 19 pages
http://opencrs.cdt.org/rpts/RL33744_20061206.pdf
The size and source of the U.S. gains from trade with emerging markets like China are not static--economic growth and economic circumstances change constantly. “China’s main impact on the U.S. terms of trade over the last decade has been through the falling price of U.S. imports from China, transmitting a favorable impulse to the U.S. terms of trade. It also seems likely that the impact of the economic growth of China on the U.S. terms of trade over the near term will continue to be dominated by the favorable effects of a falling price for imports from China.” Several factors point to a favorable outcome for the U.S over the long term.
___________________________________________________________________
Hearing on Trade and Globalization
House - Committee on Ways and Means – Hearing - January 30, 2007
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=detail&hearing=512
“During the hearing, Members hope to elicit responses from witnesses on the following: (1) the philosophy that more trade is always better, no matter its terms or contents; (2) whether the benefits of globalization are being spread broadly to working people, farmers, businesses and consumers in the United States, and if not, what specific changes to U.S. trade policy and international trading rules should be recommended to maximize the benefits and minimize the costs of globalization; and (3) what have been some of the most important successes of U.S. trade policy in the recent past in terms of maximizing the benefits of globalization and minimizing its costs.”
Robert L. Thompson
Globalization and the Benefits of Trade
Chicago Fed Letter - March 2007 (Number 236) Essays On Issues – 4 pages
http://www.chicagofed.org/publications/fedletter/cflmarch2007_236.pdf
“Globalization involves increasing integration of economies around the world, from the national to the most local levels, thereby promoting international trade in goods and services and cross-border movement of information, technology, people, and investments. This article examines the benefits and costs to the U.S. and other countries.”
Pan A. Yotopoulos
The Asymmetric Benefits of Globalization
Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research - Policy Brief – March 2007 – 6 pages
http://siepr.stanford.edu/papers/briefs/policybrief_mar07.html
“Although this brief has focused on the risk that globalization becomes the epitaph of growth in the third world, the increasing divide between the rich and the poor within countries, be they developed or developing, may prove even more ominous for the future of globalization itself. Unless the gains from free trade are shared more equally between rich and poor countries, and among the rich and the poor within them, the future of this second globalization may be short-lived.”
Jeff Faux
Globalization That Works for Working Americans
Economic Policy Institute - Briefing Paper - January 11, 2007 – 22 pages
http://www.sharedprosperity.org/bp179/bp179.pdf
The author advocates for better management of globalization through better international trade and investment agreements and policies. The author states that the present system rewards those at the top of the income ladder while working families suffer from stagnant wages and benefits. He further writes that over the last two decades, the mismanagement of trade policies has damaged the U.S.’s competitiveness and has caused trade deficits to soar. The paper offers a new, comprehensive strategy to change these imbalances.
Lee Hudson Teslik
The Global Auto Industry
Council on Foreign Relations – Backgrounder - March 2, 2007
www.cfr.org/publication/12764/global_auto_industry.html
“In February 2007, DaimlerChrysler executives announced a plan to restructure Chrysler's operations. As part of the restructuring, the company will cut thirteen thousand jobs, reduce its total production capacity, and consider divesting the Chrysler brand altogether. The announcement, analysts said, could mark the beginning of the end for an unhappy nine-year marriage between the companies, a merger celebrated in its time… Regardless of what happens to Chrysler, DaimlerChrysler’s woes highlight the shifting realities of the global auto industry. As Detroit’s automakers have struggled, Japan’s Toyota is commanding increased influence. A handful of Chinese manufacturers are also elbowing for global significance, especially in the auto-parts market.”
_______________________________________________________________
INTERNATIONAL TRADE
U.S. Trade Agenda
House Committee on Ways and Means – Hearing - February 14, 2007
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=detail&hearing=526
The hearing will examine the direction and content of U.S. trade policy, including:
(1) the status of the WTO Doha Round negotiations and the role U.S. positions on agriculture, services, and industrial market access (including non-tariff barriers) have played in the talks; (2) the status of signed and yet-to-be-completed U.S. FTAs, including a review of open issues; (3) the U.S. policy responses to the U.S. trade deficit and debt… (4) the operation of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body…; (5) the status of Russia’s, and other countries’, accession to the WTO; (6) whether U.S. preference programs are effective in promoting growth and economic development, particularly in low-income and least developed countries, including Haiti; (7) issues related to extension of presidential trade negotiating authority; and (7) other issues.
Perspectives on the 2007 Trade Agenda
Senate – Committee on Finance – Hearing - March 8, 2007
http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/hearing030807.htm
Testimonies by:
Larry Summers, Harvard University
Fred Smith, CEO, Federal Express, Washington, DC
Bob Baugh, Executive Director, Industrial Union Council, AFL-CIO, Washington, DC
Craig Lang, President, Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, West Des Moines, IA
Andy Warlick, President, Parkdale Mills, Inc., Gastonia, NC
Daniella Markheim
Renew Trade Promotion Authority
The Heritage Foundation - Backgrounder #2014 - March 2007
http://www.heritage.org/Research/TradeandForeignAid/bg2014.cfm
“Congress should renew TPA as it is without adding new conditions that open the door to protectionist policies that undermine America's ability to remain a dynamic and dominant player in the global economy. Current TPA rules support the development and protection of effective labor and other economic policies without forcing unrealistic and detrimental regulations on developing economies.”
Robert Z. Lawrence
The United States and the WTO Dispute Settlement System
Council on Foreign Relations – Report – March 2007 - 56 pages
http://www.cfr.org/content/publications/attachments/WTO_CSR25.pdf
“In this Council Special Report, Professor Lawrence addresses the critics of the dispute settlement mechanism—both those who think it should be tougher on countries that violate trade rules and those who think it is already so tough as to violate sovereignty. He points out the successes of the WTO since its creation in 1995 and argues that radical changes to the system are ill-advised. Lawrence nonetheless suggests several areas for reform, from steps that require multilateral negotiations, such as improving opportunities for nonstate actor participation in and enhancing transparency of the process, to changes the United States could make in its own behavior.”
