b Trump wants out of global migration discussions. Cities want in. By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 06 Dec 2017 14:01:35 +0000 Over the weekend, the Trump administration withdrew from the process of developing a new Global Compact on Migration, designed to lay out a strategy for addressing that subject. The objective was to reach agreement by the time world leaders meet at their annual gathering in New York next September. The United States had been involved… Full Article
b Why cities are the new face of American leadership on global migration By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 18 Dec 2017 21:25:25 +0000 Almost immediately after the Trump administration withdrew from the Global Compact on Migration earlier this month, American mayors responded by requesting their seat at the table. Leaders of 18 U.S. cities, from Pittsburgh to Milwaukee to San Jose, joined a petition signed by more than 130 mayors from around the world. They asked co-facilitators Mexico and… Full Article
b How to make the global governance system work better for Africa By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Fri, 31 Jan 2020 16:39:05 +0000 The provision of global public goods (GPG)—such as mitigating climate change, fighting tax avoidance, or preserving and extending fair rules-based international trade—is even more important for Africa than for other parts of the world. And yet, Africa could be sidelined from the decisionmaking process for the foreseeable future in a global governance system dominated by… Full Article
b 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
b 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
b The carbon tax opportunity By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 06 May 2020 19:17:01 +0000 The COVID-19 pandemic has brought economic and social activity around the world to a near standstill. As a result, carbon dioxide emissions have declined sharply, and the skies above some large cities are clean and clear for the first time in decades. But “degrowth” is not a sustainable strategy for averting environmental disaster. Humanity should protect… Full Article
b 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
b Western Banks Must Take Their Own Medicine By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: For decades westerners have lectured central and eastern European policymakers on how to regulate and supervise, balance their budgets and stem credit expansion. Now they must deal with the consequences of a global crisis triggered because the west broke all the rules it preached. Worse, it is a crisis they cannot do much to resolve.… Full Article
b 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
b Targeted Improvements in Crisis Resolution, Not a New Bretton Woods By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:00:00 +0000 The current crisis reveals two major flaws in the world’s crisis-resolution mechanisms: (i) funds available to launch credible rescue operations are insufficient, and (ii) national crisis responses have negative spillovers. One solution is to emulate the EU’s enhanced cooperation solution at the global level, with the IMF ensuring that the rules are respected. Big global… Full Article
b Crisis in Eastern Europe: Manageable – But Needs to Be Managed By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: The leaders of Europe will meet this weekend to respond to the rapid deterioration of the economic situation in Emerging Europe. The situation varies a great deal; some countries have been more prudent in their policies than others. But all are joined, more or less strongly, through the deeply integrated European banking system. Western banks… Full Article
b 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
b Europe needs its own development bank By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 25 Nov 2019 15:27:41 +0000 Europe needs a robust and agile development bank that can cooperate with, but also challenge, the Chinese institutions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative and the United States’ newly reinforced development agencies. With this goal in mind, the European Union recently appointed a “wise persons group” (WPG) to review the European Union’s development-finance architecture.… Full Article
b The future of school accountability under ESSA By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 11 Jul 2016 15:21:25 +0000 With the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) replacing No Child Left Behind as the new federal education law, states have gained greater freedom to personalize their education policies. ESSA’s promise of decentralization is a victory for state education leaders, but also transfers to them the responsibility of ensuring that school systems are held accountable. During… Full Article
b 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
b Immigration and the U.S. labor market: A look ahead By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Tue, 20 Aug 2019 16:24:34 +0000 Full Article
b Fund more investments in non-BA workers By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 26 Sep 2019 13:25:29 +0000 September is Workforce Development Month and Congress has until the end of the month to reach an agreement to fund the government, including many workforce and education programs that rely on this investment to help workers prepare for jobs at the backbone of our economy – those that require some postsecondary education but not a… Full Article
b 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
b 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
b Think Tank 20 - Growth, Convergence, and Income Distribution: The Road from the Brisbane G-20 Summit By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 00:00:00 -0500 Full Article
