Updated Feb. 2009
Over the past several years, China has enjoyed one of the world's fastest growing economies and has been a major contributor to world economic growth. However, the current global financial crisis threatens to significantly slow China's economy. Several Chinese industries, particularly the export sector, have been hit hard by crisis, and millions of workers have reportedly been laid off. This situation is of great concern to the Chinese government, which views rapid economic growth as critical to maintaining social stability. China is a major economic power and holds huge amounts of foreign exchange reserves, and thus its policies could have a major impact on the global economy. For example, the Chinese government has recently announced plans to implement a $586 billion package to help stimulate the domestic economy. If successful, this plan could also boost Chinese demand for imports. In addition, in an effort to help stabilize the U.S. economy, China might boost its holdings of U.S. Treasury securities, which would help fund the Federal Government's borrowing needs to purchase troubled U.S. assets and to finance economic stimulus packages. However, some U.S. policymakers have expressed concerns over the potential political and economic implications of China's large and growing holdings of U.S. Government debt securities. This report will be updated as events warrant.
Source: Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress
Download full pdf report | Link to online abstract
Monday, March 02, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Obama, Jesus and Martin Luther King Top List of America’s “Heroes”
When "The Harris Poll" asked a cross-section of adult Americans to say whom they admire enough to call their heroes, President Barack Obama was mentioned most often, followed by Jesus Christ and Martin Luther King. Others in the top ten, in descending order, were Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Abraham Lincoln, John McCain, John F. Kennedy, Chesley Sullenberger and Mother Teresa.
These heroes were named spontaneously. Those surveyed were not shown or read a list of people to choose from. The Harris Poll was conducted online among a sample of 2,634 U.S. adults (aged 18 and over) by Harris Interactive® between January 12 and 19,
2009.
Source: Harris Interactive
Download Harris Poll detailed information (PDF)
These heroes were named spontaneously. Those surveyed were not shown or read a list of people to choose from. The Harris Poll was conducted online among a sample of 2,634 U.S. adults (aged 18 and over) by Harris Interactive® between January 12 and 19,
2009.
Source: Harris Interactive
Download Harris Poll detailed information (PDF)
Curbing Medicare Advantage overpayments could benefit millions of low-income and minority Americans
From Online Summary:
Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Download full pdf report | Link to online summary and key findings
More than 25 million Americans belonging to minority groups lack health coverage; minorities constitute 34 percent of the nation’s population but nearly 55 percent of the uninsured. Enactment of comprehensive health reform that achieves universal coverage would therefore disproportionately benefit minorities.
One way to help finance universal coverage, as President Obama has noted, would be to curb excessive payments to the private insurance companies that serve some Medicare beneficiaries through the Medicare Advantage program. Although private insurers were brought into Medicare to reduce costs, Medicare pays them an average of $1,000 more per beneficiary per year than it costs to treat the same beneficiaries through traditional Medicare. These overpayments threaten Medicare’s finances and increase the premiums paid by participants in traditional Medicare. As a result, Congress’ official expert advisory body on Medicare payment policy, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, has recommended “leveling the playing field” and paying private plans the same amounts as traditional Medicare.
Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Download full pdf report | Link to online summary and key findings
Effects of a Performance-Based Scholarship Program for Low-Income Parents
From Online Overview:
An investment in postsecondary education has been repeatedly shown to pay high monetary and nonmonetary dividends to students and society at large. Despite such benefits, research shows that close to half of all students who matriculate at a community college drop out before graduating and do not complete a degree at any other college or university within a six-year time frame. The reasons for this are many, ranging from weak academic preparation to difficulties balancing work, family, and school obligations.
To study the effect of supplemental financial aid with an incentive component to encourage academic success and persistence, two New Orleans-area colleges operated a performance-based scholarship program with counseling in 2004-2005. The program was targeted to low-income parents as part of MDRC’s multisite Opening Doors demonstration. With funding from the Louisiana Department of Social Services and the Louisiana Workforce Commission, the colleges offered students $1,000 for each of two semesters ($2,000 total) — distributed in three separate payments each semester — if they met two conditions: They had to enroll in college at least half time and they had to maintain an average grade of “C” or better. Students did not have to be welfare recipients, and the scholarships were paid in addition to federal Pell Grants. Program counselors monitored whether students met benchmarks, and physically handed the students their checks at the beginning, middle, and end of the semester.
Source: MDRC
Download full pdf report | Download pdf executive summary | Link to online overview
An investment in postsecondary education has been repeatedly shown to pay high monetary and nonmonetary dividends to students and society at large. Despite such benefits, research shows that close to half of all students who matriculate at a community college drop out before graduating and do not complete a degree at any other college or university within a six-year time frame. The reasons for this are many, ranging from weak academic preparation to difficulties balancing work, family, and school obligations.
To study the effect of supplemental financial aid with an incentive component to encourage academic success and persistence, two New Orleans-area colleges operated a performance-based scholarship program with counseling in 2004-2005. The program was targeted to low-income parents as part of MDRC’s multisite Opening Doors demonstration. With funding from the Louisiana Department of Social Services and the Louisiana Workforce Commission, the colleges offered students $1,000 for each of two semesters ($2,000 total) — distributed in three separate payments each semester — if they met two conditions: They had to enroll in college at least half time and they had to maintain an average grade of “C” or better. Students did not have to be welfare recipients, and the scholarships were paid in addition to federal Pell Grants. Program counselors monitored whether students met benchmarks, and physically handed the students their checks at the beginning, middle, and end of the semester.
Source: MDRC
Download full pdf report | Download pdf executive summary | Link to online overview
Impact Evaluation of Teacher Preparation Models
From website summary:
Every year, thousands of new teachers pass through hundreds of different teacher preparation programs and are hired to teach in the nation's schools. In recent years, "alternative teacher certification" programs have expanded rapidly, offering an increasingly popular route into teaching that differs from that offered by traditional certification programs. Despite the expansion of these new routes into teaching, there exists little research to provide guidance as to the effectiveness of these diverse teacher training strategies.
Mathematica's evaluation of teacher preparation models examined the efficacy of different teacher preparation methods in contributing to students' academic achievement. The study focused on the performance of teachers from two alternative models of teacher preparation—one model with less selective recruiting and substantial coursework requirements, and the other with less selective recruiting and minimal coursework requirements—compared with traditionally prepared teachers teaching in the same schools and grades. Students were randomly assigned to teachers prior to the start of the school year. Nonexperimental methods were used to separate the effects of different preparation strategies from the effects of other teacher characteristics.
The study, conducted for the Institute of Education Sciences, was implemented in 68 schools throughout the country during the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 school years. We administered standardized tests to all students in the sample, collected school records data and teacher test scores, conducted classroom observations, and administered a teacher survey. We also conducted interviews with teacher preparation program directors and school principals.
Source: Mathematica Policy Research Inc.
Download full pdf report | Download pdf executive summary | Link to MPR
Every year, thousands of new teachers pass through hundreds of different teacher preparation programs and are hired to teach in the nation's schools. In recent years, "alternative teacher certification" programs have expanded rapidly, offering an increasingly popular route into teaching that differs from that offered by traditional certification programs. Despite the expansion of these new routes into teaching, there exists little research to provide guidance as to the effectiveness of these diverse teacher training strategies.
Mathematica's evaluation of teacher preparation models examined the efficacy of different teacher preparation methods in contributing to students' academic achievement. The study focused on the performance of teachers from two alternative models of teacher preparation—one model with less selective recruiting and substantial coursework requirements, and the other with less selective recruiting and minimal coursework requirements—compared with traditionally prepared teachers teaching in the same schools and grades. Students were randomly assigned to teachers prior to the start of the school year. Nonexperimental methods were used to separate the effects of different preparation strategies from the effects of other teacher characteristics.
The study, conducted for the Institute of Education Sciences, was implemented in 68 schools throughout the country during the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 school years. We administered standardized tests to all students in the sample, collected school records data and teacher test scores, conducted classroom observations, and administered a teacher survey. We also conducted interviews with teacher preparation program directors and school principals.
Source: Mathematica Policy Research Inc.
Download full pdf report | Download pdf executive summary | Link to MPR
Measuring Up: The Problem of Grade Inflation and What Trustees Can Do
From the Press release: "The guide brings together and assesses various strategies that universities across the country have adopted to address grade inflation. It concludes that the first step is to initiate a vigorous campus-wide conversation on the subject, as the University of Colorado recently did with success."
Source: American Council of Trustees and Alumni
Download pdf of "Measuring Up: The Problem of Grade Inflation and What Trustees Can Do"
Source: American Council of Trustees and Alumni
Download pdf of "Measuring Up: The Problem of Grade Inflation and What Trustees Can Do"
2009 State of the State Speeches
Most governors unveil their priorities in “state of the state addresses” or budget speeches presented to the legislatures early in the year.
Stateline.org provides a list of this year's speeches and links to those that have occurred.
Link to Stateline.org State of the State Speeches page.
Monday, February 23, 2009
The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln
In 1953, the Abraham Lincoln Association published The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, a multi-volume set of Lincoln's correspondence, speeches, and other writings. Roy P. Basler and his editorial staff, with the continued support of the association, spent five years transcribing and annotating Lincoln's papers. The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln represented the first major scholarly effort to collect and publish the complete writings of Abraham Lincoln, and the edition has remained an invaluable resource to Lincoln scholars. Through the efforts of the Abraham Lincoln Association, the edition is now available in electronic form. Source: University of Michigan
Link to "The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln"
Link to "The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln"
The Task of the Latino/a Archivist: On Archiving Identity and Community
Taking into account the very complexity and contestability of the terms “Latino” and “Hispanic” to identify its subject matter, this paper draws on contemporary research on archives and identity, philosophy, Latino Studies, and efforts to chronicle the history of Latinos in New York State to ask how the Latino/a archivist can document Latino groups in the United States without restricting the multifaceted ways in which they construct and negotiate their identities. Is the establishment of a historical narrative for various Latino groups necessarily indicative of a codification of identity? Can the stuff of communal history be deployed in such a way as to encourage difference and not essential notions of what it meant and means to be “Latino” and/or “Hispanic” in the United States? These are some of the questions this paper explores in the hopes of teasing out the tensions that exist between historical validity and essentialism, historical re-inscription and foreclosure. Source: InterActions: UCLA Journal of Education and Information Studies. Vol. 5, Issue 1, Article 3.
http://repositories.cdlib.org/gseis/interactions/vol5/iss1/art3
Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract
http://repositories.cdlib.org/gseis/interactions/vol5/iss1/art3
Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract
Friday, February 20, 2009
Survey: Most Feel a Personal Stake in Tracking Economic News
From the Online Summary:
Americans continue to follow news about the economic crisis closely because they feel it is directly relevant to their lives. More than eight-in-ten (85%) say even when the economic news is bad they feel better knowing what’s going on, while 77% say they need to stay on top of economic news because it matters in the financial decisions they make.
At the same time, close to half (46%) of the public says they often feel they don’t have enough background information to follow economic news stories, according to the Pew Research Center’s weekly News Interest Index survey conducted Feb. 13-16. As the crisis takes a heavy toll on jobs, homes, retirement savings and entire communities, 49% also say the economic news seems to be the same all the time with nothing ever really changing; another 44% say they find themselves looking for lighter news as a diversion from negative economic reports.
But relatively few are turning off economic news because it is too disheartening. Fewer than three-in-ten (28%) say they often feel the news is so depressing, they would rather not hear about it.
Source: Pew Research Center for People and the Press
Download full pdf report | Download Topline Questionnaire | Link to online summary
Americans continue to follow news about the economic crisis closely because they feel it is directly relevant to their lives. More than eight-in-ten (85%) say even when the economic news is bad they feel better knowing what’s going on, while 77% say they need to stay on top of economic news because it matters in the financial decisions they make.