C. Fred Bergsten
Toward a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific
Peterson Institute - Policy Brief – February 2007 – 13 pages
http://www.petersoninstitute.org/publications/pb/pb07-2.pdf
“At their latest annual summit in Vietnam in November 2006, the leaders of the 21 members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum agreed to “seriously consider” negotiating a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP). The FTAAP initiative may well turn out to be the best, or perhaps only, way to catalyze a substantively successful Doha Round. If it cannot do that, an FTAAP can still offer a Plan B to restore the momentum of trade liberalization, prevent further proliferation of bilateral and subregional preferential trade arrangements, avoid renewed risk of ”drawing a line down the middle of the Pacific,“ channel the US-China economic conflict into a more constructive, less confrontational context, and revitalize APEC itself.”
__________________________________________________________________
U.S-CHINA ECONOMIC RELATIONS
Trade with China
House Committee on Ways and Means – Hearing - February 15, 2007
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=detail&hearing=525
“This hearing is the first in a series on U.S.-China economic and trade relations. The hearings will focus on the impact of U.S.-China trade on jobs, wages, prices, manufacturing competitiveness, and other aspects of the U.S. economy; the causes of the U.S. trade deficit with China; China’s compliance with its WTO commitments; and China’s role in the world economy. This hearing will be divided into two panels. The first panel will focus on the role and effect of subsidies in the Chinese market and their impact on competition with U.S. products in China. The other panel will focus on China’s enforcement of intellectual property rights.”
C. Fred Bergsten
China and Economic Integration in East Asia: Implications for the United States
Peterson Institute - Policy Brief – March 2007 – 10 pages
http://www.petersoninstitute.org/publications/pb/pb07-3.pdf
“An essential pillar of a US strategy toward East Asian integration is acceptance of the legitimacy and desirability of that process. US acceptance of the economic integration of Europe is the model. Further, the United States—as well as Canada and Mexico—should seek to nest any new Pacific-Asia trade arrangements in a broader Asia-Pacific framework: Creation of a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP) would embed Pacific Asia in the Asia Pacific. Another part of the US strategy should be to strengthen the substantive capabilities and political legitimacy of the global economic institutions, especially the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund, to minimize the need for (and appeal of) new Asia-only regional compacts.”
Craig K. Elwell
Chinese Economic Growth: How Will It Affect the U.S. Gains from Trade?
Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress Report - December 6, 2006 – 19 pages
http://opencrs.cdt.org/rpts/RL33744_20061206.pdf
The size and source of the U.S. gains from trade with emerging markets like China are not static--economic growth and economic circumstances change constantly. “China’s main impact on the U.S. terms of trade over the last decade has been through the falling price of U.S. imports from China, transmitting a favorable impulse to the U.S. terms of trade. It also seems likely that the impact of the economic growth of China on the U.S. terms of trade over the near term will continue to be dominated by the favorable effects of a falling price for imports from China.” Several factors point to a favorable outcome for the U.S over the long term.
___________________________________________________________________
US SOCIETY 2007
Source: PUBLIC AFFAIRS - American Embassy
Sylvie VACHERET
Tel: 01 43 12 48 97
E Mail: vacheretsr@state.gov
ECONOMICS AND POVERTY
Economic and Societal Costs of Poverty
House Committee on Ways and Means – Hearing - January 24, 2007
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=detail&hearing=508
“There are 37 million Americans living in poverty, an increase of over 5 million since the year 2000 (after prior years of steady decline)… Poor Americans suffer various hardships, including reduced access to economic and educational opportunities, substandard housing, inadequate diet, greater levels of crime victimization, and diminished health. Less recognized, however, are the costs poverty exacts on society as a whole. Nevertheless, studies indicate that poverty reduces our nation’s economic growth and directly increases crime, health and other expenses absorbed by all Americans. The Committee’s hearing will examine the nature and extent of these costs.”
Economic Opportunity and Poverty in America
House Committee on Ways and Means – Hearing - February 13, 2007
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=detail&hearing=524
In announcing the hearing, Chairman McDermott stated, “We need to work to ensure the American dream can become a reality. Today, too many of our fellow citizens see that dream slipping away. Those in poverty feel trapped and the countless millions living paycheck to paycheck feel they could slip into poverty at any time. I hope this hearing and others to follow will illustrate the need for change.” The hearing will focus on the extent and nature of economic opportunity and poverty in America.
Poverty: Rewarding Work, Supporting Families
The Brookings Institute – Position Paper and Fact Sheet – March 2007
http://www.opportunity08.org/Issues/OurSociety/31/r1/Default.aspx
“The nation’s poverty rate is higher now than it was in the 1970s, but no President since Lyndon Johnson has made fighting poverty a major administration goal. The time has come for a reinvigorated fight against inequality and despair. Brookings scholars Isabel Sawhill and Ron Haskins offer a plan that focuses on supporting education, work, and marriage.”
_________________________________________________________________
AGING
The Aging Workforce: What does it Mean for Businesses and the Economy?
Senate – Special Committee on Aging – Hearing - February 28, 2007
http://aging.senate.gov/hearing_detail.cfm?id=270004&
“Today, people over the age of 65 make up about 12 percent of the population, but they will make up almost 20 percent in the next 25 years. That means one out of every five Americans will be a senior by the year 2030. Experts are talking about what this demographic wave will mean for Social Security, Medicare, and long-term care. But as we will hear today, we must address another piece of the puzzle: how the retirement of the Baby Boomers will impact the strength of our nation’s businesses and economy.”
Why Population Aging Matters: A Global Perspective
Department of State and the Department of Health and Human Services - National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health – Report - March 13, 2007 – 32 pages
http://www.state.gov/g/oes/rls/or/81537.htm
“Despite the weight of scientific evidence, the significance of population aging and its global implications have yet to be fully appreciated. There is a need to raise awareness about not only global aging issues but also the importance of rigorous cross-national scientific research and policy dialogue that will help us address the challenges and opportunities of an aging world. Preparing financially for longer lives and finding ways to reduce aging-related disability should become national and global priorities. Experience shows that for nations, as for individuals, it is critical to address problems sooner rather than later. Waiting significantly increases the costs and difficulties of addressing these challenges. This report paints a compelling picture of the impact of population aging on nations.”