b Ambivalence About Davutoğlu By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Sun, 24 Aug 2014 00:00:00 -0400 Ahmet Davutoğlu, Turkey's new Prime Minister, is a familiar name in Western capitals. It is also a name that generates mixed feelings among his peers. What most agree is that he is was an incredibly ambitious and hardworking foreign minister, always willing to travel wherever necessary, even when the outcome of such visits generated little concrete results. There is also consensus about his willingness to lecture his counterparts. He probably believed that his academic background and the relative ignorance of his counterparts entitled him to do so. But in most cases he had a tendency to forget that he was dealing with fellow foreign ministers and not students of history. This tendency generated only a begrudging sense of respect, even among his most graceful and objective peers. It is also clear for people who knew him when he was an academic that politics has changed him. In the eyes of most his students, he was a reluctant policymaker when he began his political life. He often mentioned that his real goal was to go back to academia, where he could once again enjoy the intellectual life of an analytical thinker who can keep a healthy distance from events. Yet, in a matter of few years he discovered the irresistible pull of power. It was maybe "Kissinger syndrome" — realizing that power is the ultimate aphrodisiac. Perhaps most important is the question of Davutoğlu's ideology. There are numerous articles written about this question, and the emerging consensus is that he is an incurable idealist. It may be reductionist to argue that he is an Islamist, but it is undeniably true that he has focused on parts of the world where Muslims are facing injustice with much enthusiasm. Although he rejects being labeled neo-Ottoman, it is also undeniably true that he speaks of Ottoman tradition, tolerance and governance with great nostalgia. As most of his students, he is very critical of the West and its Orientalism. His years in Malaysia as a professor bring a colorful interpretation to his critic of colonialism and imperialism. Yet, what he often fails to realize is that in his criticisms of the West, he often repeats the methodological fallacy of Orientalism. The result is what can be best labeled "Occidentalism" — a tendency to generalize and construct a Western civilization with a prejudice similar to the one displayed by Orientalists. Finally, there is the issue of missing modesty. Although Davutoğlu appears to be very modest and unpretentious, he often displays a stubborn resistance in admitting mistakes. This is perhaps a defense mechanism in dealing with the press. But combined with his unabashed sense of idealism, his reluctance to recognize failure and to see the world as it is rather than how it should be is very troubling for a policymaker. The reluctance to admit policy failures creates two major problems: a disconnect from reality and an inability for course-correction. In short, there is a lot of ambivalence towards Davutoğlu in the West. He is coming to his new position with a lot of baggage and the looming shadow of a powerful president. Newly elected President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wanted someone who would follow his lead without hesitation. His choice speaks volumes about Davutoğlu's new persona and about how much he has changed since the early days of his political career. This article was originally published in Today's Zaman. Authors Ömer Taşpınar Publication: Today's Zaman Image Source: © Umit Bektas / Reuters Full Article
b 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
b Why the Turkish election results are not all bad news (just mostly) By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Tue, 03 Nov 2015 10:05:00 -0500 This weekend’s election results in Turkey were a surprise to the vast majority of Turkish pollsters and pundits, myself included. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) won nearly 50 percent of the popular vote. The party can now form a single-party government, even if it doesn’t have the supermajority necessary to remake the Turkish constitution. What happened? Now I see clearly As with much in life, the result does make sense in hindsight. Prior to the June 7 election, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the AKP leadership had supported a Kurdish peace process, in part in the hope of gaining Kurdish votes. In that election, however, not only did the AKP fail to win new Kurdish votes, but support for the Nationalist Action Party (MHP)—a far-right Turkish nationalist party—swelled, apparently out of frustration among nationalist Turks with the AKP-led peace process with the Kurds. In other words, the AKP had the worst of both worlds. Erdoğan and the AKP leadership, recognizing the political problem this posed for them, allowed the peace process to collapse amid mounting instability driven by the Syrian civil war. This, combined with disillusionment with the MHP leadership due to their perceived unwillingness to form a coalition government, drove about two million MHP voters to the AKP this weekend. The exodus shows, in a sense, what close substitutes the two parties can be among a more nationalist voting bloc. The controlled chaos that resulted from the collapse of the peace process—combined with the escalating refugee crisis, the fear of ISIS attacks, and the struggling economy—helped the government politically. Voters evidently recalled that it had been the AKP that brought the country out of the very tough times of the 1990s. In contrast, the opposition parties seem to lack leadership and appear to promise only internal squabbles and indecisiveness. Craving security and stability, voters have now turned to the one party that appears to have the strength to provide it. In that sense, Erdoğan’s nationalist gambit—which was actually a well-conceived series of political maneuvers—worked. Even