in Can crowdsourcing be ethical? By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 03 Feb 2016 07:30:00 -0500 In the course of my graduate work at Harvard University, I paid hundreds of Americans living in poverty the equivalent of about $2 an hour. It was perfectly legal for me to do so, and my research had the approval of my university’s ethics board. I was not alone, or even unusual, in basing Ivy League research on less-than-Walmart wages; literally thousands of academic research projects pay the same substandard rates. Social scientists cannot pretend that the system is anything but exploitative. It is time for meaningful reform of crowdsourced research. This is what crowdsourced research looks like. I posted a survey using Mechanical Turk (MTurk), a website run by Amazon.com. Across the country, hundreds of MTurk workers (“turkers”) agreed to fill out the survey in exchange for about 20 cents apiece, and within a few days I had my survey results. The process was easy, and above all, cheap. No wonder it is increasingly popular with academics; a search on Google Scholar returns thousands of academic papers citing MTurk, increasing from 173 in 2008 to 5,490 in 2014. Mechanical Turk is a bargain for researchers, but not for workers. A survey typically takes a couple minutes per person, so the hourly rate is very low. This might be acceptable if all turkers were people with other jobs, for whom the payment was incidental. But scholars have known for years that the vast majority of MTurk tasks are completed by a small set of workers who spend long hours on the website, and that many of those workers are very poor. Here are the sobering facts: About 80 percent of tasks on MTurk are completed by about 20 percent of participants that spend more than 15 hours a week working on the site. MTurk works not because it has many hobbyists, but because it has dedicated people who treat the tasks like a job. About one in five turkers are earning less than $20,000 a year. A third of U.S. turkers call MTurk an important source of income, and more than one in ten say they use MTurk money to make basic ends meet. Journal articles that refer to Mechanical Turk. Source: PS: Political Science and Politics It is easy to forget that these statistics represent real people, so let me introduce you to one of them. “Marjorie” is a 53-year-old woman from Indiana who had jobs in a grocery store and as a substitute teacher before a bad fall left her unable to work. Now, she says, “I sit there for probably eight hours a day answering surveys. I’ve done over 8,000 surveys.” For these full days of work, Marjorie estimates that she makes “$100 per month” from MTurk, which supplements the $189 she receives in food stamps. Asked about her economic situation, Marjorie simply says that she is “poverty stricken.” I heard similar stories from other MTurk workers—very poor people, often elderly or disabled, working tremendous hours online just to keep themselves and their families afloat. I spoke to a woman who never got back on her feet after losing her home in Hurricane Rita, and another who had barely escaped foreclosure. A mother of two was working multiple jobs, plus her time MTurk, to keep her family off government assistance. Job options are few for many turkers, especially those who are disabled, and MTurk provides resources they might not otherwise have. But these workers that work anonymously from home are isolated and have few avenues to organize for higher wages or other employment protections. Once I realized how poorly paid my respondents were, I went back and gave every one of my over 1,400 participants a “bonus” to raise the survey respondent rate to the equivalent of a $10 hourly wage. (I paid an additional $15 to respondents who participated in an interview.) This cost me a little bit more money, but less than you might imagine. For a 3-minute survey of 800 people, going from a 20-cent to a 50-cent payment costs an additional $240. But if every researcher paid an ethical wage, it would really add up for people like Marjorie. In fact, it would likely double her monthly income from MTurk. Raising wages is a start, but it should not be up to individual researchers to impose workplace standards. In this month’s PS: Political Science and Politics, a peer-reviewed journal published for the American Political Science Association, I have called for new standards for crowdsourced research to be implemented not only by individual researchers, but also by universities, journals, and grantmakers. For instance, journal editors should commit to publishing only those articles that pay respondents an ethical rate, and university ethics boards should create guidelines for use of crowdsourcing that consider wages and also crowdsourcers’ lack of access to basic employment protections. The alternative is continuing to pay below-minimum-wage rates to a substantial number of poor people who rely on this income for their basic needs. This is simply no alternative at all. Authors Vanessa Williamson Image Source: © Romeo Ranoco / Reuters Full Article