John R. Gist
Population Aging, Entitlement Growth, and the Economy
AARP Public Policy Institute, AARP. Report - January 2007 – 64 pages
http://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/econ/2007_01_security.pdf
Demographic aging is changing the age structure of the U.S population. The age 65 and older group will increase from 12 percent to nearly 20 percent of the population. This change will have a profound effect on the federal budget, American families, and economic growth. This report takes a long-term perspective of the aging population; examines the historical experience of the entitlement programs, and compiles projections to 2050. The paper also offers some policy solutions to achieve economic security for the aging population while maintaining a strong economy.
James C. Capretta
Global Aging and the Sustainability of Public Pension Systems: An Assessment of Reform Efforts in Twelve Developed Countries: A Report of the Aging Vulnerability Index Project
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) - Web posted January 3, 2007 – 57 pages
http://www.csis.org/media/csis/pubs/pension_profile.pdf
This study chronicles the efforts of twelve developed countries’ attempts to reform their public pension systems. Public benefit systems have been reformed in recent years, but in most developed countries, the pension systems remain unsustainable with the possible exception of Australia. This study supplements the CSIS Aging Vulnerability Index (AVI) published in March 2003.
_______________________________________________________________
EMPLOYMENT
Lynn A. Karoly
Forces Shaping the Future U.S. Workforce and Workplace: Implications for 21st Century Work
RAND Corporation - Testimony presented before the House Education and Labor Committee on February 7, 2007 – 14 pages
http://www.rand.org/pubs/testimonies/2007/RAND_CT273.pdf
“While the consequences of the current state of the economy on the fortunes of middle class families are one area for potential concern, there are a number of longer-term issues that are equally relevant in terms of their potential effects on U.S. workers and employers. Thus, I would like to focus my testimony on the forces that are shaping the world of work and the implications of those trends for the U.S. workforce and workplace.
Understanding these forces is critical for shaping policies that can serve to foster a strong and secure middle class well into the 21st century.”
Increasing Economic Security for American Workers
House Committee on Ways and Means – Hearing - March 15, 2007
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=detail&hearing=540
Robert Reich, J.D., Professor of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley
Thea Lee, Assistant Director of Public Policy, AFL-CIO
Howard Rosen, Visiting Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics
Maurice Emsellem, Policy Director, National Employment Law Project
Douglas J. Holmes, President, UWC – Strategic Services on Unemployment and Worker’s Compensation
Christopher H. Wheeler
Trends in Neighborhood-Level Unemployment in the United States: 1980 to 2000
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review, March/April 2007, 89(2), pp. 123-142
http://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/review/07/03/Wheeler.pdf
“Although the average rate of unemployment across U.S. metropolitan areas declined between 1980 and 2000, the geographic concentration of the unemployed rose sharply over this period. That is, residential neighborhoods throughout the nation’s metropolitan areas became increasingly divided into high- and low-unemployment areas. This paper documents this trend using data on more than 165,000 U.S. Census block groups (neighborhoods) in 361 metropolitan areas over the years 1980, 1990, and 2000; it also examines three potential explanations: (i) urban decentralization, (ii) industrial shifts and declining unionization, and (iii) increasing segregation by income and education.”
Giovanni Peri
How Immigrants Affect California Employment and Wages
Public Policy Institute of California - California Counts - February 2007 - 20 pp.
http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/cacounts/CC_207GPCC.pdf
“This issue examines the effects of the arrival of immigrants between 1960 and 2004 on the employment, population, and wages of U.S. natives in California. Among the study’s principal findings: 1) There is no evidence that the influx of immigrants over the past four decades has worsened the employment opportunities of natives with similar education and experience, 2) There is no association between the influx of immigrants and the out-migration of natives within the same education and age group, 3) Immigration induced a 4 percent real wage increase for the average native worker between 1990 and 2004, 4) Recent immigrants did lower the wages of previous immigrants.”
Lael Brainard
The Case for Wage Insurance
Joint Economic Committee Hearing, February 28, 2007
http://www.brookings.edu/views/testimony/brainard20070228.htm
“A new wave of globalization has reached our shores. Although the individual elements feel familiar, the combined contours are unprecedented – in scope, speed and scale… Wage insurance could provide an important tool in a broader set of policies designed to help American middle class families insure against disruptive income fluctuations, while preserving the benefits of a dynamic economy.”
Highlights of a GAO Forum: Engaging and Retaining Older Workers
GAO-07-438SP - February 28, 2007 – 25 pages
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-438SP
“GAO convened this forum to address the issues surrounding engaging and retaining older workers. Participants included experts representing employers, business and union groups, advocates, researchers, actuaries, and federal agencies.”
MISCELLANEOUS
Health Care Capital Spending
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis – Fedgazette – January 2007
http://www.minneapolisfed.org/pubs/fedgaz/07-01/
“Data on health care capital spending are not particularly neat and tidy, but what are available show strong recent growth. Nationally, data from the U.S. Census Bureau's construction survey show steady upward growth in the 1990s, with a bit of a slowdown in the latter part of the decade. But spending took a decided upturn about 2001.”
Ray Fisman, Geoffrey Heal, and Vinay B. Nair
A Model of Corporate Philanthropy
Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania - Web posted January 11, 2007 – 23 pages
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/papers/1331.pdf
“Our separating equilibrium is built on the assumption that entrepreneurs can be of two types—they are either purely profit motivated or they care about both profits and the externalities they impose. This difference in entrepreneurs’ preferences makes corporate philanthropy more expensive for profit-maximizing entrepreneurs than it is for ‘socially-minded’ entrepreneurs, who gain some warm glow from charity.” The authors’ preliminary tests support the framework that “corporate philanthropy and profits are positively related only in industries with high advertising intensity and high competition.”
Sylvie VACHERET
Tel: 01 43 12 48 97
E Mail: vacheretsr@state.gov
ECONOMICS AND POVERTY
Economic and Societal Costs of Poverty
House Committee on Ways and Means – Hearing - January 24, 2007
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=detail&hearing=508
“There are 37 million Americans living in poverty, an increase of over 5 million since the year 2000 (after prior years of steady decline)… Poor Americans suffer various hardships, including reduced access to economic and educational opportunities, substandard housing, inadequate diet, greater levels of crime victimization, and diminished health. Less recognized, however, are the costs poverty exacts on society as a whole. Nevertheless, studies indicate that poverty reduces our nation’s economic growth and directly increases crime, health and other expenses absorbed by all Americans. The Committee’s hearing will examine the nature and extent of these costs.”