At the same time, close to half (46%) of the public says they often feel they don’t have enough background information to follow economic news stories, according to the Pew Research Center’s weekly News Interest Index survey conducted Feb. 13-16. As the crisis takes a heavy toll on jobs, homes, retirement savings and entire communities, 49% also say the economic news seems to be the same all the time with nothing ever really changing; another 44% say they find themselves looking for lighter news as a diversion from negative economic reports.
But relatively few are turning off economic news because it is too disheartening. Fewer than three-in-ten (28%) say they often feel the news is so depressing, they would rather not hear about it.
Source: Pew Research Center for People and the Press
Download full pdf report | Download Topline Questionnaire | Link to online summary
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Tobacco Industry Interference with Tobacco Control World Health Organization
Partial Abstract:
A large body of evidence demonstrates that tobacco companies use a wide range of tactics to interfere with tobacco control. Such strategies include direct and indirect political lobbying and campaign contributions, financing of research, attempting to affect the course of regulatory and policy machinery and engaging in social responsibility initiatives as part of public relations campaigns.
Although more and more is known about tobacco industry tactics, a systematic, comprehensive guide is needed to assist regulators and policy-makers in combating those practices. Guidelines and recommendations exist for countering and monitoring industry marketing, and recommendations have been issued to refuse industry funding of certain activities, but no broad policy has been published to assist government officials, policy-makers and nongovernmental organizations in their interactions with the tobacco industry.
Source: World Health Organization via Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education
Download full pdf report | Link to full Abstract online
A large body of evidence demonstrates that tobacco companies use a wide range of tactics to interfere with tobacco control. Such strategies include direct and indirect political lobbying and campaign contributions, financing of research, attempting to affect the course of regulatory and policy machinery and engaging in social responsibility initiatives as part of public relations campaigns.
Although more and more is known about tobacco industry tactics, a systematic, comprehensive guide is needed to assist regulators and policy-makers in combating those practices. Guidelines and recommendations exist for countering and monitoring industry marketing, and recommendations have been issued to refuse industry funding of certain activities, but no broad policy has been published to assist government officials, policy-makers and nongovernmental organizations in their interactions with the tobacco industry.
Source: World Health Organization via Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education
Download full pdf report | Link to full Abstract online
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Building Knowledge About Successful Prisoner Reentry Strategies
"There is broad agreement on the need to reduce recidivism among the 700,000 people who are released from prison each year, and many local, state, and federal agencies have mounted ambitious reentry initiatives. Unfortunately, there is almost no hard evidence about which reentry approaches, if any, are effective. Without a body of reliable research showing that the new strategies are making a difference, public support for reentry programming may dissipate. While a handful of rigorous studies are underway — and some promising results are starting to emerge — a much larger, more systematic series of evaluations is needed." Source: MDRC
Link to MDRC online policy recommendation
Link to MDRC online policy recommendation
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Unemployment Rises Sharply Among Latino Immigrants in 2008
From summary:
Source: Pew Hispanic Center
Download full pdf report | Link to online summary
The current recession is having an especially severe impact on employment prospects for immigrant Hispanics, according to an analysis of the latest Census Bureau data by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center. The unemployment rate for foreign-born Hispanics increased from 5.1% to 8.0%, or by 2.9 percentage points, from the fourth quarter of 2007 to the fourth quarter of 2008. During this same time period, the unemployment rate for all persons in the labor market increased from 4.6% to 6.6%, or by 2.0 percentage points.
Source: Pew Hispanic Center
Download full pdf report | Link to online summary
Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering
Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering is a report that provides information about the participation of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in science and engineering education and employment. Information on the site is organized by topic and group. Links to additional data sources and reports are provided.
Source: National Science Foundation
Download updated pdf report | Link to site with additional data
Giving by Foundations in the National Capital Region: How Much Stays Local?
From Press Release:
Source: Foundation Center
Download full pdf report
Foundations in the Washington metropolitan area granted nearly $186 million in 2006 to locally-focused organizations in Greater Washington, according to Giving by Foundations in the National Capital Region, a report released today by the Foundation Center, with support from the Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation.
This study — the first ever to examine locally-focused giving within a specific metropolitan area anywhere in the United States — analyzes the giving of 1,191 foundations based in the District of Columbia, suburban Maryland, and northern Virginia to determine how much of their grantmaking was targeted to Greater Washington organizations with a predominantly local focus. The report also examines giving by the 26 largest foundations in the sample to identify the subject areas in which these grants were given.
Source: Foundation Center
Download full pdf report
The Global Gender Gap Report 2008
Norway (1) leads the world in closing the gender gap between men and women, according to the overall ranking in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2008. Three other Nordic countries – Finland (2), Sweden (3) and Iceland (4) – also top the Report’s Gender Gap Index. Previously higher ranking countries such as Germany (11), United Kingdom (13) and Spain (17) slipped down the Index but stayed in the top 20, while Netherlands (9), Latvia (10), Sri Lanka (12) and France (15) made significant gains. Featuring a total of 130 countries, this year’s Report provides an insight into the gaps between women and men in over 92% of the world’s population. Source: World Economic Forum
Download full pdf report | Link to World Economic Forum Site to download excel data and view video interviews with authors
Download full pdf report | Link to World Economic Forum Site to download excel data and view video interviews with authors
Ernst & Young Report: Global megatrends 2009
Purpose of Global megatrends 2009
Download full pdf report | Link to Global Megatrends site (Ernst & Young)
This report presents an Ernst & Young perspective of some of the most significant trends we see today in the marketplace. We offer a snapshot of the main themes and concepts within each trend: a concise view to raise questions and spark new ideas, rather than a comprehensive set of answers.
These megatrends have been written at a time of particular flux: we are in the midst of a financial crisis and there is a considerable amount of uncertainty about the future. Despite this unstable environment, we still need to think about the trends that were unfolding before the crisis — questioning how they will evolve and what new directions they might follow — as well as considering new trends that are emerging
Download full pdf report | Link to Global Megatrends site (Ernst & Young)
Finance and Labor: Perspectives on Risk, Inequality, and Democracy
ABSTRACT:
Source: Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. Paper Jacoby01.
http://repositories.cdlib.org/uclairle/Jacoby01
Download full pdf publication | Link to eScholarship Repository
We live in an era of financialization. Since 1980, capital markets have expanded around the world; capital shuttles the global instantaneously. Shareholder concerns drive executive decision making and compensation, while the fluctuations of stock markets are a source of public anxiety. So are the financial scandals that have regularly occurred in recent years: junk bonds in the 1980s; lax accounting and stock manipulation in the early 2000s; and debt securitization today. We also live in an era of rising income inequality and employment risk. The gaps between top and bottom incomes and between top and middle incomes have widened since 1980. Greater risk takes various forms, such as wage and employment volatility and the shift from employers to employees of responsibility for pensions and, in the United States, for health insurance. There is an enormous literature on financial development and another on inequality. But relatively few studies consider the intersection of these phenomena. Standard explanations for rising inequality--skill-biased technological change and trade--account for only 30% of the variation in aggregate inequality. What else matters? We argue here that an omitted factor is financial development. This study explores the relationship between financial markets and labor markets along three dimensions: contemporary, historical, and comparative. For the world’s industrialized nations, we find that financial development waxes and wanes in line with top income shares. Since 1980, however, there have been national divergences between financial development--defined here as the economic prominence of equity and credit markets--and inequality. In the U.S. and U.K., there remains a strong positive correlation but in other parts of Europe and in Japan the relationship is weaker.
Source: Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. Paper Jacoby01.
http://repositories.cdlib.org/uclairle/Jacoby01
Download full pdf publication | Link to eScholarship Repository
Patents Are Property: A Fundamental But Important Concept
ABSTRACT:
Patents have historically been viewed as property and patent owners have traditionally been entitled to property remedies for patent infringement. This essay argues that a shift to liability remedies in lieu of property remedies for patent infringement is unjustified despite the 2006 Supreme Court decision in eBay v. MercExchange.
Suffolk University Law School. Suffolk University Law School Faculty Publications. Paper 54.
http://lsr.nellco.org/suffolk/fp/papers/54
Download full pdf report | Link to online abstract
Patents have historically been viewed as property and patent owners have traditionally been entitled to property remedies for patent infringement. This essay argues that a shift to liability remedies in lieu of property remedies for patent infringement is unjustified despite the 2006 Supreme Court decision in eBay v. MercExchange.
Suffolk University Law School. Suffolk University Law School Faculty Publications. Paper 54.
http://lsr.nellco.org/suffolk/fp/papers/54
Download full pdf report | Link to online abstract
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Is an Alternative Globalization Possible?
Abstract:
Source: Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. Paper Evans03.
Download full pdf report | Link to online abstract
Building on Polanyi’s concept of the “double-movement” through which society defends itself against domination by the self-regulating market, this article sets out some key organizational and ideological hurdles that the contemporary “movement of movements” must surmount to challenge the hegemony of neo-liberal globalization. After outlining neo-liberalism’s failures, it makes an argument for the possibility of “counter-hegemonic globalization,” defined as a globally organized project of transformation aimed at replacing the dominant (hegemonic) global regime with one that maximizes democratic political control and makes the equitable development of human capabilities and environmental stewardship its priorities.
Source: Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. Paper Evans03.
Download full pdf report | Link to online abstract
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Diaspora without Homeland: Being Korean in Japan
"More than one-half million people of Korean descent reside in Japan today—the largest ethnic minority in a country often assumed to be homogeneous. This timely, interdisciplinary volume blends original empirical research with the vibrant field of diaspora studies to understand the complicated history, identity, and status of the Korean minority in Japan. An international group of scholars explores commonalities and contradictions in the Korean diasporic experience, touching on such issues as citizenship and belonging, the personal and the political, and homeland and hostland. Contributors: Mark E. Caprio, Erin Aeran Chung, Chikako Kashiwazaki, Ichiro Kuraishi, John Lie, Youngmi Lim, Tessa Morris-Suzuki, Sonia Ryang, Yu Jia" Source: University of California Press / UC Global, Area, and International Archive, vol. #8, 2009. http://repositories.cdlib.org/gaia/gaia_books/8/1
Download full pdf of publication | Link to eScholarship Repository
Download full pdf of publication | Link to eScholarship Repository
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
After-School Programs in Public Elementary Schools
"This study provides a national profile of various types of formal after-school programs physically located at public elementary schools in 2008. These programs included stand-alone programs that focus primarily on a single type of service (e.g., only day care) and broad-based programs that provide a combination of services such as academic enrichment and cultural activities. This report focuses on four broad types of after-school programs: (1) fee-based stand-alone day care programs for which parents paid fees; (2) stand-alone academic instruction/tutoring programs that focus exclusively on academic instruction or tutoring, including Supplemental Educational Services in schools that did not meet Adequate Yearly Progress; (3) the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLCs) administered through the federally funded 21st CCLC Program to provide academic enrichment opportunities; and (4) other types of formal stand-alone or broad-based after-school programs." Source: National Center for Education Statistics
Download full pdf report | Link to NCES site
Download full pdf report | Link to NCES site
Monday, February 09, 2009
Unemployed and Uninsured in America
Report from Families USA "analyzes the health coverage status of unemployed workers with low and moderate incomes, including national and state-level data." (February 2009)
Download full pdf report | Link to Families USA
Download full pdf report | Link to Families USA
Assessing and Addressing Disparities Faced by Boys and Men of Color in California
The study identifies some of the greatest disparities for boys and men of color relative to their white counterparts across specific socioeconomic, health, safety, and school readiness indicators in California and provides information about different strategies for reducing the disparities — including effective programs, practices, and policies — that can begin making an important difference in changing the life course of boys and men of color. Source: RAND Corp.