in Can crowdsourcing be ethical? By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 08 Feb 2016 09:33:00 -0500 This post originally appeared on the TechTank blog. In the course of my graduate work at Harvard University, I paid hundreds of Americans living in poverty the equivalent of about $2 an hour. It was perfectly legal for me to do so, and my research had the approval of my university’s ethics board. I was not alone, or even unusual, in basing Ivy League research on less-than-Walmart wages; literally thousands of academic research projects pay the same substandard rates. Social scientists cannot pretend that the system is anything but exploitative. It is time for meaningful reform of crowdsourced research. This is what crowdsourced research looks like. I posted a survey using Mechanical Turk (MTurk), a website run by Amazon.com. Across the country, hundreds of MTurk workers (“turkers”) agreed to fill out the survey in exchange for about 20 cents apiece, and within a few days I had my survey results. The process was easy, and above all, cheap. No wonder it is increasingly popular with academics; a search on Google Scholar returns thousands of academic papers citing MTurk, increasing from 173 in 2008 to 5,490 in 2014. Mechanical Turk is a bargain for researchers, but not for workers. A survey typically takes a couple minutes per person, so the hourly rate is very low. This might be acceptable if all turkers were people with other jobs, for whom the payment was incidental. But scholars have known for years that the vast majority of MTurk tasks are completed by a small set of workers who spend long hours on the website, and that many of those workers are very poor. Here are the sobering facts: About 80 percent of tasks on MTurk are completed by about 20 percent of participants that spend more than 15 hours a week working on the site. MTurk works not because it has many hobbyists, but because it has dedicated people who treat the tasks like a job. About one in five turkers are earning less than $20,000 a year. A third of U.S. turkers call MTurk an important source of income, and more than one in ten say they use MTurk money to make basic ends meet. Journal articles that refer to Mechanical Turk. Source: PS: Political Science and Politics It is easy to forget that these statistics represent real people, so let me introduce you to one of them. “Marjorie” is a 53-year-old woman from Indiana who had jobs in a grocery store and as a substitute teacher before a bad fall left her unable to work. Now, she says, “I sit there for probably eight hours a day answering surveys. I’ve done over 8,000 surveys.” For these full days of work, Marjorie estimates that she makes “$100 per month” from MTurk, which supplements the $189 she receives in food stamps. Asked about her economic situation, Marjorie simply says that she is “poverty stricken.” I heard similar stories from other MTurk workers—very poor people, often elderly or disabled, working tremendous hours online just to keep themselves and their families afloat. I spoke to a woman who never got back on her feet after losing her home in Hurricane Rita, and another who had barely escaped foreclosure. A mother of two was working multiple jobs, plus her time MTurk, to keep her family off government assistance. Job options are few for many turkers, especially those who are disabled, and MTurk provides resources they might not otherwise have. But these workers that work anonymously from home are isolated and have few avenues to organize for higher wages or other employment protections. Once I realized how poorly paid my respondents were, I went back and gave every one of my over 1,400 participants a “bonus” to raise the survey respondent rate to the equivalent of a $10 hourly wage. (I paid an additional $15 to respondents who participated in an interview.) This cost me a little bit more money, but less than you might imagine. For a 3-minute survey of 800 people, going from a 20-cent to a 50-cent payment costs an additional $240. But if every researcher paid an ethical wage, it would really add up for people like Marjorie. In fact, it would likely double her monthly income from MTurk. Raising wages is a start, but it should not be up to individual researchers to impose workplace standards. In this month’s PS: Political Science and Politics, a peer-reviewed journal published for the American Political Science Association, I have called for new standards for crowdsourced research to be implemented not only by individual researchers, but also by universities, journals, and grantmakers. For instance, journal editors should commit to publishing only those articles that pay respondents an ethical rate, and university ethics boards should create guidelines for use of crowdsourcing that consider wages and also crowdsourcers’ lack of access to basic employment protections. The alternative is continuing to pay below-minimum-wage rates to a substantial number of poor people who rely on this income for their basic needs. This is simply no alternative at all. Authors Vanessa Williamson Image Source: © Romeo Ranoco / Reuters Full Article
in Money for nothing: Why a universal basic income is a step too far By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 15 Jun 2016 12:00:00 -0400 The idea of a universal basic income (UBI) is certainly an intriguing one, and has been gaining traction. Swiss voters just turned it down. But it is still alive in Finland, in the Netherlands, in Alaska, in Oakland, CA, and in parts of Canada. Advocates of a UBI include Charles Murray on the right and Anthony Atkinson on the left. This surprising alliance alone makes it interesting, and it is a reasonable response to a growing pool of Americans made jobless by the march of technology and a safety net that is overly complex and bureaucratic. A comprehensive and excellent analysis in The Economist points out that while fears about technological unemployment have previously proved misleading, “the past is not always a good guide to the future.” Hurting the poor Robert Greenstein argues, however, that a UBI would actually