Economic Opportunity and Poverty in America
House Committee on Ways and Means – Hearing - February 13, 2007
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=detail&hearing=524
In announcing the hearing, Chairman McDermott stated, “We need to work to ensure the American dream can become a reality. Today, too many of our fellow citizens see that dream slipping away. Those in poverty feel trapped and the countless millions living paycheck to paycheck feel they could slip into poverty at any time. I hope this hearing and others to follow will illustrate the need for change.” The hearing will focus on the extent and nature of economic opportunity and poverty in America.
Poverty: Rewarding Work, Supporting Families
The Brookings Institute – Position Paper and Fact Sheet – March 2007
http://www.opportunity08.org/Issues/OurSociety/31/r1/Default.aspx
“The nation’s poverty rate is higher now than it was in the 1970s, but no President since Lyndon Johnson has made fighting poverty a major administration goal. The time has come for a reinvigorated fight against inequality and despair. Brookings scholars Isabel Sawhill and Ron Haskins offer a plan that focuses on supporting education, work, and marriage.”
_________________________________________________________________
AGING
The Aging Workforce: What does it Mean for Businesses and the Economy?
Senate – Special Committee on Aging – Hearing - February 28, 2007
http://aging.senate.gov/hearing_detail.cfm?id=270004&
“Today, people over the age of 65 make up about 12 percent of the population, but they will make up almost 20 percent in the next 25 years. That means one out of every five Americans will be a senior by the year 2030. Experts are talking about what this demographic wave will mean for Social Security, Medicare, and long-term care. But as we will hear today, we must address another piece of the puzzle: how the retirement of the Baby Boomers will impact the strength of our nation’s businesses and economy.”
Why Population Aging Matters: A Global Perspective
Department of State and the Department of Health and Human Services - National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health – Report - March 13, 2007 – 32 pages
http://www.state.gov/g/oes/rls/or/81537.htm
“Despite the weight of scientific evidence, the significance of population aging and its global implications have yet to be fully appreciated. There is a need to raise awareness about not only global aging issues but also the importance of rigorous cross-national scientific research and policy dialogue that will help us address the challenges and opportunities of an aging world. Preparing financially for longer lives and finding ways to reduce aging-related disability should become national and global priorities. Experience shows that for nations, as for individuals, it is critical to address problems sooner rather than later. Waiting significantly increases the costs and difficulties of addressing these challenges. This report paints a compelling picture of the impact of population aging on nations.”
John R. Gist
Population Aging, Entitlement Growth, and the Economy
AARP Public Policy Institute, AARP. Report - January 2007 – 64 pages
http://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/econ/2007_01_security.pdf
Demographic aging is changing the age structure of the U.S population. The age 65 and older group will increase from 12 percent to nearly 20 percent of the population. This change will have a profound effect on the federal budget, American families, and economic growth. This report takes a long-term perspective of the aging population; examines the historical experience of the entitlement programs, and compiles projections to 2050. The paper also offers some policy solutions to achieve economic security for the aging population while maintaining a strong economy.
James C. Capretta
Global Aging and the Sustainability of Public Pension Systems: An Assessment of Reform Efforts in Twelve Developed Countries: A Report of the Aging Vulnerability Index Project
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) - Web posted January 3, 2007 – 57 pages
http://www.csis.org/media/csis/pubs/pension_profile.pdf
This study chronicles the efforts of twelve developed countries’ attempts to reform their public pension systems. Public benefit systems have been reformed in recent years, but in most developed countries, the pension systems remain unsustainable with the possible exception of Australia. This study supplements the CSIS Aging Vulnerability Index (AVI) published in March 2003.
_______________________________________________________________
EMPLOYMENT
Lynn A. Karoly
Forces Shaping the Future U.S. Workforce and Workplace: Implications for 21st Century Work
RAND Corporation - Testimony presented before the House Education and Labor Committee on February 7, 2007 – 14 pages
http://www.rand.org/pubs/testimonies/2007/RAND_CT273.pdf
“While the consequences of the current state of the economy on the fortunes of middle class families are one area for potential concern, there are a number of longer-term issues that are equally relevant in terms of their potential effects on U.S. workers and employers. Thus, I would like to focus my testimony on the forces that are shaping the world of work and the implications of those trends for the U.S. workforce and workplace.
Understanding these forces is critical for shaping policies that can serve to foster a strong and secure middle class well into the 21st century.”
Increasing Economic Security for American Workers
House Committee on Ways and Means – Hearing - March 15, 2007
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=detail&hearing=540
Robert Reich, J.D., Professor of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley
Thea Lee, Assistant Director of Public Policy, AFL-CIO
Howard Rosen, Visiting Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics
Maurice Emsellem, Policy Director, National Employment Law Project
Douglas J. Holmes, President, UWC – Strategic Services on Unemployment and Worker’s Compensation
Christopher H. Wheeler
Trends in Neighborhood-Level Unemployment in the United States: 1980 to 2000
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review, March/April 2007, 89(2), pp. 123-142
http://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/review/07/03/Wheeler.pdf
“Although the average rate of unemployment across U.S. metropolitan areas declined between 1980 and 2000, the geographic concentration of the unemployed rose sharply over this period. That is, residential neighborhoods throughout the nation’s metropolitan areas became increasingly divided into high- and low-unemployment areas. This paper documents this trend using data on more than 165,000 U.S. Census block groups (neighborhoods) in 361 metropolitan areas over the years 1980, 1990, and 2000; it also examines three potential explanations: (i) urban decentralization, (ii) industrial shifts and declining unionization, and (iii) increasing segregation by income and education.”
Giovanni Peri
How Immigrants Affect California Employment and Wages
Public Policy Institute of California - California Counts - February 2007 - 20 pp.
http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/cacounts/CC_207GPCC.pdf
“This issue examines the effects of the arrival of immigrants between 1960 and 2004 on the employment, population, and wages of U.S. natives in California. Among the study’s principal findings: 1) There is no evidence that the influx of immigrants over the past four decades has worsened the employment opportunities of natives with similar education and experience, 2) There is no association between the influx of immigrants and the out-migration of natives within the same education and age group, 3) Immigration induced a 4 percent real wage increase for the average native worker between 1990 and 2004, 4) Recent immigrants did lower the wages of previous immigrants.”
