ng Getting carbon border taxes right By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 12 Feb 2020 21:41:47 +0000 A time-honored but often problematic practice in basic welfare economics is to separate efficiency considerations from distributional concerns. In an economy with given endowments and a given distribution of them, the argument goes, there exists a set of prices that will guide competitive behavior toward an efficient allocation of resources. If the result is not… Full Article
ng A social distancing reading list from Brookings Global Economy and Development By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Fri, 27 Mar 2020 15:27:31 +0000 During this unusual time of flexible schedules and more time at home, many of us may have increased opportunities for long-form reading. Below, the scholars and staff from the Global Economy and Development program at Brookings offer their recommendations for books to read during this time. Max Bouchet recommends The Nation City: Why Mayors Are… Full Article
ng President Hu Jintao’s Visit: The Economic Challenges and Opportunities By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: On the eve of President Hu Jintao's long-anticipated visit to Washington, critical economic policy issues loom large for both the U.S. and China. Over the past two decades, China has transformed into a major economic power and continues to play a growing role in the global community. Its ascension is likely to be one of… Full Article
ng Debunking America’s China Syndrome By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: LONDON After his visit to Washington, President Hu Jintao of China might wish he had stayed home. In all likelihood, he will have encountered an onslaught of accusations of currency manipulation, unfair trade and intellectual property rights violationsThe alarm over China's economic ascension is akin to the China Syndrome, made famous by the 1979 film… Full Article
ng People In Transition: Assessing the Economies of Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: After 17 years of transition to market economies in central and eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), are people better off now than they were in 1989? Brookings Global recently hosted a presentation by Senior Fellow and European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) Chief Economist, Erik Berglöf, on the 2007 Transition… Full Article
ng Progress in Emerging Markets is Being Put at Risk By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Finance ministers of the Group of Eight leading economies have commissioned a study on the role of financial market speculation in recent oil price rises. In India, the regulator recently suspended trade in futures markets for several commodities, blaming speculators for price rises. The global credit crisis has made the financial sector vulnerable to populist… Full Article
ng Financing the Global Infrastructure Gap By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Global infrastructure needs are gigantic, not only for advanced economies but also for emerging ones. In fact, global demand for the funding of infrastructure investments is expected to reach as much as $57 trillion by 2030. New infrastructure investments and the replacement of existing ones can boost global demand and long-term growth at a time… Full Article
ng Planetary thinking By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 22 Aug 2019 19:11:56 +0000 The Swedish climate truthsayer Greta Thunberg has set sail for the United States in a zero-emissions racing yacht to generate waves in a different part of the world—including at next month’s United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York. She will arrive in America at a time of growing transatlantic awareness of the threat posed by climate change.… Full Article
ng Examining charter schools in America By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 Charter schools, introduced to the U.S. in the 1980s, were conceived as laboratories of experimentation in instruction, integration, and school leadership. Over time, they have become an increasingly popular alternative to traditional public schools. As of this year, charters account for approximately six percent of all public school students, and President Obama’s proposed budget includes… Full Article
ng Educational equality and excellence will drive a stronger economy By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 02 Mar 2017 14:00:36 +0000 This election taught me two things. The first is obvious: We live in a deeply divided nation. The second, while subtle, is incredibly important: The election was a massive cry for help. People across the country–on both sides of the political spectrum–feel they have been left behind and are fearful their basic needs will continue… Full Article
ng Disrupting the cycle of gun violence: A candid discussion with young Chicago residents By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 26 Feb 2018 15:30:13 +0000 Watch a video of the event on CSPAN.org » The lives of young people are disrupted, traumatized, and cut short by gun violence every single day in the United States. Despite progress being made in some cities to reduce gun violence, communities in Chicago have recently endured record numbers of homicides and shootings. Over 71 percent… Full Article