hurt the poor by reallocating support up the income scale. His logic is inescapable: either we have to spend additional trillions providing income grants to all Americans or we have to limit assistance to those who need it most. One option is to provide unconditional payments along the lines of a UBI, but to phase it out as income rises. Libertarians like this approach since it gets rid of bureaucracies and leaves the poor free to spend the money on whatever they choose, rather than providing specific funds for particular needs. Liberals fear that such unconditional assistance would be unpopular and would be an easy target for elimination in the face of budget pressures. Right now most of our social programs are conditional. With the exception of the aged and the disabled, assistance is tied to work or to the consumption of necessities such as food, housing, or medical care, and our two largest means-tested programs are Food Stamps and the Earned Income Tax Credit. The case for paternalism Liberals have been less willing to openly acknowledge that a little paternalism in social policy may not be such a bad thing. In fact, progressives and libertarians alike are loath to admit that many of the poor and jobless are lacking more than just cash. They may be addicted to drugs or alcohol, suffer from mental health issues, have criminal records, or have difficulty functioning in a complex society. Money may be needed but money by itself does not cure such ills. A humane and wealthy society should provide the disadvantaged with adequate services and support. But there is nothing wrong with making assistance conditional on individuals fulfilling some obligation whether it is work, training, getting treatment, or living in a supportive but supervised environment. In the end, the biggest problem with a universal basic income may not be its costs or its distributive implications, but the flawed assumption that money cures all ills. Authors Isabel V. Sawhill Image Source: © Tom Polansek / Reuters Full Article
in Coronavirus will harm America’s international students—and the universities they attend By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Tue, 17 Mar 2020 20:02:35 +0000 With the growing outbreak of COVID-19, also known as the coronavirus, universities around the U.S. are canceling in-person classes, clamping down on travel, and sending students home. Protecting the health of students and staff, and limiting community transmission, is the most important priority. After taking care of emergency measures, universities need to be making administrative… Full Article
in COVID-19 has thrust universities into online learning—how should they adapt? By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 30 Mar 2020 17:13:44 +0000 There is one golden rule for flying with an infant or toddler: Do whatever it takes to get through the flight peacefully with no harm done. Every parent knows this means relaxing their standards. Planting your kid in front of an iPad screen or giving them not so healthy treats might not win you a… Full Article
in 8 recommendations for universities and professors during the coronavirus pandemic By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Fri, 03 Apr 2020 19:07:23 +0000 Over 200 colleges and universities have closed in the United States due to the coronavirus pandemic. Some have canceled in-person classes for the rest of the spring 2020 semester, while others have canceled graduation. Universities are trying to make decisions in a fluid and unprecedented environment. Professors and instructors face their own challenges as they… Full Article
in Class Notes: College ‘Sticker Prices,’ the Gender Gap in Housing Returns, and More By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 08 Apr 2020 15:48:43 +0000 This week in Class Notes: Fear of Ebola was a powerful force in shaping the 2014 midterm elections. Increases in the “sticker price” of a college discourage students from applying, even when they would be eligible for financial aid. The gender gap in housing returns is large and can explain 30% of the gender gap in wealth accumulation at retirement.… Full Article
in What can COVID-19 teach us about strengthening education systems? By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 09 Apr 2020 14:29:28 +0000 As cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the United States rise, more and more states have adopted shelter-in-place orders to curtail the pandemic. The disruption to most Americans’ daily lives has been drastic and sudden—and perhaps one of the most dramatic shifts was education’s move to a virtual setting. Even before the current pandemic forced school closures,… Full Article
in Coronavirus poses serious financial risks to US universities By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Tue, 21 Apr 2020 15:27:39 +0000 Universities around the country are dealing with health concerns as their first priority, and keeping instruction going—even if imperfectly—as the second priority. After dealing with these immediate issues, the next concern is fear of collapsing revenue. Health and instruction deserve every bit of effort going into them. The extent of worry about collapsing revenue isn’t… Full Article
in You’re graduating in a pandemic. What’s next? By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 23 Apr 2020 18:12:03 +0000 Graduation is always an anxious time for young people on the threshold of the “real world,” but COVID-19 has created new uncertainties. For Generation Z, students’ final semesters are not exactly going as planned. Rather than celebrating with friends, many are worrying about finding a job while living in their childhood bedrooms. In recent years,… Full Article