Lael Brainard
The Case for Wage Insurance
Joint Economic Committee Hearing, February 28, 2007
http://www.brookings.edu/views/testimony/brainard20070228.htm
“A new wave of globalization has reached our shores. Although the individual elements feel familiar, the combined contours are unprecedented – in scope, speed and scale… Wage insurance could provide an important tool in a broader set of policies designed to help American middle class families insure against disruptive income fluctuations, while preserving the benefits of a dynamic economy.”
Highlights of a GAO Forum: Engaging and Retaining Older Workers
GAO-07-438SP - February 28, 2007 – 25 pages
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-438SP
“GAO convened this forum to address the issues surrounding engaging and retaining older workers. Participants included experts representing employers, business and union groups, advocates, researchers, actuaries, and federal agencies.”
MISCELLANEOUS
Health Care Capital Spending
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis – Fedgazette – January 2007
http://www.minneapolisfed.org/pubs/fedgaz/07-01/
“Data on health care capital spending are not particularly neat and tidy, but what are available show strong recent growth. Nationally, data from the U.S. Census Bureau's construction survey show steady upward growth in the 1990s, with a bit of a slowdown in the latter part of the decade. But spending took a decided upturn about 2001.”
Ray Fisman, Geoffrey Heal, and Vinay B. Nair
A Model of Corporate Philanthropy
Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania - Web posted January 11, 2007 – 23 pages
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/papers/1331.pdf
“Our separating equilibrium is built on the assumption that entrepreneurs can be of two types—they are either purely profit motivated or they care about both profits and the externalities they impose. This difference in entrepreneurs’ preferences makes corporate philanthropy more expensive for profit-maximizing entrepreneurs than it is for ‘socially-minded’ entrepreneurs, who gain some warm glow from charity.” The authors’ preliminary tests support the framework that “corporate philanthropy and profits are positively related only in industries with high advertising intensity and high competition.”
U.S. ECO ONLINE February/March 2007
U.S. ECO ONLINE
A SELECTION OF DOCUMENTS RECENTLY PUBLISHED ON THE WEB
No 91 – February/March 2007
Source: PUBLIC AFFAIRS - American Embassy
Sylvie VACHERET
Tel: 01 43 12 48 97
E Mail: vacheretsr@state.gov
_________________________________________________________________
GENERAL INTEREST
Can Higher Education Foster Economic Growth?—A Conference Summary
Chicago Fed Letter – Special Issue - March 2007 – 4 pages
http://www.chicagofed.org/publications/fedletter/cflmarch2007_236a.pdf
“While higher education is being asked to perform more roles in the local economy, specific pathways for influencing local and regional economic transformation are still being identified. On October 30, 2006, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the Midwest Higher Education Compact held a conference on higher education and economic growth.”
Economic Report of the President
February 12, 2007
http://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/pubs.html
U.S. Economy Outperforms Peer Group from 2001 to 2006
Joint Economic Committee - Report – March 2007 – 2 pages
http://www.house.gov/jec/publications/110/rr110-3.pdf
“From 2001 to 2006, the U.S. economy has generally outperformed the other large developed economies of Canada, the European Union (EU), and Japan. On balance, the U.S. economy compares favorably with its peer group in terms of real GDP growth, real investment in fixed assets, industrial production, employment, labor productivity, and price stability.”
Irwin Kirsch, Henry Braun, Kentaro Yamamoto, and Andrew Sum
America’s Perfect Storm: Three Forces Changing Our Nation’s Future
Educational Testing Service - Policy Information Report - January 2007- 34 pages
http://www.ets.org/Media/Education_Topics/pdf/AmericasPerfectStorm.pdf
The three forces comprising this “perfect storm” are divergent skill distributions, the changing economy and demographic trends. First, there is a wide disparity in literacy and math skills among school-age and adult populations. These groups do not have “sufficient literacy and numeracy skills to fully participate in an increasingly competitive work environment.” Secondly, there have been huge changes in the economy primarily driven by technology and globalization resulting in a shift between capital and labor. Consequently, the shift in “composition of jobs in our country has been increasing economic returns to schooling and skills.” Lastly, there will be sweeping demographic changes where the labor force is projected to grow more slowly over the next 20 years and none of the predicted growth will come from native-born workers—more than half of these immigrants lack a high school diploma. The authors believe that our overall levels of learning and skills must be increased to overcome these disparities.
Hearing on Economic Challenges Facing Middle Class Families
House - Committee on Ways and Means – Hearing - January 31, 2007
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=detail&hearing=514
“In recent years, middle-class families have found their economic circumstances increasingly precarious. Many workers face wage stagnation, or even prolonged unemployment, and fewer workers have guaranteed pension benefit plans, causing many to worry about retirement. All of this uncertainty comes at a time when families face increasing costs for education, health care, and energy. This hearing will examine these challenges and related pressures facing middle-class families and their economic future.”
See also: House Committee on Education and Labor hearings:
http://edworkforce.house.gov/hearings/fc013107.shtml
http://edworkforce.house.gov/committee/hearings.shtml
William H. Gates- Chairman, Microsoft Corporation
Strengthening American Competitiveness for the 21st Century
Written Testimony before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions - March 7, 2007 – 14 pages
http://help.senate.gov/Hearings/2007_03_07/2007_03_07.html
“When I reflect on the state of American competitiveness today, my immediate feeling is not only one of pride, but also of deep anxiety. Too often, we as a society are sacrificing the long-term good of our country in the interests of short-term gain. Too often, we lack the political will to take the steps necessary to ensure that America remains a technology and innovation leader. In too many areas, we are content to live off the investments that previous generations made for us – in education, in health care, in basic scientific research – but are unwilling to invest equal energy and resources into building on this legacy to ensure that America’s future is as bright and prosperous as its present. America simply cannot continue along this course…”
Matthew Higgins, Thomas Klitgaard, and Cedric Tille
Borrowing without Debt? Understanding the U.S. International Investment Position
Federal Reserve Bank of New York - Staff Report no. 271 - December 2006 – 19 pages
http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/staff_reports/sr271.pdf
“Sustained large U.S. current account deficits have led some economists and policymakers to worry that future current account adjustment could occur through a sudden and disruptive depreciation of the dollar and a sharp drop in U.S. consumption. Two factors that, to date, have cast doubt on such concerns are the stability of U.S. net external liabilities and the minimal net income payments made by the United States on these liabilities. Higgins, Klitgaard, and Tille show that the stability of the external position reflects sizable capital gains stemming from strong foreign equity markets and a weaker dollar--conditions that could be reversed in the future.”