Download full pdf report | Download pdf summary | Link to site
Download full pdf report | Download pdf summary | Link to site
Income of the Population 55 or Older, 2006 (released February 2009)
This report provides a broad income picture of a cross section of the population aged 55 or older, with special emphasis on income of the population aged 65 or older. The tabulations focus on the major sources and amounts of income in 2006, both separately and combined, for those age groups. The relative importance of particular sources to total income is measured for individual units, and the share of aggregate income from particular sources is measured for the aged as a whole. Proportions of the aged below the poverty line are presented in terms of the income of the families with whom they live. Several tables describe the economic situation of the aged with varying levels of Social Security benefits and total money income. These data are a valuable resource for policymakers and researchers in government and in the private sector. Source: Social Security Administration
Download full pdf report | Link to download site with access to table data
Download full pdf report | Link to download site with access to table data
The Association Between Retirement and Emotional Well-Being: Does Prior Work-Family Conflict Matter?
"This study investigates whether the association between retirement and emotional well-being depends on prior experience of work-family conflict. Methods. We use data from the 1993 and 2004 waves of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study to estimate linear regression models of emotional well-being, including symptoms of depression and positive psychological functioning. We also use fixed effects models to investigate whether key findings persist after controlling for stable but unobserved characteristics of individuals. Results. Retirement is associated with a relatively greater reduction in depressive symptoms among individuals previously experiencing high levels of work stress interfering with family life. We find suggestive evidence of a similar improvement in well-being with respect to positive psychological functioning after accounting for unobserved characteristics of individuals such as personality or coping style. Among those previously exposed to high levels of family stress spilling into work at midlife, our results suggest that retirement tends to bring greater improvements in emotional well-being among men than women. Discussion. Retirement may come more as a relief than a stressor for individuals previously experiencing high levels of work demands interfering with family life. However, particularly among women, retirement may not relieve the burdens of family life stressors." Source: California Center for Population Research. On-Line Working Paper Series. Paper CCPR-052-08. eScholarship repository.
Download full pdf report | Link to online summary
Download full pdf report | Link to online summary
Broadband Internet Access and the Digital Divide
"It is expected that the Obama Administration will ultimately develop a national broadband policy or strategy that will seek to reduce or eliminate the "digital divide" with respect to broadband. It is likely that elements of a national broadband policy, in tandem with broadband investment measures in the American Recovery and Reinvestment stimulus package will significantly shape and possibly expand federal policies and programs to promote broadband deployment and adoption. A key issue is how to strike a balance between providing federal assistance for unserved and underserved areas where the private sector may not be providing acceptable levels of broadband service, while at the same time minimizing any deleterious effects that government intervention in the marketplace may have on competition and private sector investment." Source: Congressional Research Service
Download full pdf report | Link to online summary
Download full pdf report | Link to online summary
On Darwin's 200th Birthday, Americans Still Divided About Evolution
"Opinion polls over the past two decades have found the American public deeply divided in its beliefs about the origins and development of life on earth. Surveys are fairly consistent in their estimates of how many Americans believe in evolution or creationism. Approximately 40%-50% of the public accepts a biblical creationist account of the origins of life, while comparable or slightly larger numbers accept the idea that humans evolved over time. The wording of survey questions generally makes little systematic difference in this division of opinion, and there has been little change in the percentage of the public who reject the idea of evolution." Source: Pew Research Center
Link to online report
Link to online report
Wealth : crucial but not sufficient evidence from Pakistan on economic growth, Child labor, and schooling
Summary: "The relationship between wealth and child labor has been widely examined. This paper uses three rounds of time-series, cross-sectional data to examine the relationship between wealth and child labor and schooling. The paper finds that wealth is crucial in determining a child's activities, but that this factor is far from being a sufficient condition to enroll a child in school. This is particularly the case for rural girls. Nonparametric analysis shows a universal increase in school enrollment for rural girls from 1998 to 2006. This increase is independent of wealth (measured by per capita expenditure). Multinomial logit regression further shows that wealth is insignificant in determining rural girls' activity decisions. Thus, interventions to increase school enrollment should incorporate broad-targeted, demand-side interventions as well as supply-side interventions." Source: World Bank Policy Research Working Paper
Download full pdf publication | Link to online summary
Download full pdf publication | Link to online summary
Drug Advertising Claims: Preemption's New Frontier
"To date, the U.S. Supreme Court's focus has been on preemption of traditional tort claims impugning the safety of medical devices and drugs either through design defect or failure-to-warn claims. Even if the Court forecloses such tort claims, in whole or in part, most likely the nascent, but ever-expanding, realm of related consumer fraud claims arising from prescription drug advertising will emerge unscathed.
The historical model for an end run around preemption of failure-to-warn claims is provided by the watershed case Cipollone v. Liggett Group, which forged a distinction between health and safety specific failure-to-warn claims-which were expressly preempted under the federal cigarette labeling statute-and general fraudulent misrepresentation claims-which were not preempted. Altria Group, Inc. v. Good, decided this Term breathes new life into efforts to structure state law fraud claims around federal preemption.
The crux of the preemption debate centers on whether the decision-maker adjudges the FDA's regulation a floor (or minimal) or ceiling (or optimal) standard-the former permitting complementary state actions; the latter foreclosing them as meddlesome substitutes. The FDA's advertisement review process appears to provide a (rather weak) floor rather than an optimal regulatory standard. On the whole, the FDA does not appear to be engaged in an exercise of optimization, weighing the costs and benefits of the DTCA. For this reason, it would be rare for pursuit of the state law tort action to be characterized as a "redo" of what the FDA has already determined. And thus, consumer fraud claims arising from drug advertisements should withstand preemption challenges." Source: New York University School of Law. New York University Law and Economics Working Papers. Paper 170.
Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract
The historical model for an end run around preemption of failure-to-warn claims is provided by the watershed case Cipollone v. Liggett Group, which forged a distinction between health and safety specific failure-to-warn claims-which were expressly preempted under the federal cigarette labeling statute-and general fraudulent misrepresentation claims-which were not preempted. Altria Group, Inc. v. Good, decided this Term breathes new life into efforts to structure state law fraud claims around federal preemption.
The crux of the preemption debate centers on whether the decision-maker adjudges the FDA's regulation a floor (or minimal) or ceiling (or optimal) standard-the former permitting complementary state actions; the latter foreclosing them as meddlesome substitutes. The FDA's advertisement review process appears to provide a (rather weak) floor rather than an optimal regulatory standard. On the whole, the FDA does not appear to be engaged in an exercise of optimization, weighing the costs and benefits of the DTCA. For this reason, it would be rare for pursuit of the state law tort action to be characterized as a "redo" of what the FDA has already determined. And thus, consumer fraud claims arising from drug advertisements should withstand preemption challenges." Source: New York University School of Law. New York University Law and Economics Working Papers. Paper 170.
Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract
Monday, February 02, 2009
ILO Global Wage Report 2008/09
Minimum wages and collective bargaining: Towards policy coherence
"The ILO’s first Global Wage Report predicts that difficult times lie ahead for workers. Slow or negative economic growth, combined with highly volatile prices, will erode the real wages of many workers, particularly the low-wage and poorer households. In many countries, the middle classes will also be seriously affected. Tensions are likely to intensify over wages, and the workplace may become more vulnerable to wage-related disputes. Based on International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates and forecasts of global economic growth released in October 2008, and given the past statistical relationships between economic growth and wages, the report estimates that in 2009 wages will grow at best by 0.1 per cent in industrial countries and by 1.7 per cent globally. Revised figures released after the preparation of this report suggest that in 2009 wages will in fact decline by 0.5 per cent in industrial countries and grow by no more than 1.1 per cent globally." Source: International Labour Organization
Download full pdf report | Download pdf executive summary | Link to ILO
"The ILO’s first Global Wage Report predicts that difficult times lie ahead for workers. Slow or negative economic growth, combined with highly volatile prices, will erode the real wages of many workers, particularly the low-wage and poorer households. In many countries, the middle classes will also be seriously affected. Tensions are likely to intensify over wages, and the workplace may become more vulnerable to wage-related disputes. Based on International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates and forecasts of global economic growth released in October 2008, and given the past statistical relationships between economic growth and wages, the report estimates that in 2009 wages will grow at best by 0.1 per cent in industrial countries and by 1.7 per cent globally. Revised figures released after the preparation of this report suggest that in 2009 wages will in fact decline by 0.5 per cent in industrial countries and grow by no more than 1.1 per cent globally." Source: International Labour Organization
Download full pdf report | Download pdf executive summary | Link to ILO
Flowing Data: 5 Best Data Visualization Projects of the Year
"FlowingData explores how statisticians, designers, and computer scientists are using data to help us understand more about ourselves and our surroundings."
I love a website that gives Edward Tufte's (CASBS fellow 1974) books as prizes.
Link to FlowingData
I love a website that gives Edward Tufte's (CASBS fellow 1974) books as prizes.
Link to FlowingData
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
Supplemental appropriations for job creation and preservation infrastructure investment, energy efficiency/science, assistance to the unemployed, and State/local fiscal stabilization. Source: Gov. Printing Office.
Download pdf : American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
Download pdf : American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
Pew's Project for Excellence in Journalism Launches New Media Index
The New Media Index is a weekly report that captures the leading commentary of blogs and social media sites focused on news and compares those subjects to that of the mainstream press.
PEJ is launching the New Media Index as a companion to its weekly News Coverage Index. Blogs and other new media are an important part of creating today's news information narrative and in shaping the way Americans interact with the news. The expansion of online blogs and other social media sites has allowed news-consumers and others outside the mainstream press to have more of a role in agenda setting, dissemination and interpretation. PEJ wanted to find out what subjects in the national news the online sites focus on, and how that compared with the narrative in the traditional press. Source: Pew Research Center Project for Excellence in Journalism.
Link to New Media Index
PEJ is launching the New Media Index as a companion to its weekly News Coverage Index. Blogs and other new media are an important part of creating today's news information narrative and in shaping the way Americans interact with the news. The expansion of online blogs and other social media sites has allowed news-consumers and others outside the mainstream press to have more of a role in agenda setting, dissemination and interpretation. PEJ wanted to find out what subjects in the national news the online sites focus on, and how that compared with the narrative in the traditional press. Source: Pew Research Center Project for Excellence in Journalism.
Link to New Media Index
Foreign-Born Exceed the Native-Born in Advanced Degrees
From Press Release: A larger percentage of foreign-born than native-born residents had a master’s degree or higher in 2007, according to a new report from the U.S. Census Bureau. Nationally, 11 percent of foreign-born — people from another country now living in the United States — and 10 percent of U.S.-born residents had an advanced degree.
These statistics come from Educational Attainment in the United States: 2007 [PDF], a report that describes the degree or level of school completed by adults 25 and older.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Download full pdf report
These statistics come from Educational Attainment in the United States: 2007 [PDF], a report that describes the degree or level of school completed by adults 25 and older.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Download full pdf report
Forecasts for the U.K. Economy: 2009
A comparison of independent forecasts compiled by the U.K. Macroeconomic Prospects Team
"This edition of the comparison contains 29 new forecasts, all of which were received between January 5th and January 14th, 2009."
Download full pdf publication | Link to H.M. Treasury site for data and tools.
"This edition of the comparison contains 29 new forecasts, all of which were received between January 5th and January 14th, 2009."
Download full pdf publication | Link to H.M. Treasury site for data and tools.