in Webinar: Great levelers or great stratifiers? College access, admissions, and the American middle class By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Fri, 01 May 2020 13:23:37 +0000 One year after Operation Varsity Blues, and in the midst of one of the greatest crises higher education has ever seen, college admissions and access have never been more important. A college degree has long been seen as a ticket into the middle class, but it is increasingly clear that not all institutions lead to… Full Article
in Class Notes: Harvard Discrimination, California’s Shelter-in-Place Order, and More By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Fri, 08 May 2020 19:21:40 +0000 This week in Class Notes: California's shelter-in-place order was effective at mitigating the spread of COVID-19. Asian Americans experience significant discrimination in the Harvard admissions process. The U.S. tax system is biased against labor in favor of capital, which has resulted in inefficiently high levels of automation. Our top chart shows that poor workers are much more likely to keep commuting in… Full Article
in Stepping Back from the Brink on Iran By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Jan 8, 2020 Jan 8, 2020Neither the United States nor Iran wants to go to war. That’s the good news. The bad news is that in the fog of crisis — similar in many ways to the fog of war — the danger of inadvertently stumbling into war is dangerously high. Full Article
in The Overwhelming Case for No First Use By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Jan 13, 2020 Jan 13, 2020The arguments in favor of the United States' declaring that the only purpose of its nuclear weapons is to deter others who possess them from using theirs — in other words, that in no circumstances will this country use nuclear weapons first — are far stronger than the arguments against this stance. It must be hoped that the next US administration will take this no-first-use step promptly. Full Article
in The U.S.-China Relationship is at a Crossroads By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Jan 15, 2020 Jan 15, 2020Joseph Nye writes that some decoupling of interdependence is likely, particularly in areas related to technology that directly affect national security. But will Washington and Beijing go too far? Full Article
in The Low-Yield Nuclear Warhead: A Dangerous Weapon Based on Bad Strategic Thinking By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Jan 28, 2020 Jan 28, 2020In the unintuitive world of nuclear weapons strategy, it’s often difficult to identify which decisions can serve to decrease the risk of a devastating nuclear conflict and which might instead increase it. Such complexity stems from the very foundation of the field: Nuclear weapons are widely seen as bombs built never to be used. Historically, granular—even seemingly mundane—decisions about force structure, research efforts, or communicated strategy have confounded planners, sometimes causing the opposite of the intended effect. Full Article
in Accumulating Evidence Using Crowdsourcing and Machine Learning: A Living Bibliography about Existential Risk and Global Catastrophic Risk By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Feb 3, 2020 Feb 3, 2020The study of existential risk — the risk of human extinction or the collapse of human civilization — has only recently emerged as an integrated field of research, and yet an overwhelming volume of relevant research has already been published. To provide an evidence base for policy and risk analysis, this research should be systematically reviewed. In a systematic review, one of many time-consuming tasks is to read the titles and abstracts of research publications, to see if they meet the inclusion criteria. The authors show how this task can be shared between multiple people (using crowdsourcing) and partially automated (using machine learning), as methods of handling an overwhelming volume of research. Full Article
in The Need for Creative and Effective Nuclear Security Vulnerability Assessment and Testing By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Feb 10, 2020 Feb 10, 2020Realistic, creative vulnerability assessment and testing are critical to finding and fixing nuclear security weaknesses and avoiding over-confidence. Both vulnerability assessment and realistic testing are needed to ensure that nuclear security systems are providing the level of protection required. Systems must be challenged by experts thinking like adversaries, trying to find ways to overcome them. Effective vulnerability assessment and realistic testing are more difficult in the case of insider threats, and special attention is needed. Organizations need to find ways to give people the mission and the incentives to find nuclear security weaknesses and suggest ways they might be fixed. With the right approaches and incentives in place, effective vulnerability assessment and testing can be a key part of achieving and sustaining high levels of nuclear security. Full Article