__________________________________________________________________________________
PRODUCTIVITY
Jonathan L. Willis and Julie Wroblewski
What Happened to the Gains From Strong Productivity Growth?
Economic Review, FRB Kansas City - First Quarter 2007 - 19 pages
http://www.kc.frb.org/publicat/econrev/PDF/1q07will.pdf
“Over the past decade, the United States economy has experienced strong economic growth due in large part to a resurgence in productivity growth. Little attention has been paid, however, to examining how the gains from this growth have been distributed… Willis and Wroblewski examine how the gains from increased productivity growth have been distributed. Their analysis focuses on two questions: Has the increase in productivity growth led to a change in the income shares for capital and labor? And, has the strong productivity growth over the past decade led to a change in the distribution of income across households?”
Dale W. Jorgenson, Mun S. Ho, and Kevin J. Stiroh
A Retrospective Look at the U.S. Productivity Growth Resurgence
Federal Reserve Bank of New York – Report - February 2007 - 37 pages
http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/staff_reports/sr277.pdf
“It is now widely recognized that information technology (IT) was critical to the dramatic acceleration of U.S. labor productivity growth in the mid-1990s. This paper traces the evolution of productivity estimates to document how and when this perception emerged. Early studies concluded that IT was relatively unimportant. It was only after the massive IT investment boom of the late 1990s that this investment and underlying productivity increases in the IT-producing sectors were identified as important sources of growth. Although IT has diminished in significance since the dot-com crash of 2000, the authors project that private sector productivity growth will average around 2.5 percent per year for the next decade, a pace that is only moderately below the average for the 1995-2005 period.”
Dean Baker
Behind the Gap between Productivity and Wage Growth
Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) - . Issue Brief - February 2007 – 6 pages
http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/0702_productivity.pdf
From early 2001 to the second quarter of 2006, productivity growth increased by 17.9 percent; however, real wages barely moved over this same period. The author explains that the gap has been created by (1) the “redistribution from wages to capital income (primarily profits plus interest),” and (2) the fact that productivity is measured against gross output while income is derived from net output.
___________________________________________________________________
SAVINGS
William Poole
U. S. Saving
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis – Remarks - Feb. 15, 2007
http://www.stlouisfed.org/news/speeches/2007/02_15_07.html
“My subject is an important, and puzzling, one. The puzzle is nicely illustrated by recent newspaper stories reporting that the U.S. saving rate is at the lowest level in 73 years—that is, since 1933, the bleakest year of the Great Depression. But let me ask five questions: Are there signs of distress all around, as there were 73 years ago? Has there been a tremendous surge of bankruptcies? Has the United States become a nation of profligate spenders? Are the data wrong? Are the data screwy? My answers to these five questions are no, no, no, no and no. But there are some puzzles to explain, and that is what my remarks are about.”
We Try Hard. We Fall Short. Americans Assess Their Saving Habits
Pew Research Center – Report - January 24, 2007
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/325/we-try-hard-we-fall-short-americans-assess-their-saving-habits
“At a time when the personal savings rate in this country has fallen into negative territory for the first time in modern history, more than three-quarters (77%) of all Americans describe themselves as the kind of person who "always looks for ways to save money." This paradox is not as stark as it may seem, for nearly two-thirds (63%) of Americans also acknowledge they don't save enough, and more than a third say that they often (11%) or sometimes (25%) spend more than they can afford.”
Retirement Savings: How Much Will Workers Have When They Retire?
Congressional Research Service – Report - January 29, 2007 – 41 pages
http://www.opencrs.com/document/RL33845/2007-01-29%2000:00:00
“Over the past 25 years, an important change has occurred in the structure of employer-sponsored retirement plans in the private sector. Although the percentage of the workforce who participate in employer-sponsored retirement plans has remained relatively stable at approximately half of all workers, the type of plan by which most workers are covered has changed from defined benefit (DB) pensions to defined contribution (DC) plans… As a result of the shift from DB plans to DC plans, workers today bear more responsibility for preparing for their financial security in retirement.”
___________________________________________________________________________________
FISCAL POLICY
Ben S. Bernanke
Fiscal Challenges and the Economy in the Long Term
U.S. House of Representatives - Committee on the Budget – Statement - February 28, 2007
http://budget.house.gov/08Bernanke_testimony.pdf
“To summarize, because of demographic changes and rising medical costs, federal expenditures for entitlement programs are projected to rise sharply over the next few decades. Dealing with the resulting fiscal strains will pose difficult choices for the Congress, the Administration, and the American people. However, if early and meaningful action is not taken, the U.S. economy could be seriously weakened, with future generations bearing much of the cost. The decisions the Congress will face will not be easy or simple, but the benefits of placing the budget on a path that is both sustainable and meets the nation’s long-run needs would be substantial.”
GAO Report: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d07510r.pdf
2008 Budget
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/
On February 5, 2007, the President transmitted to the Congress the FY 2008 Budget, which reduces deficits each year and balances the budget by 2012.
Why Deficits Matter
House – Committee on the Budget – Hearing – January 23, 2007
The Honorable David M. Walker - Comptroller General of the United States, GAO
http://budget.house.gov/hearings/2007/Walker070123.pdf
Dr. Edward M. Gramlich - Richard B. Fisher Senior Fellow, Urban Institute
http://budget.house.gov/hearings/2007/Gramlich070123.pdf
Dr. Edwin M. Truman - Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics
http://budget.house.gov/hearings/2007/Truman070123.pdf
_________________________________________________________________________________
MONETARY POLICY
Monetary Policy Report to the Congress
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System - February 14, 2007 – 31 pages
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/financialsvcs_dem/htmpr021507.pdf
“The U.S. economy turned in another solid performance in 2006, although the pattern of growth was uneven… The monetary policy decisions of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) in 2006 were intended to foster sustainable economic expansion and to promote a return to low and stable inflation.”