ng Empowering young people to end Chicago’s gun violence problem By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Fri, 23 Mar 2018 14:36:30 +0000 Former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan sits down with young men from Chicago CRED (Creating Real Economic Diversity) to discuss the steps they have taken to disrupt the cycle of gun violence in their community and transition into the legal economy. http://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/6400344 Also in this episode, meet David M. Rubenstein Fellow Randall Akee in… Full Article
ng DOE’s justification for rescinding Gainful Employment rules distorts research By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 08 Jul 2019 14:09:47 +0000 The Department of Education has rescinded the Gainful Employment regulations developed by the Obama administration. These regulations were designed to cut off federal student aid to postsecondary programs that produce earnings too low to support the debt students incur while earning credentials that promise to lead to good jobs. This action is a significant step… Full Article
ng The CEA training report: Very wide of the mark By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Tue, 20 Aug 2019 16:20:46 +0000 Full Article
ng Comments on “How automation and other forms of IT affect the middle class: Assessing the estimates” by Jaimovich and Siu By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 07 Nov 2019 14:00:18 +0000 Nir Jaimovich and Henry Siu have written a very helpful and useful paper that summarizes the empirical literature by labor economists on how automation affect the labor market and the middle class. Their main arguments can be summarized as follows: The labor markets in the US (and other industrialized countries) has become increasingly “polarized” in… Full Article
ng FRANCE - 1 Euro = 1.325 U.S. Dollars: The Surprising Stability of the Euro By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 04 Jun 2012 11:41:00 -0400 Publication: Think Tank 20: New Challenges for the Global Economy, New Uncertainties for the G-20 Full Article
ng Kurds will be the agent of change in Turkish politics By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 17 Jun 2015 08:00:00 -0400 Real political change in Turkey has been hard to come by in recent years. Establishment parties in Turkey have, time and again, proven unable to change the political system. Now a new hope for reform has emerged in Turkey from an unlikely source: the Kurds. During most of the Cold War—and particularly during the 1980s and 1990s—Turkey had, for lack of a better word, a Kemalist consensus: The military played a major role behind the scenes, and those outside the consensus, especially the Islamists and the Kurds, were essentially excluded from politics. The first wave of democratization in the post-Cold War era in Turkey came from the Islamists—specifically, from the Justice and Development Party (AKP). In 2002, when the AKP came to power, it decided that accession to the European Union should be its main goal and that effort could serve as tool to undermine the political power of the Turkish military that still lurked behind the scenes. So, incredibly, an Islamist party, the AKP, decided to bring about a post-Kemalist system by pushing for membership in the EU’s essentially liberal, democratic project. This strategy explains why Turkish liberals supported the AKP and could hope that the Islamists would push the system in a liberal direction. But then something tragic happened. The AKP became the establishment. After the military was essentially defeated as a political force, the AKP ceased to be an anti-establishment party. Rather, it became a party that started to use the privileges of power, and itself began its own networks of patronage clientelism, and became a victim of this entity called the state. The AKP became the state. Now we're in a situation where the second wave of democratization may also come from an anti-establishment party, this one mostly representing the Kurds. The most democratic, the most liberal, the most progressive narrative that you hear in Turkish politics today is coming from Selahattin Demirtaş of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP)—not the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), not the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), and not the AKP. There is reason to think that, in Turkey, only anti-establishment parties can actually improve the system. The old AKP was an anti-establishment party. What gives me hope about the HDP is that, even when it enters the parliament—and even if a miracle happens and it enters a coalition government—it will never become the state. By definition, the HDP is a Kurdish political party. The Islamists could become the state, because Turkey is 99 percent Muslim, and people could establish basically a sense of supremacy based on Muslim identity. The Kurds will never be able to represent the majority. They will never be able to become the state. They have vested and permanent interest in the rule of law—indeed their very survival depends on it. Their survival depends on minority rights and on checks and balances. This stark fact gives me hope about the HDP and its agenda. What’s wrong with the rest of the Turkish opposition? The real puzzle is the failure of establishment political parties to challenge the system. It would have been wonderful for a center-right party or a center-left party to have taken Turkey to the post-Kemalist phase, to a post-military, pro-E.U., pro-progressive phase. But the mainstream political parties have failed. The establishment of Turkey has failed. The Kemalist order in Turkey has failed. The agent of change was first the Islamists, and now the agent of change has