in The Risks and Rewards of Emerging Technology in Nuclear Security By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Feb 10, 2020 Feb 10, 2020Nuclear security is never finished. Nuclear security measures for protecting all nuclear weapons, weapons-usable nuclear materials, and facilities whose sabotage could cause disastrous consequences should protect against the full range of plausible threats. It is an ongoing endeavor that requires constant assessment of physical protection operations and reevaluation of potential threats. One of the most challenging areas of nuclear security is how to account for the impact–positive and negative—of non-nuclear emerging technologies. The amended Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (amended CPPNM) states it should be reviewed in light of the prevailing situation, and a key part of the prevailing situation is technological evolution. Therefore, the upcoming review conference in 2021, as well as any future review conferences, should examine the security threats and benefits posed by emerging technologies. Full Article
in The Past and Potential Role of Civil Society in Nuclear Security By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Feb 10, 2020 Feb 10, 2020Civil society has played a very important role in nuclear security over the years, and its role could be strengthened in the future. Some nuclear organizations react against the very idea of civil society involvement, thinking of only one societal role—protesting. In fact, however, civil society has played quite a number of critical roles in nuclear security over the years, including highlighting the dangers of nuclear terrorism; providing research and ideas; nudging governments to act; tracking progress and holding governments and operators accountable; educating the public and other stakeholders; promoting dialogue and partnerships; helping with nuclear security implementation; funding initial steps; and more. Funding organizations (both government and non-government) should consider ways to support civil society work and expertise focused on nuclear security in additional countries. Rather than simply protesting and opposing, civil society organizations can help build more effective nuclear security practices around the world. Full Article
in Assessing Progress on Nuclear Security Action Plans By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Feb 10, 2020 Feb 10, 2020Participants at the final Nuclear Security Summit in 2016 agreed on “action plans” for initiatives they would support by five international organizations and groups—the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism, INTERPOL, the United Nations, and the Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Destruction. These institutions were supposed to play key roles in bolstering ongoing nuclear security cooperation after the summit process ended. The action plans were modest documents, largely endorsing activities already underway, and there have been mixed results in implementing them. To date, these organizations have not filled any substantial part of the role once played by the nuclear security summits. Full Article
in How Do Past Presidents Rank in Foreign Policy? By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Mar 2, 2020 Mar 2, 2020How do presidents incorporate morality into decisions involving the national interest? Moral considerations explain why Truman, who authorized the use of nuclear weapons in Japan during World War II, later refused General MacArthur's request to use them in China during the Korean War. What is contextual intelligence, and how does it explain why Bush 41 is ranked first in foreign policy, but Bush 43 is found wanting? Is it possible for a president to lie in the service of the public interest? In this episode, Professor Joseph S. Nye considers these questions as he explores the role of morality in presidential decision-making from FDR to Trump. Full Article
in Public Testimony on Trump Administration Funding for Nuclear Theft Preventing Programs By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Mar 31, 2020 Mar 31, 2020A nuclear explosion detonated anywhere by a terrorist group would be a global humanitarian, economic, and political catastrophe. The current COVID-19 pandemic reminds us not to ignore prevention of and preparation for low-probability, high-consequence disasters. For nuclear terrorism, while preparation is important, prevention must be the top priority. The most effective strategy for keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists is to ensure that nuclear materials and facilities around the world have strong and sustainable security. Every president for more than two decades has made strengthening nuclear security around the globe a priority. This includes the Trump administration, whose 2018 Nuclear Posture Review states: “[n]uclear terrorism remains among the most significant threats to the security of the United States, allies, and partners.” Full Article
in Living with Uncertainty: Modeling China's Nuclear Survivability By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Apr 11, 2020 Apr 11, 2020A simplified nuclear exchange model demonstrates that China’s ability to launch a successful nuclear retaliatory strike in response to an adversary’s nuclear first strike has been and remains far from assured. This study suggests that China’s criterion for effective nuclear deterrence is very low. Full Article
in So Do Morals Matter in U.S. Foreign Policy? I Asked the Expert. By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Apr 24, 2020 Apr 24, 2020In his new book, Do Morals Matter? Presidents and Foreign Policy from FDR to Trump, Joseph S. Nye developed a scorecard to determine how U.S. presidents since 1945 factored questions of ethics and morality into their foreign policy. In an interview, Henry Farrell asked him a few questions to get to the heart of his findings. Full Article