The State of the Economy, the State of the Labor Market, and the Conduct of Monetary Policy
House – Committee on Financial Services – Hearing - February 15 &16, 2007
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/financialsvcs_dem/hr021507.shtml
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/financialsvcs_dem/ht021607.shtml
Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; Jared Bernstein, Economic Policy Institute;. Ronald Blackwell, AFL-CIO; Rebecca Blank, The Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan; James Grant, GRANT'S Interest Rate Observerness list.
Chairman Ben S. Bernanke
Central Banking and Bank Supervision in the United States
FED - Remarks - January 5, 2007
http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2007/20070105/default.htm
“The Federal Reserve, like many central banks, is engaged in a wide range of activities beyond the making of monetary policy. For example, the Fed plays a critical role in the U.S. payments system…; it has substantial responsibilities in the area of consumer protection, including rule-writing and enforcement; it promotes financial stability; and, together with other agencies, it supervises both large and small banking organizations. In this talk I will consider the case for one of these activities--namely, the supervision of the banking system--being conducted, at least in part, by the U.S. central bank.”
Michael D. Bordo and David C.Wheelock
Stock Market Booms and Monetary Policy in the Twentieth Century
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review, March/April 2007, 89(2), pp. 91-122
http://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/review/07/03/BordoWheelock.pdf
“This article examines the association between stock market booms and monetary policy in the U.S. and nine other developed countries during the 20th century. The authors find, as was true of the U.S. stock market boom of 1994-2000, that booms typically arose during periods of above-average growth of real output and below-average inflation, suggesting that booms reflected both real macroeconomic phenomena and monetary policy. They find little evidence that booms were fueled by excessive liquidity. Booms often ended within a few months of an increase in inflation and consequent monetary policy tightening. They find few differences across the different monetary policy regimes of the century.”
George A. Kahn
Communicating a Policy Path: The Next Frontier in Central Bank Transparency?
Economic Review, FRB Kansas City - First Quarter 2007 - 27 pages
http://www.kc.frb.org/publicat/econrev/PDF/1q07kahn.pdf
“In the last two decades, central banks have taken a variety of steps to increase the transparency of monetary policy. Today, many economists are suggesting ways to further increase transparency. One area of considerable interest is the outlook for the future path of the policy rate. The policy rate is the short-term, typically overnight, interest rate that central bankers use to adjust the stance of monetary policy. While central banks typically announce changes in the policy rate when they occur, very few central banks provide an explicit description of where the policy rate is likely to be set in the future.”
Ronald I. McKinnon
The Worth of the Dollar
Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research - Policy Brief – February, 2007- 6 pages
http://siepr.stanford.edu/papers/briefs/policybrief_feb07.html
“Shouldn’t the market now discipline the world’s biggest debtor and bid the dollar down to reduce the trade deficit? Essentially, the answer is “no.”
The Treasury Department’s Report to Congress on International Economic and Exchange Rate Policy (IEERP) and the U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue
US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs – Hearing – January 31, 2007
http://banking.senate.gov/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Hearings.Detail&HearingID=247
Henry M. Paulson, Jr. , Secretary of the Treasury
Richard Trumka , Secretary-Treasurer, AFL-CIO
Michael E. Campbell , Vice Chairman, National Association of Manufacturers
Albert Keidel , Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Fred Bergsten , Director, Peterson Institute for International Economics
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FINANCE
Thomas Dichter
A Second Look at Microfinance: The Sequence of Growth and Credit in Economic History
Cato Institute – Development Policy Briefing Paper – February 15, 2007 – 16 pages
http://www.cato.org/pubs/dbp/dbp1.pdf
“There is no reason to believe that the nature and sequence of growth and mass credit are fundamentally different for poor countries today than they were in the past. We should not expect microfinance to noticeably affect growth or successful business development.”
Hedge Funds and Systemic Risk in the Financial Markets
House – Committee on Financial Services – Hearing - March, 13, 2007
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/financialsvcs_dem/ht031307.shtml
Witness List & Prepared Testimony:
E. Gerald Corrigan, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs & Company; and former President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York • Kenneth D. Brody, Co-Founder and Principal, Taconic Capital Advisors LLC; Chairman, Investment Committee, University of Maryland • James S. Chanos; Founder and President, Kynikos Associates LP • George Hall, Founder and CEO, Clinton Group • Jeffrey L. Matthews; Ram Partners, LP • Andrew Golden, President, Princeton University Investment Company • Professor Stephen J. Brown, David S. Loeb Professor of Finance, New York University, Stern School of Business
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OTHER ECONOMIC POLICIES
John D. Graham
The Evolving Role of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget in Regulatory Policy
AEI/Brookings Joint Center on Regulation - Working Paper - Feb 2007 – 26 pages
“Since the early Reagan years, critics have argued that benefit-cost analysis is used by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as a one-sided tool of deregulation to advance the interests of business. This article discloses a little-known fact: OMB also plays a powerful pro-regulation role when agency proposals address market failures and are supported by benefit-cost analysis. Drawing on four case studies from the George W. Bush Administration, the author examines how and why OMB encouraged regulatory initiatives while protecting some rulemakings from opposition by forces inside and outside of the executive branch.”
Subsidies Enforcement Annual Report to the Congress
Office of the United States Trade Representative and the U.S. Department of Commerce. Web posted February 1, 2007 – 59 pages
http://ia.ita.doc.gov/esel/reports/seo2007/seo-annual-report-2007.pdf
Subsidies and other unfair trade-distorting practices continue to challenge the American workers and industries, but the U.S. government is committed to eliminating or neutralizing these practices. This report describes how the U.S. Trade Representative, the Department of Commerce, and other agencies monitor foreign government subsidy practices.
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LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
The State of Economic Development
House Transportation and Infrastructure – Hearing - January 23, 2007
http://transportation.house.gov/hearings/hearingdetail.aspx?NewsID=20
“The experts will provide testimony on the history of federal economic development programs, the role of the Federal Government in economic development, and suggestions for 21st century investment.”