Google & the Future of Books
"How can we navigate through the information landscape that is only beginning to come into view? The question is more urgent than ever following the recent settlement between Google and the authors and publishers who were suing it for alleged breach of copyright. For the last four years, Google has been digitizing millions of books, including many covered by copyright, from the collections of major research libraries, and making the texts searchable online. The authors and publishers objected that digitizing constituted a violation of their copyrights. After lengthy negotiations, the plaintiffs and Google agreed on a settlement, which will have a profound effect on the way books reach readers for the foreseeable future. What will that future be?" Robert Darton (CASBS Fellow 1974) New York Review of Books
Link to online article: Google & the Future of Books
Link to online article: Google & the Future of Books
Government Transfers and Political Support
Abstract: We estimate the impact of a large anti-poverty program – the Uruguayan PANES – on political support for the government that implemented it. The program mainly consisted of a monthly cash transfer for a period of roughly two and half years. Using the discontinuity in program assignment based on a pre-treatment score, we find that beneficiary households are 21 to 28 percentage points more likely to favor the current government (relative to the previous government). Impacts on political support are larger among poorer households and for those near the center of the political spectrum, consistent with the probabilistic voting model in political economy. Effects persist after the cash transfer program ends. We estimate that the annual cost of increasing government political support by 1 percentage point is roughly 0.9% of annual government social expenditures. Source: Center for International and Development Economics Research. Paper C09-152.
Download full pdf report | Link to online abstract
Download full pdf report | Link to online abstract
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Pew Report: Adults and Social Network Websites
"The share of adult internet users who have a profile on an online social network site has more than quadrupled in the past four years -- from 8% in 2005 to 35% now, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project's December 2008 tracking survey."
While media coverage and policy attention focus heavily on how children and young adults use social network sites, adults still make up the bulk of the users of these websites. Adults make up a larger portion of the US population than teens, which is why the 35% number represents a larger number of users than the 65% of online teens who also use online social networks. Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project
Download full pdf report | Link to online memo
While media coverage and policy attention focus heavily on how children and young adults use social network sites, adults still make up the bulk of the users of these websites. Adults make up a larger portion of the US population than teens, which is why the 35% number represents a larger number of users than the 65% of online teens who also use online social networks. Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project
Download full pdf report | Link to online memo
Monday, January 26, 2009
The White House Blog
The Obama administration has overhauled the White House web site and added a blog where the public will be able to view President Obama's weekly addresses and download relevant reports.
This week the President's address focuses on the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan" and offers a downloadable pdf of the Recovery Plan Metrics Report
Link to blog : The White House Blog
Download pdf of "Recovery Plan Metrics Report"
This week the President's address focuses on the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan" and offers a downloadable pdf of the Recovery Plan Metrics Report
Link to blog : The White House Blog
Download pdf of "Recovery Plan Metrics Report"
Cumpulsory DNA Collection: A Fourth Amendment Analysis
Despite relying on different legal standards, courts have generally upheld laws authorizing law enforcement?s compulsory collection of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) as reasonable under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. However, several developments might call this judicial consensus into question. Source: Congressional Research Service
Download full pdf report | Link to download site
Download full pdf report | Link to download site
Membership of the 111th Congress: A Profile
This report presents a profile of the membership of the 111th Congress. Statistical information is included on selected characteristics of Members, including data on party affiliation, average age and length of service, occupation, religious affiliation, gender, ethnicity, foreign births, and military service.
Source: Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress
Download full pdf report | Link to online abstract
Source: Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress
Download full pdf report | Link to online abstract
Hispanics and the New Administration: Immigration Slips as a Top Priority
From the online summary : "A year and a half after a lengthy, often rancorous debate over immigration reform filled the chambers of a stalemated Congress, the issue appears to have receded in importance among one of the groups most affected by it--Latinos. Only three-in-ten (31%) Latinos rate immigration as an "extremely important" issue facing the incoming Obama administration, placing it sixth on a list of seven policy priorities that respondents were asked to assess in a nationwide survey of 1,007 Latino adults conducted from December 3 through December 10, 2008, by the Pew Hispanic Center. The top-rated issue among Latinos is the economy; 57% of Hispanics say it is an "extremely important" one for the new president to address.
Looking forward, Hispanics are optimistic about the incoming Obama administration. More than seven-in-ten (72%) say they expect Obama to have a successful first term. Looking back, Latinos offer a negative assessment of the outgoing Bush administration. More than half (54%) of Latinos say that the failures of the Bush administration will outweigh its successes. In comparison, 64% of the U.S. general population holds the same view." Source: Pew Hispanic Center
Download full pdf report | Link to full online summary
Looking forward, Hispanics are optimistic about the incoming Obama administration. More than seven-in-ten (72%) say they expect Obama to have a successful first term. Looking back, Latinos offer a negative assessment of the outgoing Bush administration. More than half (54%) of Latinos say that the failures of the Bush administration will outweigh its successes. In comparison, 64% of the U.S. general population holds the same view." Source: Pew Hispanic Center
Download full pdf report | Link to full online summary
Out of the Shadows: Undocumented Latino College Students
"This paper analyzes how “undocumented” students make sense of school, schooling, and their social standing in the U.S. Based on two years of ethnographic research with 20 undocumented Mexican immigrant college students in California, this study examines the factors that have led these students to abandon their state of “social invisibility” and participate in higher education. The study finds that undocumented students decide to seek a higher education in an attempt to improve their chances for upward social mobility and incorporation into mainstream U.S society. They also see schools as safety zones and schooling as a mechanism of assimilation. This paper further explores how segmented assimilation theory can be utilized to understand the processes by which these students’ assimilate into mainstream U.S society. Lastly, the paper considers how assimilation theory can be expanded to better understand and depict the divergent paths of immigrant incorporation in the U.S. " Source: Institute for the Study of Social Change. ISSC Fellows Working Papers. Paper ISSC_WP_34.
Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract
Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract
The Warren Court, Legalism and Democracy: Sketch for a Critique in a Style Learned from Morton Horwitz
"Morton Horwitz’s Transformation books developed a critical approach that elaborates the underlying premises of legal doctrine and compares them to suppressed or ignored alternative perspectives. However, Horwitz’s Warren Court book is largely an appreciation of the Court’s doctrine that accepts at face value its underlying premises and the judges’ claim to vindicate democratic values. In this essay, I speculate on what a Transformation-style critique of the Warren Court might look like and suggest that the Court is vulnerable to criticisms analogous to those the Transformation books make of earlier doctrine. I suggest that book ignores an alternative perspective on social justice that emerged clearly after the Warren Court era but was conceptually available during it." Source: Columbia Law School. Columbia Public Law & Legal Theory Working Papers. Paper 09159.
Download full pdf report | Link to online abstract
Download full pdf report | Link to online abstract
Teaching Writing through the Arts in Urban Secondary Schools: A Case Study
"This article explores commonalties between literacy instruction and learning to understand the symbolic languages of the visual and performing arts. A detailed case study of an urban professional development program for secondary arts teachers looks at the learning initiated by writing assignments that prompted students to reflect on arts experiences. Evidence of the effectiveness of integrated arts and literacy instruction is provided by a quasi-experimental study, which showed that the expository writing skills of the students of participating teachers improved significantly." Source: Journal for Learning through the Arts: A Research Journal on Arts Integration in Schools and Communities
Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract [eScholarship Repository]
Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract [eScholarship Repository]
Commonwealth Legal Information Institute
The Commonwealth Legal Information Institute (CommonLII) aims to provide one central Internet location from which it is possible to search – for free – core legal
information from all Commonwealth countries.
The Commonwealth Legal Information Institute (CommonLII) <http://www.commonlii.org> provides:
558 full text Databases from 59 Commonwealth and common law countries and external territories (see separate CommonLII Databases list).
A Catalog of nearly 10,000 websites from all Commonwealth and common law countries and territories. There is also a Websearch facility that allows searches of the content of many (but not all) of the websites in the Catalog.
A ‘Law on Google’ facility for all Commonwealth jurisdictions, which assists users to more easily find legal materials from a particular jurisdiction using the Google search engine.
CommonLII therefore provides three methods of finding law from across the Commonwealth.
Access to everything CommonLII provides is free to users.
Link: http://www.commonlii.org/
information from all Commonwealth countries.
The Commonwealth Legal Information Institute (CommonLII) <http://www.commonlii.org> provides:
558 full text Databases from 59 Commonwealth and common law countries and external territories (see separate CommonLII Databases list).
A Catalog of nearly 10,000 websites from all Commonwealth and common law countries and territories. There is also a Websearch facility that allows searches of the content of many (but not all) of the websites in the Catalog.
A ‘Law on Google’ facility for all Commonwealth jurisdictions, which assists users to more easily find legal materials from a particular jurisdiction using the Google search engine.
CommonLII therefore provides three methods of finding law from across the Commonwealth.
Access to everything CommonLII provides is free to users.
Link: http://www.commonlii.org/
Thursday, January 08, 2009
NCES Repart: Indirect County and State Estimates of the Percentage of Adults at the Lowest Literacy Level for 1992 and 2003
"NCES gathered data from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL), a nationally representative sample of more than 19,000 Americans age 16 and older, and the 2000 Census, which provided "predictor variables" such as education and income.
NAAL data were correlated with the predictor variables to see if there was a pattern among them. From this information, a model was established. Using the model, estimates were predicted for areas where there were not sufficient assessment data. The same approach was also applied to the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS), so changes from 1992 to 2003 can be examined.
The report is accompanied by an interactive web tool, which shows the percentage of adults lacking Basic Prose Literacy Skills for all states and counties. In addition to allowing users to view adult literacy percentages for any given state, the web tool also allows for comparisons to be made between two states, two counties in the same state, two counties in different states, across years for a state, and across years for a county." Source: National Center for Education Statistics
Download full pdf report | Link to interactive web tool
NAAL data were correlated with the predictor variables to see if there was a pattern among them. From this information, a model was established. Using the model, estimates were predicted for areas where there were not sufficient assessment data. The same approach was also applied to the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS), so changes from 1992 to 2003 can be examined.
The report is accompanied by an interactive web tool, which shows the percentage of adults lacking Basic Prose Literacy Skills for all states and counties. In addition to allowing users to view adult literacy percentages for any given state, the web tool also allows for comparisons to be made between two states, two counties in the same state, two counties in different states, across years for a state, and across years for a county." Source: National Center for Education Statistics
Download full pdf report | Link to interactive web tool
Hispanics and the Economic Downturn: Housing Woes and Remittance Cuts
"Like the U.S. population as a whole, Latinos are feeling the sting of the economic downturn. Almost one-in-ten (9%) Latino homeowners say they missed a mortgage payment or were unable to make a full payment and 3% say they received a foreclosure notice in the past year, according to a new national survey of 1,540 Latino adults conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center. Moreover, more than six-in-ten (62%) Latino homeowners say there have been foreclosures in their neighborhood over the past year, and 36% say they are worried that their own home may go into foreclosure. This figure rises to 53% among foreign-born Latino homeowners.
The survey also finds that the economic downturn has had an impact on the amount of money that Latinos sent to relatives or others in their country of origin in the past year. Among Hispanic immigrants who sent remittances in the last two years, more than seven-in-ten (71%) say they sent less in 2008 than in the prior year.
Latinos hold a more negative view of their own current personal financial situation than does the general U.S. population. More than three-in-four (76%) Latinos, and 84% of foreign-born Latinos, say their current personal finances are in either fair or poor shape, while 63% of the general U.S. population says the same.
As a result of current economic conditions, many Latinos are adjusting their economic behaviors. More than seven-in-ten (71%) report that they cut back spending on eating out. More than two-thirds (67%) planned to curtail holiday spending. Over one-fourth (28%) report that they helped a family member or friend with a loan."
Source: Pew Hispanic Center
Download full pdf report | Link to online Summary
The survey also finds that the economic downturn has had an impact on the amount of money that Latinos sent to relatives or others in their country of origin in the past year. Among Hispanic immigrants who sent remittances in the last two years, more than seven-in-ten (71%) say they sent less in 2008 than in the prior year.
Latinos hold a more negative view of their own current personal financial situation than does the general U.S. population. More than three-in-four (76%) Latinos, and 84% of foreign-born Latinos, say their current personal finances are in either fair or poor shape, while 63% of the general U.S. population says the same.
As a result of current economic conditions, many Latinos are adjusting their economic behaviors. More than seven-in-ten (71%) report that they cut back spending on eating out. More than two-thirds (67%) planned to curtail holiday spending. Over one-fourth (28%) report that they helped a family member or friend with a loan."