become the Kurds. What is it that creates this mental block of establishment political parties? Why did it take so many years for the CHP to understand that it can become an agent of change, too? In the absence of a left-wing movement in Turkey, there will never be balance. We need a progressive left. We need something that can challenge the strong coalition on the right. The HDP alone cannot be there. One thing that is not being discussed in Turkey is the possibility of a CHP-HDP coalition, yet this is the most natural coalition. The CHP, if it's a progressive political party, it should be able to get rid of its Kemalist, neo-nationalist baggage and embrace the progress of liberal, democratic agenda of the HDP. One reason that the CHP voters and the CHP itself are unable to really embrace the HDP is because the CHP, deep down, is still the party of Atatürk, still the party of Kemalism, still the party of nationalism. And what the Kurds want in Turkey—make no mistake—what the Kurds want in Turkey is autonomy. They want nothing short of autonomy. The days when you could basically solve the Kurdish question with some cosmetic cultural reforms are over. They want democratic decentralization. And to me, that translates into autonomy. And this is a very difficult step to digest for the CHP. Add to this the fact that the disgruntled CHP voters are voting for the HDP, the fact that people who usually could vote for a central-left progressive party are so disillusioned with the CHP that they're gravitating to the HDP. Therefore, there is also a tactical obstacle, in terms of cooperation between the HDP and the CHP right now. But down the line, I think the best reconciliation between Turkish nationalism and Kurdish nationalism would come from a CHP-HDP coalition. Turkish nationalism needs to reconcile itself to the fact that the Kurdish genie is out of the bottle. The good old days of assimilating the Kurds are over. The Kurds want autonomy. They will probably get it, hopefully in a bloodless way. Authors Ömer Taşpınar Full Article
ng Demirel, the system, and change By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Sun, 21 Jun 2015 00:00:00 -0400 When Süleyman Demirel died last week I asked myself why such a permanent giant of Turkish politics failed to change the country during his 40 years of active politics. Why is it that genuine political change in Turkey proved to be so elusive during the long decades of Demirel's public service? The answer has partly to do with the fact that Demirel was synonymous with the establishment. Establishment parties in Turkey have, time and again, proven unable to change the political system. During most of the Cold War—and particularly during the 1980s and 1990s—Turkey had, for lack of a better word, a Kemalist consensus, and those outside the consensus, especially the Islamists and the Kurds were essentially excluded from politics. The first wave of democratization in the post-Cold War era in Turkey came from the Islamists—specifically, from the Justice and Development Party (AKP). In 2002, when the AKP came to power, it decided that accession to the European Union should be its main goal and that that effort could serve as tool to undermine the political power of the Turkish military, which still lurked behind the scenes. So, incredibly, the AKP, an Islamist party, decided to bring about a post-Kemalist system by pushing for membership in the EU's essentially liberal, democratic project. This strategy explains why Turkish liberals supported the AKP and could hope that the Islamists would push the system in a liberal direction. But then something tragic happened. The AKP became the establishment. After the military was essentially defeated as a political force, the AKP ceased to be an anti-establishment party. Rather, it became a party that started to use the privileges of power, and itself began its own networks of patronage clientelism, and became a victim of this entity called the state. The AKP became the state. I think similar dynamics were at play in Demirel's political career. Demirel, too, started his career by challenging the establishment but ended up becoming one of the most permanent politicians identified with the state. His ability to change the system vanished the minute he became the system. The real puzzle is the failure of establishment political parties to challenge the system. It would have been wonderful for a center-right party or a center-left party to have taken Turkey to the post-Kemalist phase, to a post-military, pro-EU and progressive phase. But the mainstream political parties have failed. The establishment of Turkey has failed. The Kemalist order in Turkey has failed. And together with that order, Demirel failed. There is reason to think that, in Turkey, only anti-establishment parties can actually improve the system. The old AKP was an anti-establishment party. Now we're in a situation where the second wave of democratization may also come from an anti-establishment party, this one mostly representing the Kurds. The most democratic, the most liberal, the most progressive narrative heard in Turkish politics today comes from Selahattin Demirtaş, co-leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) -- not the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), not the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), and not the AKP. What gives me hope about the HDP is that, even when it enters Parliament—and even if a miracle happens and it enters a coalition government—it will never become the state. By definition, the HDP is a Kurdish political party. The Islamists were able to become the state because Turkey is 99 percent Muslim and people could basically establish a sense of supremacy based on Muslim identity. The Kurds will never be able to represent the majority. They will never be able to become the state. They have vested and permanent interest in the rule of law—indeed their very survival depends on it. Their survival depends on minority rights and on checks and balances. This stark fact gives me hope about the HDP and its agenda. This piece was originally published by Today's Zaman. Authors Ömer Taşpınar Publication: Today's Zaman Image Source: © Stringer Turkey / Reuters Full Article