some one million conservative Kurdish voters returned to the AKP. These voters perhaps did not notice the irony that the government had also engineered the instability they feared. In part, this success derives from government’s control over the media. These elections may have been free, in the sense that Turkish voters can cast a ballot for the candidates they want. But they were not fair. The state maintained tight control over traditional and social media alike. Freedom House and the Committee to Protect Journalists, among others, have cast doubt on Turkey’s press freedom credentials. Real opposition voices are difficult for media publish or voters to see on television. Thus, for example, Selahattin Demirtaş, the leader of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) and the most charismatic opposition politician in Turkey, had essentially no air time during the campaign. Not all bad news There are some important upsides to the election results. For one, HDP again passed the 10 percent threshold to remain in parliament. That will help mitigate—though hardly erase—the polarization that grips the country, and will hopefully make government reconsider its abandonment of the Kurdish peace process. More significantly, the AKP does not have what it needs to convert Turkey’s government structure into a presidential system, which would be a bad move for the country. The election results will undoubtedly revitalize Erdoğan’s push for a presidential regime in Turkey. But that requires changing the constitution, and the AKP did not achieve the supermajority that it would need to do that on its own. Critically, changing to a presidential system will require some support from the opposition and even more importantly popular support via a referendum. As political strategists around the world have learned, people tend not to vote on the actual referendum item, per se, but based on more general opinions of their leadership. So to win a referendum on the presidential system, Erdoğan and his AKP colleagues would need to show improvements in the economy, in the security situation, on the Kurdish issue, on Syrian refugees, and on national stability more generally. Instability in Turkey, particularly the renewal of violence in the Kurdish region, will deter investment and deepen the economic slump throughout the country. With its new majority, AKP leaders are now in a position of strength to negotiate with the HDP over Kurdish issues. The refugee crisis also means the government also has more leverage with the EU. If it chooses to use its strength to reach positive agreements on those fronts, the outcomes could be very good for the Turkish people. To actually win a referendum on the presidential system, Erdoğan would have to work to depolarize his country. While the presidential system itself would not be good for Turkey, the process of getting there might be. Authors Ömer Taşpınar Full Article
b 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
b 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
b 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
b 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
b How did COVID-19 disrupt the market for U.S. Treasury debt? By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Fri, 01 May 2020 12:41:44 +0000 The COVID-19 pandemic—in addition to posing a severe threat to public health—has disrupted the economy and financial markets, and prompted a strong desire among investors for safe and liquid securities. In that environment, one might expect U.S. Treasury securities to be the investment of choice, but for a while in March, the $18 trillion market… Full Article
b The ABCs of the post-COVID economic recovery By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 04 May 2020 18:11:39 +0000 The economic activity of the U.S. has plummeted in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and unemployment has soared—largely the result of social distancing policies designed to slow the spread of the virus. The depth and speed of the decline will rival that of the Great Depression. But will the aftermath be as painful? Or… Full Article
b 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
b 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
b Don’t be fooled by deepfakes By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Fri, 16 Aug 2019 10:00:28 +0000 Deepfakes are videos that make a person appear to say or do something they did not say or do, and they are coming to an election near you. With the 2020 election contests coming up, how can we guard ourselves against deep fakes and prevent them from changing the outcome of an election? To address… Full Article
b Products liability law as a way to address AI harms By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 31 Oct 2019 04:03:44 +0000 Artificial intelligence (AI) is a transformative technology that will have a profound impact on manufacturing, robotics, transportation, agriculture, modeling and forecasting, education, cybersecurity, and many other applications. The positive benefits of AI are enormous. For example, AI-based systems can lead to improved safety by reducing the risks of injuries arising from human error. AI-based systems… Full Article
b Ways to mitigate artificial intelligence problems By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 16 Oct 2019 14:34:57 +0000 The world is experiencing extraordinary advances in artificial intelligence, with applications being deployed in finance, health care, education, e-commerce, criminal justice, and national defense, among other areas. As AI technology advances across industries and into everyday use around the world, important questions must be addressed regarding transparency, fairness, privacy, ethics, and human safety. What are… Full Article
b 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