Source: Pew Hispanic Center
Download full pdf report | Link to online Summary
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Social Capital’s Influence on the Likelihood of Mexican Immigrants Having Type 2 Diabetes or Being Obese in Los Angeles County
"Most social capital research in the United States has tended to address issues concerning a middle class white population and little has addressed specific health outcomes. Even though it is frequently presented positively, social capital might have a negative relationship for more socially and economically vulnerable populations like Mexican immigrants. For example, social capital is negatively related to Mexican women’s wages, while positively related for non-Latino white women. It is clear that social capital does not guarantee positive outcomes. The currency of social capital is found in the relationships that people have, as the resources embedded in the community remain dormant until they are activated by individuals who pass along information through social interactions. Often overlooked is that negative information and resources can be transferred as well as positive. This paper examines two health outcomes--diabetes and obesity--to explore how social capital is related to an individual’s health, controlling for the influence that might be experienced by a vulnerable lower socioeconomic group like Mexican immigrants." Source: Chicano Studies Institute, U.C. Santa Barbara
Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract
Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Mathematics Achievement of Language-Minority Students During the Elementary Years
"This Issue Brief uses data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K) to examine the scores of public-school language-minority students on a mathematics assessment in 1st grade, as well as the gain in their scores between 1st and 5th grades. Scores are reported by three background characteristics--student's race/ethnicity, poverty status, and mother's education--that have been found to be related to achievement. The findings indicate that language-minority students (English Proficient students and English Language Learners) scored lower on a 1st-grade mathematics assessment than did students whose primary home language was English. Between 1st and 5th grades, there was no measurable difference in gain scores on the mathematics assessment among the three language groups. However, gain score differences within and between the language groups were found by student background characteristics. For example, Asian language-minority students made greater gains than their Hispanic peers." Source: National Center for Education Statistics
Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract
Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract
Monday, December 15, 2008
Future of the Internet III: How the Experts See It
A survey of internet leaders, activists and analysts shows they expect major technology advances as the phone becomes a primary device for online access, voice-recognition improves, artificial and virtual reality become more embedded in everyday life, and the architecture of the internet itself improves.
They disagree about whether this will lead to more social tolerance, more forgiving human relations, or better home lives.
The full report, "Future of the Internet III," the third in a series, is built around respondents' responses to scenarios stretching to the year 2020. Their written elaborations, numbering in the hundreds, address such topics as: the methods by which people will access information in the future; the fact that technology is expanding the potential for hate, bigotry and terrorism; the changes that will occur in human relationship as a result of hyper-connected communication; the future of work and employer-employee relationships; the evolution of the tools for and use of augmented reality and virtual reality; the strength of respondents' concerns that the global corporations and governments currently in control of most resources might impede or even halt the open development of the internet; and the challenges to come as issues tied to security, privacy, digital identities, tracking and massive databases collide.
Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project
Download full pdf report | Link to online summary
They disagree about whether this will lead to more social tolerance, more forgiving human relations, or better home lives.
The full report, "Future of the Internet III," the third in a series, is built around respondents' responses to scenarios stretching to the year 2020. Their written elaborations, numbering in the hundreds, address such topics as: the methods by which people will access information in the future; the fact that technology is expanding the potential for hate, bigotry and terrorism; the changes that will occur in human relationship as a result of hyper-connected communication; the future of work and employer-employee relationships; the evolution of the tools for and use of augmented reality and virtual reality; the strength of respondents' concerns that the global corporations and governments currently in control of most resources might impede or even halt the open development of the internet; and the challenges to come as issues tied to security, privacy, digital identities, tracking and massive databases collide.
Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project
Download full pdf report | Link to online summary
Psychology of Bad Times Fueling Consumer Cutbacks
Job Worries Mount, 73% Spending Less on Holidays
"Americans continue to render extremely bleak assessments of economic conditions, both with respect to the national economy and their own financial situations. Fully 92% of the public rates the national economy as only fair or poor, and a substantial majority (61%) judges their personal finances that way. Both measures are among the most negative recorded in Pew Research Center surveys over the past 15 years." Source: Pew Research Center for People and the Press
Download full pdf report | Link to online summary
"Americans continue to render extremely bleak assessments of economic conditions, both with respect to the national economy and their own financial situations. Fully 92% of the public rates the national economy as only fair or poor, and a substantial majority (61%) judges their personal finances that way. Both measures are among the most negative recorded in Pew Research Center surveys over the past 15 years." Source: Pew Research Center for People and the Press
Download full pdf report | Link to online summary
Latino Workers in the Ongoing Recession: 2007 to 2008
A small but significant decline has occurred during the current recession in the share of Latino immigrants active in the U.S. labor force. The decrease is sharpest among immigrants from Mexico and among immigrants who arrived in the U.S. since 2000. But the increase in the unemployment rate for immigrant Hispanics is not as high as the increase for native-born Hispanic workers. Also, median weekly wages fell for native-born Hispanics but not for the foreign-born. These developments, however, could be an artifact, a consequence of the withdrawal of low-wage foreign-born Hispanics from the labor force. Source: Pew Hispanic Center
Download complete pdf report | Link to online summary
Download complete pdf report | Link to online summary
IP Rights and Technological Platforms
Abstract:
This paper is about intellectual property rights (IPRs) and platform technologies. After a brief introduction explaining some basics of networks, standards and platforms, I turn to three policy issues. The first is the role of IP in what might be termed platform policies, the decisions by courts and regulators concerning whether and how to promote multi-party access to important digital platforms such as media player hardware, cell phones, PCs, and the like. I argue that for the most part there is no need for IP law to directly promote interoperability, since market competition among competing platform technology owners will usually protect consumers quite well. Voluntary interoperability at various levels is the norm, an arrangement facilitated by the fact that property rights can and often are waived for strategic reasons. The apparent potential of IP law, and individual IP rights, to restrict access and harm consumers must therefore be seen in the context of competitive battles in which IP owners very selectively enforce their rights. Where coerced access through IP rules does prove necessary, it should be promoted sparingly and strictly ex post, only after rights have issued and their deployment and enforcement are shown to create anticompetitive effects. Second, I discuss optimal policy with respect to platform-content combinations, e.g., the question of whether to regulate or prohibit exclusive content licensing for a single platform, for example, the Apple iTunes/iPod system. Again I argue that competition, together with the divergent interests of content and platform owners, will usually protect consumers without the need for excessive regulation of platform-content deals. Finally, I consider ways to better accommodate traditional IP doctrines and policies to the need for flexibility and openness in platform battles, in particular, the need for a robust set of rules that permit an IP owner to credibly commit to open access to IPRs with a binding full or partial dedication of IP rights to members of the public or specific sub-groups. The idea is to more fully institutionalize the right of an IP owner to implement an “owned but open” platform strategy. I characterize this new sort of binding commitment to openness as “the right to include” – by analogy with the traditional notion of property as involving at its core a “right to exclude.” Source: Berkeley Center for Law and Technology. Law and Technology Scholarship (Selected by the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology). Paper 64.
Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract
This paper is about intellectual property rights (IPRs) and platform technologies. After a brief introduction explaining some basics of networks, standards and platforms, I turn to three policy issues. The first is the role of IP in what might be termed platform policies, the decisions by courts and regulators concerning whether and how to promote multi-party access to important digital platforms such as media player hardware, cell phones, PCs, and the like. I argue that for the most part there is no need for IP law to directly promote interoperability, since market competition among competing platform technology owners will usually protect consumers quite well. Voluntary interoperability at various levels is the norm, an arrangement facilitated by the fact that property rights can and often are waived for strategic reasons. The apparent potential of IP law, and individual IP rights, to restrict access and harm consumers must therefore be seen in the context of competitive battles in which IP owners very selectively enforce their rights. Where coerced access through IP rules does prove necessary, it should be promoted sparingly and strictly ex post, only after rights have issued and their deployment and enforcement are shown to create anticompetitive effects. Second, I discuss optimal policy with respect to platform-content combinations, e.g., the question of whether to regulate or prohibit exclusive content licensing for a single platform, for example, the Apple iTunes/iPod system. Again I argue that competition, together with the divergent interests of content and platform owners, will usually protect consumers without the need for excessive regulation of platform-content deals. Finally, I consider ways to better accommodate traditional IP doctrines and policies to the need for flexibility and openness in platform battles, in particular, the need for a robust set of rules that permit an IP owner to credibly commit to open access to IPRs with a binding full or partial dedication of IP rights to members of the public or specific sub-groups. The idea is to more fully institutionalize the right of an IP owner to implement an “owned but open” platform strategy. I characterize this new sort of binding commitment to openness as “the right to include” – by analogy with the traditional notion of property as involving at its core a “right to exclude.” Source: Berkeley Center for Law and Technology. Law and Technology Scholarship (Selected by the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology). Paper 64.
Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Employees in Postsecondary Institutions, Fall 2007, and Salaries of Full-Time Instructional Faculty 2007-08
"This report presents information from the Winter 2007-08 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) web-based data collection. Tabulations represent data requested from all postsecondary institutions participating in Title IV federal student financial aid programs. The tables in this publication include data on the number of staff employed in Title IV postsecondary institutions in fall 2007 by primary function/occupational activity, length of contract/teaching period, employment status, salary class interval, faculty and tenure status, academic rank, race/ethnicity, and gender. Also included are tables on the number of full-time instructional faculty employed in Title IV postsecondary institutions in 2007-08 by length of contract/teaching period, academic rank, gender, and average salaries." Source: National Center for Education Statistics
Download full pdf report | Link to online summary
Download full pdf report | Link to online summary
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Policy and Research Recommendations for a New Administration and Congress
"At a time when limited government resources demand that the nation make the most of investments in social and education programs, policymakers will increasingly need to make decisions on the basis of reliable evidence. To assist the incoming Obama Administration and the new Congress, MDRC has developed a series of 15 two-page, evidence-based framing memos on pressing education and social issues — from preschool to prisoner reentry, from disability insurance to after-school programs." Source: MDRC
Link to collection
Link to collection
Rand Research Brief: The Evolution of Corporate Governance in China
Abstract: "Although China's economy has grown rapidly in recent years and investment in its stock markets has soared, corporate governance institutions remain nascent. A RAND report analyzes the evolution of Chinese corporate governance, describing recent reforms that have created Western-style oversight mechanisms. It also identifies obstacles to reform that stem from the continued prevalence of state ownership, and recommends policies that will help address those obstacles so that China can move toward international standards of corporate governance." Source Rand Corporation
Download full pdf research brief | Link to online summary
Download full pdf research brief | Link to online summary
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study
"The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2007 is the fourth comparison of mathematics and science achievement carried out since 1995 by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), an international organization of national research institutions and governmental research agencies. In 2007, 36 countries participated at grade four and 48 participated at grade eight." Source: National Center for Education Statistics
Download full pdf report | Link to online summary and report download links
Download full pdf report | Link to online summary and report download links
High Birth Weight and Cognitive Outcomes
"While the effects of low birth weight have long been explored, those of high birth weight have been essentially ignored. Economists have analyzed the negative effects that low birth weight might have on subsequent school outcomes, while taking into account unobserved characteristics that may be common to families with low birth weight babies and negative outcomes in terms of school test scores when children, in addition to labor market income when adults. Today, however, with increasing obesity rates in the United States, high birth weight has become a potential concern, and has been associated in the medical literature with an increased likelihood of becoming an overweight child, adolescent, and subsequently an obese adult. Overweight and obesity, in turn, are associated with a host of negative effects, including lower test scores in school and lower labor market prospects when adults. If studies only focus on low birth weight, they may underestimate the effects of ensuring that mothers receive adequate support during pregnancy. In this study we find that cognitive outcomes are adversely affected not only by low birth weight (<2500 grams) but also by high birth weight (>4500 grams). Our results have policy implications in terms of provision of support for pregnant women." Source: National Bureau of Economic Research
Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract
Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract
Monday, December 08, 2008
RAND Report: Mental Health Consumer Providers
"Consumer providers (CPs) are individuals with serious mental illness who are trained to use their experiences to provide recovery-oriented services and support to others. There are several demonstrated benefits to employing CPs: They can serve as role models, voice and broker the needs of consumers, provide information and motivation, and mentor others (including potential CPs). CPs can have a variety of roles, including, among other things, assisting clients, providing support services (such as skills assistance and transportation), providing liaison services, dispelling possible stigma or bias toward clients, and augmenting overburdened mental health systems. Despite these roles and benefits, there are also challenges to and misconceptions about employing CPs, such as staff concerns, organizational issues, and perceived barriers related to the abilities and competence of CPs. As mental health providers turn to CPs to augment current services, it is useful to review these issues through the lens of hiring and integrating CPs into provider teams." Source: RAND Corporation
Download full pdf publication | Link to online summary
Download full pdf publication | Link to online summary
Colleges and Universities Increasingly Rely on Underpaid Contingent Faculty to Teach Courses
From Press Release
Report Offers Model Approach for Solving Academic Staffing Crisis
"More than half of the undergraduate courses at U.S. public colleges and universities are taught by “contingent” faculty and graduate instructors rather than full-time tenured faculty, resulting in an unstable and financially exploited workforce, according to a report released today by the American Federation of Teachers. The report, “Reversing Course: The Troubled State of Academic Staffing and a Path Forward,” also includes a novel formula to track staffing and wage trends and correct inequities. “Reversing Course” was prepared for the AFT by the research firm JBL Associates." Source: American Federation of Teachers
Download full pdf report : Reversing Course | Link to Press Release
Report Offers Model Approach for Solving Academic Staffing Crisis
"More than half of the undergraduate courses at U.S. public colleges and universities are taught by “contingent” faculty and graduate instructors rather than full-time tenured faculty, resulting in an unstable and financially exploited workforce, according to a report released today by the American Federation of Teachers. The report, “Reversing Course: The Troubled State of Academic Staffing and a Path Forward,” also includes a novel formula to track staffing and wage trends and correct inequities. “Reversing Course” was prepared for the AFT by the research firm JBL Associates." Source: American Federation of Teachers
Download full pdf report : Reversing Course | Link to Press Release
When giants fall : Shutdown of one or more U.S. automakers could eliminate up to 3.3 million U.S. jobs
From Press Release : "If these giants fall, they would take down more than auto worker jobs. When the wages from those auto sector jobs dry up, an additional 576,700 to 2.1 million “re-spending” jobs would be lost. These are jobs that would have been supported by the spending of auto and related workers. Tax losses and increased government payments would exceed $150 billion in the first three years following bankruptcy of all three domestic auto companies. Without cars to export, the U.S. trade deficit would rise by $109.3 billion." Source: Economic Policy Institute (Author: Robert E. Scott)
Download full pdf report : When Giants Fall | Link to EPI
Download full pdf report : When Giants Fall | Link to EPI
Video Games: Adults are Players Too
"More than half of American adults age 18 and older (53%) play video games,1 and about one-in-five adults (21%) play everyday or almost everyday. While the number of video gamers among adults is substantial, it is still well under the number of teens who play. Fully 97% of teens play video games.2
Independent of all other factors, younger adults are considerably more likely than older adults to play games, and the likelihood that an adult is a video gamer decreases significantly with age. Fully 81% of respondents 18-29 years old play games, while only 23% of respondents 65 years old and older report playing games." Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project
Download full report including questionnaire | Link to online summary
Independent of all other factors, younger adults are considerably more likely than older adults to play games, and the likelihood that an adult is a video gamer decreases significantly with age. Fully 81% of respondents 18-29 years old play games, while only 23% of respondents 65 years old and older report playing games." Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project
Download full report including questionnaire | Link to online summary
Pew Research : Some Final Thoughts on Campaign '08
"A wrapup of possibly overlooked polling trends and end-of-campaign happenings.
From the beginning of the campaign to its conclusion, Democrats consistently expressed more interest in election news than did Republicans. That represents a change from previous campaigns. There were only a few weeks when Republican news interest matched or surpassed Democratic interest, including the weeks just before and after the nominating conventions. Despite signs of less Republican engagement, it is not clear whether core GOP groups turned out to vote at lower rates than in the past. What is evident from the national exit polls is that African American turnout increased markedly. More will be learned about this when the results of the Current Population Survey of voter turnout is available." Source: Pew Research Center for People and the Press
Read report online
From the beginning of the campaign to its conclusion, Democrats consistently expressed more interest in election news than did Republicans. That represents a change from previous campaigns. There were only a few weeks when Republican news interest matched or surpassed Democratic interest, including the weeks just before and after the nominating conventions. Despite signs of less Republican engagement, it is not clear whether core GOP groups turned out to vote at lower rates than in the past. What is evident from the national exit polls is that African American turnout increased markedly. More will be learned about this when the results of the Current Population Survey of voter turnout is available." Source: Pew Research Center for People and the Press
Read report online
13th report on the situation of Human Rights in Iraq covering the first half of 2008
From Press Release: 13th report on the human rights situation in the country covering the period 1 January – 30 June 2008. During the reporting period, Iraq has witnessed substantial improvements in general security conditions, with a marked drop in violent, high-visibility, high-casualty attacks by militias or criminal gangs, but the human rights situation in the country still remains serious.
“Human rights violations that are less visible need to be documented, reported and exposed publicly”, said Staffan de Mistura, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-general for Iraq (SRSG). “With the support of the international community, we hope the government of Iraq will continue to address these violations and combat impunity”.
The targeted killings of journalists, educators, medical doctors, judges and lawyers has continued, as did criminal abductions for ransom during the first six months of 2008. As Iraqi security institutions slowly and progressively asserted their control of more territory, politicians, security officials, policemen and members of pro-government militias frequently came under attack by armed groups.
During the reporting period, minorities continued to be the victims of targeted violence, threats, assassination and the destruction of property and cultural sites.
The report highlights the situation of detainees across the country that remains of serious concern, including in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region. Many detainees have been deprived of their liberty for month or even years, often under harsh physical conditions, without access to defense counsel, or without being formally charged with a crime or produced before a judge. Continuing allegations of widespread torture and ill-treatment of inmates are of particular concern. Slow bureaucratic procedures, insufficient resources, degraded infrastructure and lack of effective accountability measures result in inordinate delays in processing detainees’ cases. Source: The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI)
Download full pdf report | Link to press release
“Human rights violations that are less visible need to be documented, reported and exposed publicly”, said Staffan de Mistura, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-general for Iraq (SRSG). “With the support of the international community, we hope the government of Iraq will continue to address these violations and combat impunity”.
The targeted killings of journalists, educators, medical doctors, judges and lawyers has continued, as did criminal abductions for ransom during the first six months of 2008. As Iraqi security institutions slowly and progressively asserted their control of more territory, politicians, security officials, policemen and members of pro-government militias frequently came under attack by armed groups.
During the reporting period, minorities continued to be the victims of targeted violence, threats, assassination and the destruction of property and cultural sites.
The report highlights the situation of detainees across the country that remains of serious concern, including in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region. Many detainees have been deprived of their liberty for month or even years, often under harsh physical conditions, without access to defense counsel, or without being formally charged with a crime or produced before a judge. Continuing allegations of widespread torture and ill-treatment of inmates are of particular concern. Slow bureaucratic procedures, insufficient resources, degraded infrastructure and lack of effective accountability measures result in inordinate delays in processing detainees’ cases. Source: The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI)
Download full pdf report | Link to press release
The Plum Book (United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions)
Every four years, just after the Presidential election, the United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions, commonly known as the Plum Book, is published, alternately, by the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs and the House Committee on Government Reform. The Plum Book is used to identify presidentially appointed positions within the Federal Government.
Link to the Plum Book online | Download the 2008 Plum book (pdf)
Link to the Plum Book online | Download the 2008 Plum book (pdf)
Global Terrorism Database (GTD)
The Global Terrorism Database (GTD) is an open-source database including information on terrorist events around the world since 1970 (currently updated through 2004). Unlike many other event databases, the GTD includes systematic data on international as well as domestic terrorist incidents that have occurred during this time period and now includes almost 80,000 cases. For each GTD incident, information is available on the date and location of the incident, the weapons used and nature of the target, the number of casualties, and -- when identifiable -- the identity of the perpetrator.
The START Center is making the GTD available to government policy makers and academics in an effort to increase understanding of terrorist violence so that it can be more readily defeated.
Source: Univeristy of Maryland | Study of Terrorism and responses to Terrorism
Link to Global Terrorism Database (GTD)
The START Center is making the GTD available to government policy makers and academics in an effort to increase understanding of terrorist violence so that it can be more readily defeated.
Source: Univeristy of Maryland | Study of Terrorism and responses to Terrorism
Link to Global Terrorism Database (GTD)
Measuring Primary and Secondary School Characteristics: A Group-Based Modeling
"In this paper we introduce a new way to conceptualize and measure the educational resources that young people encounter as they make their way from kindergarten to high school graduation. Using recent methodological advances in group-based modeling and a unique data set, we empirically test for and identify a series of categorically distinct school quality trajectories. We find that these trajectories vary significantly in terms of their intercept and slope, their prevalence within the sampled population, and in the sociodemographic makeup of their constituent members. We then present an extended empirical example illustrating relationships between school quality trajectories and important post-secondary educational outcomes, both before and after controlling for static, single-year measures of primary and secondary school characteristics. Our results suggest that the chronology of students’ exposures to different educational resources is significantly associated with college enrollment, college selectivity, and, in some instances, college completion." Source: California Center for Population Research. On-Line Working Paper Series. Paper CCPR-014-08. UCLA
Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract
Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract
Monday, December 01, 2008
UNAIDS launches “AIDS Outlook”
"...a new report from UNAIDS that provides perspectives on some of the most pressing issues that will confront policymakers and leaders as they respond to the challenges presented by AIDS in 2009. In many ways the year ahead will be a year of transition—and acceleration. Many countries are reviewing their national strategies on AIDS. Even though political commitment for AIDS is at an all-time high, recent developments in the financial world will test the resilience of many." source: United Nations
Download full pdf publication | Link to online summary
Download full pdf publication | Link to online summary
Pew report: How the Media Cover Health
"Even as the news media environment in this country changes rapidly, it continues to hold a critically important role in society: millions of Americans turn to various news media every day for information, and what they learn there makes a difference in which issues rise or fall on the national agenda, how the public perceives key issues, and how well they understand important policy debates. The purpose of this study is to take a broad look at how the news media covered one vital area -- health and health policy -- in 2007 and 2008. While there have been many studies that have taken a narrow look at news coverage of specific health issues (breast cancer, diabetes) or at coverage in one particular news medium (local television, print) this report takes a wider look at the broad spectrum of health issues, across a wide range of news media." Source: Pew Project for excellence in Journalism.
Download full pdf report | Link to online summary
Download full pdf report | Link to online summary
Public Elementary and Secondary School Student Enrollment and Staff From the Common Core of Data: School Year 2006-07
"This report presents 2006-07 school year information at the national and state level on student enrollment by grade and by race/ethnicity within grade, the numbers of teachers and other education staff, and several student/staff ratios." Source: National Center for Education Statistics.