ng What’s the government done to relieve student loan borrowers of their burden during the corona crisis? By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 16 Apr 2020 20:00:43 +0000 Forty-two million Americans, or one in every eight, have student loans, and they owe a total of $1.6 trillion, the second largest pool of consumer credit after mortgages. According to the Federal Reserve, 20 percent of adult borrowers who borrowed for their own educations were behind on their payments in 2018. Of those who are… Full Article
ng Hutchins Roundup: Medical billing, young firms, and more By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 23 Apr 2020 15:00:34 +0000 Studies in this week’s Hutchins Roundup find that collecting payments from insurers is highly costly for health care providers, superstar firms account for less of productivity growth than previously thought, and more. Want to receive the Hutchins Roundup as an email? Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Thursday. Costly billing hassles… Full Article
ng Webinar: Reopening the coronavirus-closed economy — Principles and tradeoffs By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Tue, 28 Apr 2020 13:55:02 +0000 In an extraordinary response to an extraordinary public health challenge, the U.S. government has forced much of the economy to shut down. We now face the challenge of deciding when and how to reopen it. This is both vital and complicated. Wait too long—maintain the lockdown until we have a vaccine, for instance—and we’ll have another Great Depression. Move too soon, and we… Full Article
ng Hutchins Roundup: Consumer spending, salary history bans, and more. By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 30 Apr 2020 15:42:07 +0000 Studies in this week’s Hutchins Roundup find that consumer spending has fallen sharply because of COVID-19, salary history bans have increased women’s earnings relative to men’s, and more. Want to receive the Hutchins Roundup as an email? Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Thursday. Consumer spending falls sharply because of COVID-19… Full Article
ng What’s the Fed doing in response to the COVID-19 crisis? What more could it do? By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 30 Apr 2020 20:40:30 +0000 The coronavirus crisis in the United States—and the associated business closures, event cancellations, and work-from-home policies—has triggered a deep economic downturn of uncertain duration. The Federal Reserve has stepped in with a broad array of actions to limit the economic damage from the pandemic, including up to $2.3 trillion in lending to support households, employers, financial… Full Article
ng Making sense of the monthly jobs report during the COVID-19 pandemic By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Tue, 05 May 2020 18:43:02 +0000 The monthly jobs report—the unemployment rate from one survey and the change in employer payrolls from another survey—is one of the most closely watched economic indicators, particularly at a time of an economic crisis like today. Here’s a look at how these data are collected and how to interpret them during the COVID-19 pandemic. What… Full Article
ng Artificial intelligence and bias: Four key challenges By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 03 Jan 2019 19:00:04 +0000 It is not news that, for all its promised benefits, artificial intelligence has a bias problem. Concerns regarding racial or gender bias in AI have arisen in applications as varied as hiring, policing, judicial sentencing, and financial services. If this extraordinary technology is going to reach its full potential, addressing bias will need to be… Full Article
ng Algorithms and sentencing: What does due process require? By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 21 Mar 2019 11:00:31 +0000 There are significant potential benefits to using data-driven risk assessments in criminal sentencing. For example, risk assessments have rightly been endorsed as a mechanism to enable courts to reduce or waive prison sentences for offenders who are very unlikely to reoffend. Multiple states have recently enacted laws requiring the use of risk assessment instruments. And… Full Article
ng How well-intentioned privacy laws can contribute to wrongful convictions By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Tue, 11 Feb 2020 16:37:41 +0000 In 2019, an innocent man was jailed in New York City after the complaining witness showed police screenshots of harassing text messages and recordings of threatening voicemails that the man allegedly sent in violation of a protective order. The man’s Legal Aid Society defense attorney subpoenaed records from SpoofCard, a company that lets people send… Full Article