Robert Atkinson and Howard Wial
The Implications of Service Offshoring for Metropolitan Economies
The Brookings Institution – Study – February 2007 – 28 pages
http://media.brookings.edu/mediaarchive/pubs/metro/pubs/20070131_offshoring.pdf
“An examination of service offshoring—the movement of service jobs overseas—forecasts higher than average job losses in twenty-eight U.S. metropolitan areas between 2004 and 2015. Information technology jobs, and the metropolitan areas where they are concentrated, will be hardest hit. To cushion the service offshoring blow, the paper urges federal, state, and local leaders to together pursue policies that boost productivity and innovation, assist workers who are harmed by offshoring, and modernize approaches to economic and workforce development.”
Wendell Cox and Ronald D. Utt
Housing Affordability: Smart Growth Abuses Are Creating a "Rent Belt" of High-Cost Areas
The Heritage Foundation - Backgrounder #1999 - January 22, 2007
http://www.heritage.org/Research/SmartGrowth/bg1999.cfm
“While the national data reveal that the housing affordability problem is limited to the metropolitan areas of a few states—principally those in coastal areas—these regional price differences could significantly affect public policy and shape future growth and prosperity in the United States.”
The Texas Economy: Almost a Boom
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas - Southwest Economy - January/February 2007
http://www.dallasfed.org/research/swe/2007/swe0701b.cfm
“The Texas economy turned in a robust performance in 2006. Initial estimates suggest employment increased 3.2 percent and output growth could approach 5 percent. For most any other state, an expansion this strong would constitute a boom. But everything is bigger in Texas, and so are the booms. Overall 2006 economic activity was not on par with the great bursts of growth ignited by construction and energy in the 1970s and 1980s or high tech in the 1990s. Still, the current expansion is impressive, even by Texas standards.”
Made in Texas: The Natural Selection of Manufacturing
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas - Southwest Economy - January/February 2007
http://www.dallasfed.org/research/swe/2007/swe0701c.cfm
“Texas has emerged as one of the nation’s fastest-growing manufacturing hubs. Between 1990 and 2005, a time frame long enough to encompass an entire business cycle, the state’s factory output grew an average of 5.8 percent a year, eclipsing all other major manufacturing states. A longer-run perspective shows that Texas’ share of the nation’s manufacturing base has been rising for at least four decades—with a particularly pronounced output jump in the past year or so.”
Jed Kolko and David Neumark
Are California’s Companies Shifting Their Employment to Other States?
Public Policy Institute of California – Occasional Paper - February 2007 - 54 pages
http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/op/OP_207JKOP.pdf
“In this paper we examine the dynamics of businesses headquartered in California. In particular, we ask whether California companies are shifting their operations to other states—in terms of either the number of business establishments or the level of employment—through expansions and contractions of existing establishments, as well as births and deaths of establishments. These types of changes could be informative about the business climate in California—perhaps most importantly changes in births of new establishments, which may be most responsive to economic, regulatory, and other conditions that create variability in profitability across states.”
Rural Sprawl
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis – Fedgazette – January 2007
http://www.minneapolisfed.org/pubs/fedgaz/07-03/
“As city dwellers seek bucolic bliss, sprawl is spreading to the countryside. Problem, or opportunity? Incentive-based tools to protect rural land from sprawl are increasingly popular, but some doubt their effectiveness… This fedgazette feature examines rural sprawl in the Ninth District, the conflicts it's causing, the economics behind it, and policies and programs being used to address it.”
Jason Henderson and Maria Akers
Will Energy Markets Refuel the Rural Economy?
Economic Review, FRB Kansas City - First Quarter 2007 - 22 pages
http://www.kc.frb.org/PUBLICAT/ECONREV/PDF/1q07hend.pdf
___________________________________________________________________AGRICULTURE – FOOD PRICES
Old Macdonald's Evolving Farm
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis – Fedgazette – January 2007
http://www.minneapolisfed.org/pubs/fedgaz/07-01/livestock.cfm
“Looks like it might be time for Old MacDonald to add a few new animals to his farm—you know, just to keep up with the times. Unusual breeds might not be obvious yet in the pasture, but livestock farming is becoming more than just cattle, pigs and sheep. Though most alternative or niche livestock haven't hit commercial scale yet, some are poised to, and most of these herds are growing.”
Stephan Marette, Roxanne Clemens, and Bruce A. Babcock
The Recent International And Regulatory Decisions About Geographical Indications
Midwest Agribusiness Trade Research and Information Center (MATRIC), Iowa State University - January 2007 – 37 pages
http://www.card.iastate.edu/publications/DBS/PDFFiles/07mwp10.pdf
“As worldwide consumer demand for high-quality products and for information about these products increases, labels and geographical indications (GIs) can serve to signal quality traits to consumers. However, GI systems among countries are not homogeneous and can be used as trade barriers against competition. Philosophical differences between the European Union and the United States about how GIs should be registered and protected led to the formation of a WTO dispute settlement panel. In this paper we discuss the issues behind the dispute, the World Trade Organization (WTO) panel decision, and the EU response to the panel decision leading to the new Regulation 510/2006.”
Ephraim Leibtag
The Impact of Big-Box Stores on Retail Food Prices and the Consumer Price Index Economic Research Service
U.S. Department of Agriculture - December 2006 - 41 pages
http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/err33/err33.pdf
“Over the past 10 years, the growth of nontraditional retail food outlets has transformed the food market landscape, increasing the variety of shopping and food options available to consumers, as well as price variation in retail food market. This report focuses on these dynamics and how they affect food price variation across store format types.” Based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), over the past 20 years food prices have increased on average of 3 percent annually, but food prices on similar products can vary by 10 percent or more across store formats.
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Nanotechnology: The Future is Coming Sooner Than You Think
Joint Economic Committee - Study – March 2007 – 21 pages
http://www.house.gov/jec/publications/110/nanotechnology_03-22-07.pdf
“This paper discusses the range of sciences currently covered by nanotechnology. It begins with a description of what nanotechnology is and how it relates to previous scientific advances. It then describes the most likely future development of different technologies in a variety of fields. The paper also reviews the government’s current nanotechnology policy and makes some suggestions for improvement.”
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