Download full pdf report | Link to National Center for Education Statistics
Download full pdf report | Link to National Center for Education Statistics
Risky Business: Sex-work and Young Southeast Asian American Women in Oakland
Abstract: "This paper seeks to analyze why many young Southeast Asian American women in Oakland, California, are going into sex-work. I investigate the cultural and social factors that contribute to their popularity as sex-workers, as well as examine the existing structural problems that have led them to sex-work. I also begin to illuminate how these young Southeast Asian American women understand their own reasons for going into sex-work. The number of minors entering sex-work continues to increase, globally, nationally and locally, yet past and current literature tend to overlook the unique problems that exist at the local level that are tempting young women into sex-work. Research on young women and sex-work has identified sexual abuse, drug use and homelessness as risk factors that often lead minors into sex-work, but these risk factors do not apply to the population of young SEA American women in Oakland. Through studying this population who have been in or are at risk of entering sex-work, I attempt to complicate previous arguments that victimize and/or criminalize young sex-workers, by looking at the ways in which these young Southeast Asian American women demonstrate agency within societal and structural constraints." Source: Institute for the Study of Social Change. ISSC Fellows Working Papers. U.C. Berkeley
Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract
Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract
Recent Developments in US Copyright Law
"The 1976 Act announces broad exclusive rights, offset by a myriad of specific exemptions, and one wide exception for “fair use.” In words and intent, the exclusive rights are capacious, but new technologies may have caused some of the general phrases to become more constraining than might have been expected from a text whose drafters took pains to make forward-looking. Thus, the scope of the reproduction right turns on the meaning of “copy;” the reach of the distribution right on “distribute copies” and “transfer of ownership;” the range of the public performance right on “public” and “perform.” Entrepreneurs and users of new technological means of exploiting copyrighted works have urged narrow constructions of each of these terms, arguing that broad interpretations will chill future innovation (and suppress present markets for copyright-exploiting devices or services). Copyright owners, concerned that unfettered new uses will supplant traditional copyright-controlled markets, have contended that the literal language, or, failing that, congressional intent, encompass the contested use. In addition, new technologies have called into question the identification of the person who “does” the copyright-implicating acts. Who makes a copy when the act is decomposed into steps taken by different actors? Who performs or displays a work when the work resides on one person’s server, but the public perceives it through another person’s website?
Several US courts have narrowly construed the reach of the exclusive rights of reproduction, distribution, public performance and public display, thus putting into doubt their efficacy in the digital environment. In particular, the Second Circuit’s recent decision in Cartoon Networks v. CSC Holdings, if followed, could substantially eviscerate the reproduction and public performance rights. The growing number of decisions rejecting a “making available” right attests to some difficulties in adapting the distribution right to online exploitation. By contrast, one bright spot for authors appears in the area of moral rights, in which digital media may provide a means to make at least some authors’ attribution interests enforceable. Because the decisions emanate from lower courts, including first-level courts, it is too soon to discern whether US copyright law is adopting a constricted conception of the scope of the economic rights under copyright, and if so, whether the decisions betoken an evolving (if often unarticulated) determination that copyright prerogatives should yield to technological preferences. In either event, the analyses and results contrast with solutions adopted in the European Union, and, in some instances, may be in tension with the US’ international obligations." Source: Columbia Law School. Columbia Public Law & Legal Theory Working Papers. Paper 08158.
Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract
Several US courts have narrowly construed the reach of the exclusive rights of reproduction, distribution, public performance and public display, thus putting into doubt their efficacy in the digital environment. In particular, the Second Circuit’s recent decision in Cartoon Networks v. CSC Holdings, if followed, could substantially eviscerate the reproduction and public performance rights. The growing number of decisions rejecting a “making available” right attests to some difficulties in adapting the distribution right to online exploitation. By contrast, one bright spot for authors appears in the area of moral rights, in which digital media may provide a means to make at least some authors’ attribution interests enforceable. Because the decisions emanate from lower courts, including first-level courts, it is too soon to discern whether US copyright law is adopting a constricted conception of the scope of the economic rights under copyright, and if so, whether the decisions betoken an evolving (if often unarticulated) determination that copyright prerogatives should yield to technological preferences. In either event, the analyses and results contrast with solutions adopted in the European Union, and, in some instances, may be in tension with the US’ international obligations." Source: Columbia Law School. Columbia Public Law & Legal Theory Working Papers. Paper 08158.
Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract
Police and National Security: American Local Law Enforcement and Counter-Terrorism After 9/11
Abstract: "What makes the issue of American policing and national security so interesting and complex is the decentralized and localized nature of most law enforcement in the United States. These attributes give rise to three challenges for policing and national security. First, the decentralized and localized nature of American policing creates enormous organizational problems in coordinating national security activities, and combating terrorism in particular. Second, the counter-terrorism agenda may influence or disrupt systems and patterns of political accountability of local police agencies. Third, some of the same attributes of local policing that makes it a useful counter-terrorism tool also create difficulties in effectively carrying out more traditional functions. The tension that sometimes exists between law enforcement efforts to prosecute criminals and secret intelligence activities to monitor them is exacerbated when stretched across local-federal lines, and some actions that may be important from a national security perspective may also be disruptive to more traditional law and order police efforts within localized communities. Whether and how these challenges are resolved depend heavily not only responses generated through the political system but on the evolutionary trajectory of the national security threats that spawn them." Source: Columbia Law School. Columbia Public Law & Legal Theory Working Papers. Paper 08157. Forthcoming in POLICE, COMMUNITY AND THE RULE OF LAW, Ben Bowling and Jeffrey Fagan (eds.), London: Hart Publishing.
Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract
Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract
Federal Evidence Blog
"Highlighting recent cases and issues involving the Federal Rules of Evidence and other topical evidence matters. Topics range from the new Attorney-Client Privilege Rule (FRE 502), electronic, Internet and expert evidence issues, Confrontation Clause, pending rule amendments, legislation with an evidence impact, privilege issues, recent noteworthy cases and other issues, practical tips, and more." Source: Federal Evidence Review
Link to online resource: Federal Evidence Blog
Link to online resource: Federal Evidence Blog
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Detention as Targeting: Standards of Certainty and Detention of Suspected Terrorists
ABSTRACT:
To the extent that a state can detain terrorists pursuant to the law of war, how certain must the state be in distinguishing suspected terrorists from nonterrorists? This Article shows that the law of war can and should be interpreted or supplemented to account for the exceptional aspects of an indefinite conflict against a transnational terrorist organization by analogizing detention to military targeting and extrapolating from targeting rules. A targeting approach to the detention standard-of-certainty question provides a methodology for balancing security and liberty interests that helps fill a gap in detention law and helps answer important substantive questions left open by recent Supreme Court detention cases, including Boumediene v. Bush. Targeting rules include a reasonable care standard for dealing with the practical and moral problems of protecting innocent civilians from injury amid clouds of doubt and misinformation, though the application of this standard in the detention context must account for differences such as a temporal dimension, available procedural mechanisms, and political and strategic context. Applying a targeting law methodology, this Article offers a law of war critique of past and current U.S. government detention policies. It recommends several ways to remedy them, including through an escalating standard of certainty as time in detention elapses, comparative consideration of accuracy-enhancing adjudication procedures, and greater decisionmaking transparency. Source: Columbia Law School Forthcoming Columbia Law Review Vol. 108:1365 2008.
Download full pdf report | Link to online abstract
To the extent that a state can detain terrorists pursuant to the law of war, how certain must the state be in distinguishing suspected terrorists from nonterrorists? This Article shows that the law of war can and should be interpreted or supplemented to account for the exceptional aspects of an indefinite conflict against a transnational terrorist organization by analogizing detention to military targeting and extrapolating from targeting rules. A targeting approach to the detention standard-of-certainty question provides a methodology for balancing security and liberty interests that helps fill a gap in detention law and helps answer important substantive questions left open by recent Supreme Court detention cases, including Boumediene v. Bush. Targeting rules include a reasonable care standard for dealing with the practical and moral problems of protecting innocent civilians from injury amid clouds of doubt and misinformation, though the application of this standard in the detention context must account for differences such as a temporal dimension, available procedural mechanisms, and political and strategic context. Applying a targeting law methodology, this Article offers a law of war critique of past and current U.S. government detention policies. It recommends several ways to remedy them, including through an escalating standard of certainty as time in detention elapses, comparative consideration of accuracy-enhancing adjudication procedures, and greater decisionmaking transparency. Source: Columbia Law School Forthcoming Columbia Law Review Vol. 108:1365 2008.
Download full pdf report | Link to online abstract
The Big Curve: Trends in University Fees and Financing in the EU and US
ABSTRACT:
Globally, fees and tuition are growing as an important source of income for most universities, with potentially significant influence on the market for students and the behavior of institutions. Thus far, however, there is no single source on the fee rates of comparative research universities, nor information on how these funds are being used by institutions. Furthermore, research on tuition pricing has also focused largely on bachelor’s degree programs, and not on the rapid changes in tuition and fees for professional degrees. This paper offers a brief scan of pricing trends among a sample group of 24 public and private research universities in the US, all with a wide array of graduate and professional programs, and a small sample group of EU universities. We trace a pattern of convergence not only between US public and private institutions, but also find indications that these trends occur among EU universities. We theorize that pricing among major research universities is increasingly influenced by levels of market tolerance, and a convergence in pricing driven in part by the perception that price confers quality and a corresponding level of prestige to consumers. This study focuses on pricing, and hence does not delve into the complex moderating effects of bursaries and student costs such as room and board. The recent implosion in credit markets may seriously shake this emerging pricing model, in large part because it is increasingly dependent on students taking out sizable loans. But it is our sense that the long-term trends in pricing, including some level of convergence, will continue as institutions that are globally competitive look over their shoulder at what their perceived peer (or near peer) institutions are charging for specific degrees and programs. This in turn will influence the entire higher education market. Source: Center for Studies in Higher Education. Paper CSHE. U.C. Berkeley.
Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract & eScholarship repository
Globally, fees and tuition are growing as an important source of income for most universities, with potentially significant influence on the market for students and the behavior of institutions. Thus far, however, there is no single source on the fee rates of comparative research universities, nor information on how these funds are being used by institutions. Furthermore, research on tuition pricing has also focused largely on bachelor’s degree programs, and not on the rapid changes in tuition and fees for professional degrees. This paper offers a brief scan of pricing trends among a sample group of 24 public and private research universities in the US, all with a wide array of graduate and professional programs, and a small sample group of EU universities. We trace a pattern of convergence not only between US public and private institutions, but also find indications that these trends occur among EU universities. We theorize that pricing among major research universities is increasingly influenced by levels of market tolerance, and a convergence in pricing driven in part by the perception that price confers quality and a corresponding level of prestige to consumers. This study focuses on pricing, and hence does not delve into the complex moderating effects of bursaries and student costs such as room and board. The recent implosion in credit markets may seriously shake this emerging pricing model, in large part because it is increasingly dependent on students taking out sizable loans. But it is our sense that the long-term trends in pricing, including some level of convergence, will continue as institutions that are globally competitive look over their shoulder at what their perceived peer (or near peer) institutions are charging for specific degrees and programs. This in turn will influence the entire higher education market. Source: Center for Studies in Higher Education. Paper CSHE. U.C. Berkeley.
Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract & eScholarship repository
Digital Youth Research Final Report
Social network sites, online games, video-sharing sites, and gadgets such as iPods and mobile phones are now fixtures of youth culture. They have so permeated young lives that it is hard to believe that less than a decade ago these technologies barely existed. Today’s youth may be coming of age and struggling for autonomy and identity as did their predecessors, but they are doing so amid new worlds for communication, friendship, play, and self-expression.