ng Why a proposed HUD rule could worsen algorithm-driven housing discrimination By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 16 Apr 2020 17:28:58 +0000 In 1968 Congress passed and President Lyndon B. Johnson then signed into law the Fair Housing Act (FHA), which prohibits housing-related discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, and national origin. Administrative rulemaking and court cases in the decades since the FHA’s enactment have helped shape a framework that, for… Full Article
ng Urbanization and Land Reform under China’s Current Growth Model: Facts, Challenges and Directions for Future Reform By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 In the first installment of the Brookings-Tsinghua Center Policy Series, Nonresident Senior Fellow Tao Ran explores how China’s growth model since the mid-1990’s has led to a series of distortions in the country’s urban land use, housing price and migration patterns.The report further argues for a coordinated reform package in China’s land, household registration and… Full Article
ng China’s Land Grab is Undermining Grassroots Democracy By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 After continuous confrontation between villagers and local officials for almost four months, the land grab in the fishing village of Wukan, in Guandong province, China, has now led to the death of one of the elected village leaders in police custody, and further escalated into a violent "mass incident" with tens of thousands of farmers… Full Article
ng Challenges and Opportunities for a Growing China By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 On March 26 the Brookings-Tsinghua Center, a joint venture of Tsinghua University and the Brookings Institution, hosted a public forum exploring the challenges and opportunities that China will face in the next five years.In the first panel, speakers discussed the opportunities and challenges that China faces in its continued economic growth and social transformations. In… Full Article
ng Reviving China’s Growth: A Roadmap for Reform By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 After a peaceful power transition in the 18th Party Congress, the new leadership in China is again under the limelight. The world is watching how it tackles the many challenges facing the nation: rising inequality, worsening pollution, rampant corruption, restless society, to name just a few. Most policy analysts therefore, believe that the top priority… Full Article Uncategorized
ng China’s Reform and Rebalancing By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 Almost a year and a half after the Communist Party of China’s 18th Party Congress and one year into the term of the new government, China and the world are waiting for the new leadership’s plans to further transform China’s economy and to improve governance. What new reform measures should be the focus? Why are… Full Article
ng The Chinese Financial System: Challenges and Reform By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 Douglas J. Elliott, fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, delivered a public speech at Brookings-Tsinghua Center (BTC) on December 11, moderated by Tao Ran, nonresident senior fellow of the BTC. International Monetary Fund resident representative to Hong Kong Shaun Roache also joined as a guest commentator. The discussion was warmly received by students,… Full Article
ng Made in Africa: manufacturing and economic growth on the continent By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 In this week’s episode, John Page, a senior fellow in the Global Economy and Development Program, assesses the potential role of several economic strategies in transforming Africa’s industrial development for the global economy. “Between now and about 2030, the estimates are that as many as 85 million jobs at [the] bottom end of manufacturing will… Full Article
ng Getting a High Five: Advancing Africa’s transformative agenda By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 At his swearing in, the new African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina set out an agenda for the economic transformation of the continent. Among the five pillars of that agenda—popularly known as the “high fives”—is one that may have surprised many, especially in the donor community: Industrialize Africa. Why the surprise? Beyond supporting improvements in… Full Article Uncategorized
ng The US-Africa Business Forum: Africa’s “middle class” and the “in-between” sector—A new opening for manufacturing? By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Tue, 20 Sep 2016 17:14:01 +0000 Editor’s Note: On September 21, the Department of Commerce and Bloomberg Philanthropies are hosting the second U.S.-Africa Business Forum. Building on the forum in 2014, this year’s meeting again hosts heads of state, U.S. CEOs, and African business leaders, but aims to go beyond past commitments and towards effective implementation. This year’s forum will focus on six sectors important… Full Article
ng Overcoming barriers: Sustainable development, productive cities, and structural transformation in Africa By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 15 Sep 2016 13:19:27 +0000 Against a background of protracted decline in global commodity prices and renewed focus on the Africa rising narrative, Africa is proving resilient, underpinned by strong economic performance in non-commodity exporting countries. The rise of African cities contains the potential for new engines for the continent’s structural transformation, if harnessed properly. However, the susceptibility of Africa’s… Full Article