in Maxwell Taylor's Cold War: From Berlin to Vietnam By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: May 6, 2020 May 6, 2020Nathaniel Moir reviews Maxwell Taylor's Cold War: From Berlin to Vietnam by Ingo Trauschweizer. Full Article
in Honda running 'very conservative' due to higher temps By en.espnf1.com Published On :: Sat, 14 Mar 2015 11:31:40 GMT Honda is running its engines on "very conservative" settings at the first race of the season in Australia for fear of damaging one of its four power units per car Full Article
in Alonso 'recalls heavy steering' before winter crash By en.espnf1.com Published On :: Mon, 23 Mar 2015 14:46:04 GMT McLaren has revealed Fernando Alonso recalls a sense of "heavy" steering moments before his testing crash in Barcelona Full Article
in Alonso: I feel ready to go in Sepang By en.espnf1.com Published On :: Tue, 24 Mar 2015 13:06:34 GMT Fernando Alonso says he feels fit and ready to race this weekend as he closes in on a comeback at the Malaysian Grand Prix Full Article
in McLaren won't be getting knocked out in Q1 for long - Alonso By en.espnf1.com Published On :: Sat, 28 Mar 2015 10:16:46 GMT Fernando Alonso is confident McLaren will not be getting knocked out of Q1 for long this season despite his first qualifying session with McLaren leaving him 18th on the grid at the Malaysian Grand Prix Full Article
in Highlights: New transportation technologies bring rewards and risks By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Fri, 13 Sep 2019 18:09:47 +0000 New technologies are transforming the transportation sector. These include autonomous vehicles, ride-sharing services, remote sensors, and unmanned aerial systems, among other developments. As is true with many technologies, however, the products have advanced faster than the policies and regulations surrounding them. On September 10, The Center for Technology Innovation hosted a panel discussion featuring Brookings… Full Article
in Congestion pricing is all around us. Why is it taboo on our roads? By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 16 Oct 2019 14:47:30 +0000 Think about a day in the life of a typical office worker in the Washington, D.C. area. They take Metro to get to the office on time, order lunch to be delivered from the busy restaurant down the street, purchase tickets to a weekend matinee film, and call a Lyft home as hockey fans swarm… Full Article
in To fix our infrastructure, Washington needs to start from scratch By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Tue, 03 Dec 2019 18:56:02 +0000 The 2016 presidential election felt like a watershed moment for federal infrastructure reform. For the first time in decades, both the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates made infrastructure a central component of their platforms. Their proposals reflected years of consistent calls for congressional action from groups representing cities, states, and industries—all of whom welcomed the… Full Article
in Remaking urban transportation and service delivery By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 18 Dec 2019 05:01:29 +0000 Major changes are taking place in urban transportation and service delivery. There are shifts in car ownership, the development of ride-sharing services, investments in autonomous vehicles, the use of remote sensors for mobile applications, and changes in package and service delivery. New tools are being deployed to transport people, deliver products, and respond to a… Full Article
in Banning cars won’t solve America’s bigger transportation problem: Long trips By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Mon, 06 Jan 2020 15:42:44 +0000 Cars are a fact of life for the vast majority of Americans, whether we’re commuting to work or traveling to just about anywhere. But a new development outside Phoenix is looking to change that. Culdesac Tempe, a 1,000-person rental community, aims to promote a new type of walkable neighborhood by banning residents from driving or… Full Article
in Will House Democrats’ infrastructure plan yield results? By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 06 Feb 2020 22:58:39 +0000 The recently released infrastructure framework from House Democrats is a broad statement of purpose, not a specific legislative agenda, says Adie Tomer, a sign that it's intended more as a platform for generating productive debate over the details--especially the always-contentious funding question. Tomer explains the wide range of programs covered in the proposal, why Democrats… Full Article
in Coronavirus has shown us a world without traffic. Can we sustain it? By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Fri, 01 May 2020 15:34:45 +0000 There are few silver linings to the COVID-19 pandemic, but free-flowing traffic is certainly one of them. For the essential workers who still must commute each day, driving to work has suddenly become much easier. The same applies to the trucks delivering our surging e-commerce orders. Removing so many cars from the roads has even… Full Article
in Big city downtowns are booming, but can their momentum outlast the coronavirus? By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 06 May 2020 04:00:21 +0000 It was only a generation ago when many Americans left downtowns for dead. From New York to Chicago to Los Angeles, residents fled urban cores in droves after World War II. While many businesses stayed, it wasn’t uncommon to find entire downtowns with little street life after 5:00 PM. Many of those former residents relocated… Full Article