We include here the findings of three years of research on kids' informal learning with digital media. The two page summary incorporates a short, accessible version of our findings. The White Paper is a 30-page document prepared for the MacArthur Foundation’s Digital Media and Learning Series. The book is an online version of our forthcoming book with MIT Press and incorporates the insights from 800 youth and young adults and over 5000 hours of online observations. Source: U.C. Berkeley iSchool
Download Summary (pdf) | Download white paper (pdf) | Link to site - Full Chapters available online
We include here the findings of three years of research on kids' informal learning with digital media. The two page summary incorporates a short, accessible version of our findings. The White Paper is a 30-page document prepared for the MacArthur Foundation’s Digital Media and Learning Series. The book is an online version of our forthcoming book with MIT Press and incorporates the insights from 800 youth and young adults and over 5000 hours of online observations. Source: U.C. Berkeley iSchool
Download Summary (pdf) | Download white paper (pdf) | Link to site - Full Chapters available online
Monday, November 10, 2008
Still Working Hard, Still Falling Short: New Findings on the Challenges Confronting America's Working Families
The Working Poor Families Project presents an important new report examining the state of America's working families: "Still Working Hard, Still Falling Short: New Findings on the Challenges Confronting America's Working Families." The report is a follow-up to the 2004 report, "Working Hard, Falling Short."
The new report finds that more than one in four working families - a total of 42 million adults and children - are low-income, an increase from the findings of the 2004 report. Source: Working Poor Families Project
The Working Poor Families Project (WPFP) was launched in 2002 by national philanthropic leaders who saw the need to strengthen state policies affecting these working families. The national initiative is now supported by the Annie E. Casey, Ford, Joyce and Mott foundations. The WPFP focuses on the states because many of their policies and investments critically affect the lives of working families.
Download full pdf report | Link to project homepage
The new report finds that more than one in four working families - a total of 42 million adults and children - are low-income, an increase from the findings of the 2004 report. Source: Working Poor Families Project
The Working Poor Families Project (WPFP) was launched in 2002 by national philanthropic leaders who saw the need to strengthen state policies affecting these working families. The national initiative is now supported by the Annie E. Casey, Ford, Joyce and Mott foundations. The WPFP focuses on the states because many of their policies and investments critically affect the lives of working families.
Download full pdf report | Link to project homepage
Promoting Engagement for All Students: The Imperative to Look Within.
"The 2008 report from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) is
based on information from nearly 380,000 randomly selected firstyear and senior
students at 722 four year colleges and universities in the U.S. The report, Promoting
Engagement for All Students: The Imperative to Look Within, provides an overview of
survey findings and points to accomplishments as well as areas where improvement is
needed." Source: Indiana University for Postsecondary Research
Download full pdf report | Link to NSSE site
based on information from nearly 380,000 randomly selected firstyear and senior
students at 722 four year colleges and universities in the U.S. The report, Promoting
Engagement for All Students: The Imperative to Look Within, provides an overview of
survey findings and points to accomplishments as well as areas where improvement is
needed." Source: Indiana University for Postsecondary Research
Download full pdf report | Link to NSSE site
UN Offices on Drugs and Crime releases UNODC Toolkit to Combat Trafficking in Persons
"Human trafficking is the acquisition of people by improper means such as force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them. Human trafficking is a crime against humanity. Virtually every country in the world is affected by trafficking for sexual exploitation or forced labour. The challenges for all countries, rich and poor, are to target the criminals who exploit desperate people and to protect trafficking victims. As the only U.N. entity focusing on the criminal justice element, the GPAT brings special expertise to the fight against trafficking.
The UNODC Global Programme against Trafficking in Human Beings (GPAT) assists countries in their efforts to combat this crime."
The 123 tools contained in the Toolkit offer guidance, recommended resources, and promising practices to policymakers, law enforcers, judges, prosecutors, victim service providers and members of civil society who are working in interrelated spheres towards preventing trafficking, protecting and assisting victims and promoting international cooperation.
Download full pdf toolkit | Link to UNDOC website
The UNODC Global Programme against Trafficking in Human Beings (GPAT) assists countries in their efforts to combat this crime."
The 123 tools contained in the Toolkit offer guidance, recommended resources, and promising practices to policymakers, law enforcers, judges, prosecutors, victim service providers and members of civil society who are working in interrelated spheres towards preventing trafficking, protecting and assisting victims and promoting international cooperation.
Download full pdf toolkit | Link to UNDOC website
The Hispanic Vote in the 2008 Election
Updated November 7, 2008 to reflect updated exit poll results
Hispanics voted for Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden over Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin by a margin of more than two-to-one in the 2008 presidential election, 67% versus 31%, according to an analysis by the Pew Hispanic Center of exit polls from Edison Media Research as published by CNN. The Center's analysis also finds that 9% of the electorate was Latino, up from 8% in 2004. This report contains an analysis of exit poll results for the Latino vote in 9 states and for the U.S. Source: Pew Hispanic Center
Download full pdf report
Hispanics voted for Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden over Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin by a margin of more than two-to-one in the 2008 presidential election, 67% versus 31%, according to an analysis by the Pew Hispanic Center of exit polls from Edison Media Research as published by CNN. The Center's analysis also finds that 9% of the electorate was Latino, up from 8% in 2004. This report contains an analysis of exit poll results for the Latino vote in 9 states and for the U.S. Source: Pew Hispanic Center
Download full pdf report
Election Weekend News Interest Hits 20-Year High Top Events of Campaign 2008
"As the long presidential campaign wound down last week, the public remained highly engaged. Fully 60% of registered voters said they were following campaign news very closely, while 28% said they were following fairly closely. That is the highest level of voter interest just before a presidential election since the Pew Research Center began tracking campaign news interest in 1988." Source: Pew Research Center for People and the Press
Download full pdf report | Download topline questionnaire | Link to online Summary
Download full pdf report | Download topline questionnaire | Link to online Summary
The Impact of Urbanization on Zinacantec Maya Women and Girls: A Controlled Case Study in Historical Perspective
ABSTRACT:
In recent decades, ecocultural environments of the Maya in Chiapas, Mexico have undergone continuous change from more subsistence-based to more commerce-based and from more rural to more urban. Comparing ethnographic observations of one family over a ten-year period and across rural and urban environments, we used activity-setting analysis to investigate changes on the micro level that would reflect these shifts in the macro-environment. The development of commerce between 1997 and 2007 led to increased reliance on technology, increases in individuation and individual choice, specialization for economic tasks, and, for women, more formal education. Other changes in this same period of time were greatly intensified by urban dwelling: contact with strangers and people of different ethnicities, women's economic achievement, and greater freedom for young women to have unchaperoned contact with young men. Author: Patricia Greenfield (CASBS Fellow Class of 2005) Source: UCLA Center for the Study of Women.
Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract
In recent decades, ecocultural environments of the Maya in Chiapas, Mexico have undergone continuous change from more subsistence-based to more commerce-based and from more rural to more urban. Comparing ethnographic observations of one family over a ten-year period and across rural and urban environments, we used activity-setting analysis to investigate changes on the micro level that would reflect these shifts in the macro-environment. The development of commerce between 1997 and 2007 led to increased reliance on technology, increases in individuation and individual choice, specialization for economic tasks, and, for women, more formal education. Other changes in this same period of time were greatly intensified by urban dwelling: contact with strangers and people of different ethnicities, women's economic achievement, and greater freedom for young women to have unchaperoned contact with young men. Author: Patricia Greenfield (CASBS Fellow Class of 2005) Source: UCLA Center for the Study of Women.
Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract
The Influence of Agriculture on Aboriginal Socio-Political Organization in the Lower Colorado River Valley
ABSTRACT:
The Yuman-speaking peoples of the Southwest and California were for the most part non-agricultural in pre-contact times, but the tribes of the lower Colorado River Valley did regularly farm. These tribes were, from north to south, the Mohave, Halchidhoma, Yuma (Cuchan), Kahwan, Halyikwamai, and Cocopa. Castetter and Bell (1951:74) estimated that, on the average, they obtained from 30% to 50% of their food supply from agriculture. These percentages are low—and in many years they must have been much lower—yet River Yuman culture differed from that of the Yuman-speaking peoples of California and upland Arizona in many ways, the most fundamental of which represent, we believe, an adaptation to agriculture and to the distinctive environment in which it was practiced. In this paper, we will suggest that the successful practice of agriculture in the Colorado River Valley necessitated a settlement pattern to which the distinctive River Yuman sib system is an adaptation. This in turn gave rise to a form of chieftainship, a type of warfare, and a supporting ideology that was quite unlike that of the non-agricultural Yuman-speaking peoples of California and Arizona.
The Journal of California Anthropology: Vol. 1: No. 2, Article 5. [via eScholarship repository]
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The Yuman-speaking peoples of the Southwest and California were for the most part non-agricultural in pre-contact times, but the tribes of the lower Colorado River Valley did regularly farm. These tribes were, from north to south, the Mohave, Halchidhoma, Yuma (Cuchan), Kahwan, Halyikwamai, and Cocopa. Castetter and Bell (1951:74) estimated that, on the average, they obtained from 30% to 50% of their food supply from agriculture. These percentages are low—and in many years they must have been much lower—yet River Yuman culture differed from that of the Yuman-speaking peoples of California and upland Arizona in many ways, the most fundamental of which represent, we believe, an adaptation to agriculture and to the distinctive environment in which it was practiced. In this paper, we will suggest that the successful practice of agriculture in the Colorado River Valley necessitated a settlement pattern to which the distinctive River Yuman sib system is an adaptation. This in turn gave rise to a form of chieftainship, a type of warfare, and a supporting ideology that was quite unlike that of the non-agricultural Yuman-speaking peoples of California and Arizona.
The Journal of California Anthropology: Vol. 1: No. 2, Article 5. [via eScholarship repository]
Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract
Crisis Averted, Transition Ended?: Russia’s Response to the 2008 Financial Crisis as the End of Russia’s “Transition”
ABSTRACT:
Transitologists—scholars who study economic and legal transitions from planned to market economies in formerly socialist countries—have long had difficulty applying dominant paradigms to the ever-enigmatic and unique Russian example. A central question in transition studies is what constitutes the “end” of transition, the theoretical point of arrival. In the case of Russia, this debate is wide-open, with some claiming that recent political developments and the general sliding back of “rule of law” reforms signal a return to totalitarianism, while more moderate Western observers voice hope that Russia’s posture towards Europe (at least) resembles that of a dependable trading partner and member of the civilized family of nations. This short article analyzes Russia’s response to the 2008 global financial crisis and posits that the response of Russia’s ruling elites’ to the crisis is meant to signal to the West the end of transition in Russia; in short, that Russia has learned to manage its own economic affairs. Part one provides an overview of liberalization reforms in Russia during the active transition period (1989-1998). Part two examines the consolidation of power, latent transition, and Russia’s economic growth under Putin’s reign (1999-2008). Lastly, part three analyzes the impact of Russia’s immediate response to the crisis both on Russia’s standing in the world, as well as the consequences for America’s continuing liberalization policies in Russia and beyond.
Source: Cornell Law School. Cornell Law School Working Papers Series. Paper 46.
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Transitologists—scholars who study economic and legal transitions from planned to market economies in formerly socialist countries—have long had difficulty applying dominant paradigms to the ever-enigmatic and unique Russian example. A central question in transition studies is what constitutes the “end” of transition, the theoretical point of arrival. In the case of Russia, this debate is wide-open, with some claiming that recent political developments and the general sliding back of “rule of law” reforms signal a return to totalitarianism, while more moderate Western observers voice hope that Russia’s posture towards Europe (at least) resembles that of a dependable trading partner and member of the civilized family of nations. This short article analyzes Russia’s response to the 2008 global financial crisis and posits that the response of Russia’s ruling elites’ to the crisis is meant to signal to the West the end of transition in Russia; in short, that Russia has learned to manage its own economic affairs. Part one provides an overview of liberalization reforms in Russia during the active transition period (1989-1998). Part two examines the consolidation of power, latent transition, and Russia’s economic growth under Putin’s reign (1999-2008). Lastly, part three analyzes the impact of Russia’s immediate response to the crisis both on Russia’s standing in the world, as well as the consequences for America’s continuing liberalization policies in Russia and beyond.
Source: Cornell Law School. Cornell Law School Working Papers Series. Paper 46.
Download full pdf report | Link to online abstract
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