ng Are certain countries doomed to remain emerging? By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 05 Oct 2016 19:52:58 +0000 1.1 What's the issue? Incomes in developed and developing countries have been converging, especially since the turn of the century, but the unevenness of that trajectory merits further examination. Beginning in the early the 2000s, the average per capita income of developing countries (adjusted for purchasing power parity) has increased substantially relative to the average… Full Article
ng Africa Industrialization Day: Moving from rhetoric to reality By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 21 Nov 2016 19:58:58 +0000 Sunday, November 20 marked another United Nations “Africa Industrialization Day.” If anything, the level of attention to industrializing Africa coming from regional organizations, the multilateral development banks, and national governments has increased since the last one. This year, the new president of the African Development Bank flagged industrial development as one of his “high five”… Full Article
ng Secular divergence: Explaining nationalism in Europe By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 16 May 2019 17:23:25 +0000 Executive summary The doctrine of nationalism will continue eroding Europe’s integration until its hidden cause is recognized and addressed. In order to do so, Europe’s policymakers must acknowledge a new, powerful, and pervasive factor of social and political change: divergence within countries, sectors, jobs, or local communities. The popularity of the nationalist rhetoric should not… Full Article
ng Europe votes: How populist Italy is missing out By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Fri, 24 May 2019 18:14:06 +0000 According to the current projections, after the European Parliament elections this weekend Italy might find itself excluded from Europe’s decisionmaking. A sense of marginalization and distance from the EU might grow in Italy’s public opinion, with hard-to-fathom political consequences. Both parties forming the current government coalition—the League and the Five Star Movement (M5S)—are likely to… Full Article
ng First Thing We Do, Let’s Deregulate All the Lawyers By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Tue, 14 May 2013 20:02:51 +0000 Not many Americans think of the legal profession as a monopoly, but it is. Abraham Lincoln, who practiced law for nearly twenty-five years, would likely not have been allowed to practice today. Without a law degree from an American Bar Association–sanctioned institution, a would-be lawyer is allowed to practice law in only a few states. […] Full Article
ng The Law Firm Business Model Is Dying By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 Clifford Winston and Robert Crandall say that the bankruptcies of major, long-standing law firms signal a change in how businesses and the public are choosing to find legal services. Winston and Crandall argue that deregulation would revitalize the industry, bringing new ideas, technologies, talents and operating procedures into the practice of law. Full Article
ng Unleashing True Competition in Telecommunications By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 The long-awaited transition to a competitive local telecommunications service market is mired down in regulatory and court proceedings that deal with the implementation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and proposed mergers among major players in the industry. Was the Telecommunications Act of 1996 a move in the right direction? Are any of the new […] Full Article
ng Killing From the Sky Is No Way to Defeat Terrorists By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 Vali Nasr examines Obama administration claims that its elimination of al-Qaeda leaders using drones and special operations forces has crippled the organization. Full Article
ng The Dangerous Price of Ignoring Syria By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 Vali Nasr says that President Obama has resisted American involvement in Syria because it challenges a central aim of his foreign policy: shrinking the U.S. footprint in the Middle East and downplaying the region’s importance to global politics. Nasr examines why doing more on Syria would reverse the U.S. retreat from the region. Full Article
ng Understanding Iran beyond the deal By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 On October 15, the Center for Middle East Policy hosted a conversation with Suzanne Maloney, deputy director of Brookings Foreign Policy program and author of the recently released book, Iran’s Political Economy since the Revolution (Cambridge University Press, 2015); Javier Solana, Brookings distinguished fellow and former EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy; and Vali Nasr, Dean of Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and nonresident senior fellow at Brookings. The three experts discussed Iran today, the implications of the nuclear agreement, and more. Full Article