b Toward a Containment Strategy for Smallpox Bioterror: An Individual-Based Computational Approach By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Sun, 01 Dec 2002 00:00:00 -0500 Abstract An individual-based computational model of smallpox epidemics in a two-town county is presented and used to develop strategies for bioterror containment. A powerful and feasible combination of preemptive and reactive vaccination and isolation strategies is developed which achieves epidemic quenching while minimizing risks of adverse side effects. Calibration of the model to historical data is described. Various model extensions and applications to other public health problems are noted. Downloads Download Authors Derek CummingsDonald S. BurkeJoshua M. EpsteinRamesh M. SingaShubha Chakravarty Full Article
b Toward a Containment Strategy for Smallpox Bioterror : An Individual-Based Computational Approach By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Tue, 01 Jun 2004 00:00:00 -0400 Brookings Institution Press 2004 55pp. In the United States, routine smallpox vaccination ended in 1972. The level of immunity remaining in the U.S. population is uncertain, but is generally assumed to be quite low. Smallpox is a deadly and infectious pathogen with a fatality rate of 30 percent. If smallpox were successfully deployed as an agent of bioterrorism today, the public health and economic consequences could be devastating. Toward a Containment Strategy for Smallpox Bioterror describes the scientific results and policy implications of a simulation of a smallpox epidemic in a two-town county. The model was developed by an interdisicplinary team from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Brookings Institution Center on Social and Economic Dynamics, employing agent-based and other advanced computational techniques. Such models are playing a critical role in the crafting of a national strategy for the containment of smallpox by providing public health policymakers with a variety of novel and feasible approaches to vaccination and isolation under different circumstances. The extension of these techniques to the containment of emerging pathogens, such as SARS, is discussed. About the Authors: Joshua M. Epstein and Shubha Chakravarty are with the Brookings Institution. Derek A. T. Cummings, Ramesh M. Singha, and Donald S. Burke are with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. ABOUT THE AUTHORS Derek Cummings Donald S. Burke Joshua M. Epstein Ramesh M. Singa Shubha Chakravarty Downloads Sample Chapter Ordering Information: {9ABF977A-E4A6-41C8-B030-0FD655E07DBF}, 978-0-8157-2455-1, $19.95 Add to Cart Full Article
b 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
b 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
b 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
b 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
b 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
b Trans-Atlantic Scorecard – October 2019 By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 23 Oct 2019 14:38:07 +0000 Welcome to the fifth edition of the Trans-Atlantic Scorecard, a quarterly evaluation of U.S.-European relations produced by Brookings’s Center on the United States and Europe (CUSE), as part of the Brookings – Robert Bosch Foundation Transatlantic Initiative. To produce the Scorecard, we poll Brookings scholars and other experts on the present state of U.S. relations… Full Article
b Detroit Needs a Selloff, Not a Bailout By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 Robert Crandall and Clifford Winston discuss a proposal for automakers they think will cost taxpayers less and, in the long run, be more beneficial to labor and the overall economy than either a straight bailout or bankruptcy. Full Article
b What About Microeconomics? By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 Robert Crandall and Clifford Winston respond to Paul Krugman's recent New York Times Magazine article which laments the current state of macroeconomics. The authors call attention to the fact that Krugman did not mention the state of microeconomics which, they argue, has not suffered any serious intellectual setbacks from the current Great Recession. Full Article
b Broadband Creates Jobs By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 The National Broadband Plan should be carefully designed so as not to reduce the investment in broadband technologies, which have averaged $30 billion per year since 2005, say Robert W. Crandall and Hal J. Singer. To do otherwise, they say, would risk a reduction in the incentives for investment in the nation’s broadband infrastructure and the hundreds of thousands of jobs that such investment supports. Full Article
b 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
b To Reduce Lawyers’ Drag on Growth, How about a Law PhD? By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 Cliff Winston and Robert Crandall explain why, despite major declines in law school applications, new legal PhD programs can reduce the drag on economic growth that the legal industry may contribute to. Winston and Crandall argue that new doctorates in law may develop new findings that fill gaps in our understanding of the implementation of public policies, creating opportunities for streamlining and reform. Full Article
b The Dispensable Nation: American Foreign Policy in Retreat By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 17:39:07 +0000 Vali Nasr delivers a sharp indictment of America’s flawed foreign policy and outlines a new relationship with the Muslim world and with new players in the changing Middle East. Full Article
b Is The United States A ‘Dispensable Nation’? By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000 In an interview with NPR's Steve Inskeep, Vali Nasr looks at how the U.S. has reduced its footprint in the world, and how China is primed to fill the void, especially in the Middle East. Full Article