in Extending soldiers’ assignments may help the military maintain readiness By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Tue, 14 Apr 2020 17:12:35 +0000 Following President Trump’s mid-March declaration that the COVID-19 outbreak constituted a “national emergency,” the Department of Defense (DoD) moved swiftly to implement travel restrictions for DoD employees intended to “preserve force readiness, limit the continuing spread of the virus, and preserve the health and welfare” of military service members, their families and DoD civilians. In… Full Article
in COVID-19 and military readiness: Preparing for the long game By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 22 Apr 2020 12:56:42 +0000 With the saga over the U.S.S. Teddy Roosevelt aircraft carrier starting to fade from the headlines, a larger question about the American armed forces and COVID-19 remains. How will we keep our military combat-ready, and thus fully capable of deterrence globally, until a vaccine is available to our troops? It will also be crucial to… Full Article
in Webinar: What role will the Army play in great power competition after COVID-19? By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Wed, 22 Apr 2020 13:43:31 +0000 Two years after the National Defense Strategy was published, it’s time to take stock of where the Army stands. On an immediate level, the age of COVID-19 presents the Army with an unprecedented set of challenges. From ensuring high levels of readiness to keeping up recruitment, the pandemic has forced the Army to adapt quickly… Full Article
in Webinar: A conversation with Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Fri, 24 Apr 2020 17:56:35 +0000 The COVID-19 pandemic is among the most serious challenges confronting the globe since World War II. Its projected human and economic costs are devastating. While the armed forces of the United States will rise to this challenge as they have others, the Department of Defense will not stop planning for long-term threats to America's security,… Full Article
in Webinar: Space junk—Addressing the orbital debris challenge By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Fri, 01 May 2020 17:09:27 +0000 Decades of space activity have littered Earth’s orbit with orbital debris, popularly known as space junk. Objects in orbit include spent rocket bodies, inactive satellites, a wrench, and even a toothbrush. The current quantity and density of man-made debris significantly increases the odds of future collisions either as debris damages space systems or as colliding… Full Article
in Webinar: Policing in the era of COVID-19 By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: The consequences of the novel coronavirus pandemic stretch across the entirety of government services. Major police agencies have reported absentee rates as high as 20% due to officers who are either themselves afflicted with the virus or in need of self-quarantine. Reported crimes are generally down in America’s cities as a result of the many… Full Article
in Women warriors: The ongoing story of integrating and diversifying the American armed forces By webfeeds.brookings.edu Published On :: Thu, 07 May 2020 11:50:00 +0000 How have the experiences, representation, and recognition of women in the military transformed, a century after the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution? As Brookings President and retired Marine Corps General John Allen has pointed out, at times, the U.S. military has been one of America’s most progressive institutions, as with racial… Full Article
in Belfer Center Spring 2020 Newsletter By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Mar 24, 2020 Mar 24, 2020The coronavirus pandemic has slowed the economy, but it hasn’t put dozens of other major global issues on pause. From a rapidly changing Middle East and Brexit to great power rivalry and 2020 election security, Belfer Center scholars have been active in the classroom and out in the field sharing impactful research. This issue of our newsletter, produced before COVID-19 became a full-fledged pandemic, shares highlights from this work. Full Article
in Building Sustainable Relationships, Energy, and Security in the Middle East By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Mar 24, 2020 Mar 24, 2020While the Middle East Initiative is focused entirely on the MENA region, several other Center programs are also working on issues related to the Middle East, including Future of Diplomacy, Geopolitics of Energy, and the Managing the Atom. Full Article
in Deadline Extended: MEI Summer Funding for HKS Students By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Mar 25, 2020 Mar 25, 2020Deadline Extended: MEI Summer Funding for HKS Students. Apply now. Priority will be given to applications received by April 15th. Applications received after this date may be considered on a rolling basis through May 5th Full Article
in Can COVID-19 Be Contained in War-Torn Syria? By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Mar 27, 2020 Mar 27, 2020The spread of the coronavirus is scary everywhere. But in Syria, which has faced war for more than nine years, humanitarian aid and health care is already stretched razor-thin. Full Article
in Hopes and disappointments: regime change and support for democracy after the Arab Uprisings By feedproxy.google.com Published On :: Mar 27, 2020 Mar 27, 2020Analysing two waves of the Arab Barometer surveys and employing an item-response method that offers methodological improvements compared to previous studies, this article finds that support for democracy actually decreased in countries that successfully overthrew their dictators during the Uprisings. Full Article