ng Flap Over 527s Aside, McCain-Feingold Is Working as Planned By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 20 May 2004 00:00:00 -0400 The decision by the Federal Election Commission to defer action on new rules to constrain the activities of so-called 527 political organizations is being portrayed as an utter collapse of the new McCain-Feingold campaign finance law. In fact, nothing could be further from reality.The dispute over whether several new Democratic-leaning independent political groups should be required to register with the FEC and abide by contribution limits is a legitimate one, and there is merit in the regulatory proposal — rejected by the full commission — that was offered by Commissioners Scott Thomas and Michael Toner. But this argument largely concerns unresolved questions stemming from judicial and FEC interpretations of the 1974 law that governs federal election law — not McCain-Feingold.Had the Thomas-Toner proposal been adopted, the Media Fund and America Coming Together would have faced tougher requirements on the sources and amounts of contributions they receive. But supporters of the Media Fund and ACT still would have had legal options to continue their campaign activities. ACT would have had to raise more hard money to match its soft-money contributions, but it had already been moving in that direction, as had Moveon.org, which is now focusing its campaign activities on hard-money fundraising and expenditures.Millionaire contributors to the Media Fund could have separately made independent expenditures in the form of television ads that expressly advocated the defeat of President Bush. Unions could have financed their own "issue ads" supporting Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and attacking Bush until 30 days before the party convention or 60 days before the general election. Corporations would have retained the option to sponsor similar ads. Thereafter, even without FEC action, a key provision of McCain-Feingold kicks in. As the election nears, no 527 organization can use corporate or union money to finance broadcast ads that feature federal candidates.McCain-Feingold was not written to bring every source of unregulated federal campaign funding within the scope of the law. Rather, it was designed to end the corrupting nexus of soft money that ties together officeholders, party officials and large donors. The law's principal goal was to prohibit elected officials and party leaders from extracting unregulated gifts from corporations, unions and individual donors in exchange for access to and influence with policymakers.Indeed, the law has accomplished this objective. Members of Congress and national party officials are no longer soliciting unlimited contributions for the party committees, nor are they involved in the independent fundraising efforts of the leading 527 groups. The FEC's decision to defer action, therefore, does not pose the same risk of corruption as did the soft-money decisions of the past.One of the fundamental concerns raised by the activities of 527s is that these groups, with their ability to receive unlimited contributions, would overshadow the candidates and weaken the role of parties in the electoral process. The new law, however, increased contribution limits to candidates and parties, to offset the effects of inflation and to ensure that parties remain major players in federal elections. Here, the evidence is overwhelming that the law's objective is being realized.Bush and Kerry have both registered extraordinary fundraising success. Kerry has already raised more than $110 million, while the president has raised more than $200 million. In raising these sums, the presidential nominees have attracted the support of more than 500,000 donors who did not give money during the 2000 campaign. Congressional candidates, too, are also reaching out to new donors, with fundraising up 35 percent over the last cycle.And in the first 15 months of this cycle, the national party committees have raised more than $430 million in hard money alone — $60 million more than they had raised in hard and soft money combined at the comparable point in the previous presidential cycle. This financial strength reflects the parties' success at adding more than 2 million new donors to their party rolls. For all the attention they are garnering, these 527 groups — both Democratic-leaning and Republican-leaning — pale when compared to the activities of the parties and candidates.The 2004 elections have enormously high stakes. Supporters of Bush and Kerry are highly motivated to boost the election prospects of their favored candidate. All signs point to a vibrant get-out-the-vote effort by both parties and a rough equality in funding by and on behalf of the two major presidential campaigns. This reflects the 50/50 partisan division in the country and suggests that a disparity in resources is unlikely to determine the outcome of the presidential election.The FEC has cheered some and disappointed others with its decision to defer new rulemaking on independent political organizations. While we empathize with the critics' concerns, we nonetheless take satisfaction that the major objectives of the new campaign-finance law are being realized. Authors Anthony CorradoThomas E. Mann Publication: Roll Call Full Article
ng Candidates, Parties Fine-Tune Spending Strategies By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Sat, 17 Jul 2004 00:00:00 -0400 There's a little more than a week to go before the Democratic National Convention begins in Boston. Senator John Kerry is both raising and spending money at a furious pace. The Kerry campaign raised about $182 million from March through June. Senator Kerry also outspent President George Bush in advertising throughout most of the summer. But the president still has more cash on hand, reportedly $63 million at the end of May. That's the latest figure available. The president also has more time to spend that money before accepting his Republican nomination on September 2. Anthony Corrado is an expert on campaign finance. Listen to the entire interview Authors Anthony Corrado Publication: NPR's Weekend Edition Full Article
