UN : Anti-racism conference outcome document – what it actually says

"The outcome document of the Durban Review Conference is designed to bring real changes for the millions of victims of racism worldwide. It has identified “concrete measures and initiatives at all levels” to stamp out racial discrimination and intolerance.

High Commissioner Navi Pillay: the outcome document is a carefully balanced and yet meaningful outcome enshrining a common aspiration: to defy racism in all its manifestations and work to stamp it out wherever it may occur.Victims are given special consideration in the document, which was adopted by consensus at the Durban Review Conference. It represents the latest global consensus on how to fight all forms of racism.

Contrary to a common misconception, the Durban Review Conference and its outcome did not focus on a single issue, conflict or group of people – the Middle East for instance is not mentioned in the outcome document. Rather, it emphasizes that all victims of racism 'should receive the same necessary attention and protection and accordingly appropriate treatment.'"

Link to entire article from the United Nations | Download Conference Outcome Document

Public Remains Divided Over Use of Torture

Amid intense debate over the use of torture against suspected terrorists, public opinion about this issue remains fairly stable. Currently, nearly half say the use of torture under such circumstances is often (15%) or sometimes (34%) justified; about the same proportion believes that the torture of suspected terrorists is rarely (22%) or never (25%) justified.

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted April 14-21 among 742 adults interviewed in English and Spanish on landlines and cell phones, finds little change in opinions about the use of torture against suspected terrorists. Source: "Pew Research Center for the People & the Press"

Download complete pdf report | Download pdf topline questionnaire | Link to online overview

Foreign-Born Population Map Series by Selected Countries of Birth

"These state level maps provide percent distributions and some detailed socio-economic characteristics from Census 2000 for the foreign-born population in the United States and Puerto Rico for selected countries of birth.

The map series includes selected countries of birth that met a national threshold of 500,000 persons or more. In total, fourteen countries of birth were selected: Mexico, China, Philippines, India, Vietnam, Cuba, Korea, Canada, El Salvador, Germany, Dominican Republic, the United Kingdom, Jamaica, and Colombia.1 The percent distributions of the foreign-born populations born in these countries are displayed geographically by state and Puerto Rico.

In addition, selected characteristic maps are also shown for nine countries of birth: Mexico, China, Philippines, India, Vietnam, Korea, Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom.1 The characteristics maps have a state level threshold of 1,000 persons or more of the foreign-born population born in a selected country of birth in most states. Data for certain states and Puerto Rico that did not meet this criterion are not shown. For example, in 2000 Florida’s total number of the foreign-born population born in China has to be equal to or above 1,000 persons in order to be displayed in the map. Cuba, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Colombia did not meet this criterion, so only percent distribution maps are available. For comparative purposes, the total foreign-born and native populations are also included by percent distribution and for selected characteristics. The fourteen countries of birth listed below are in order by size of their total foreign-born population at the national level." Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Link to Foreign-Born Population Map Series

Survey Finds Nearly Half of Americans Concerned They or Their Family May Get Sick from Swine Flu

From Press Release "Following the declaration of a public health emergency due to the new H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu, the Harvard Opinion Research Program at the Harvard School of Public Health conducted a poll about how concerned Americans are about the outbreak, how they are responding and what they believe about transmission, prevention and treatment."

Source: Harvard School of Public Health

Download full pdf report | Download charts (pdf) | Link to online press release

Public Takes Conservative Turn on Gun Control, Abortion

Public attitudes on a pair of contentious national issues -- gun control and abortion -- have moved in a more conservative direction over the past year. In both cases, the changes have been driven in part by relatively large shifts among men, while opinions among women have not changed very much.

For the first time in a Pew Research survey, nearly as many people believe it is more important to protect the right of Americans to own guns (45%) than to control gun ownership (49%). As recently as a year ago, 58% said it was more important to control gun ownership while 37% said it was more important to protect the right to own guns.

Source: Pew Research Center for People and the Press

Link to online report with charts

Health Care Reform: An Introduction

Health care reform has emerged as an issue in the 111th Congress, driven by growing concern about widely discussed problems. Three predominant concerns involve coverage, cost and spending, and quality. Commonly cited figures indicate that more than 45 million people have no insurance, which can limit their access to care and their ability to pay for the care they receive. Costs are rising for nearly everyone, and the country now spends over $2.2 trillion, more than 16% of gross domestic product (GDP), on health care services and products, far more than other industrialized countries. For all this spending, the country scores but average or somewhat worse on many indicators of health care quality. Source: Congressional Research Service

Download full pdf report | Link to online abstract

Organized Crime in the United States: Trends and Issues for Congress

"Organized crime threatens multiple facets of the United States, including the economy and national security. In fact, the Organized Crime Council was recently reconvened for the first time in 15 years to address this continued threat. Organized crime has taken on an increasingly transnational nature, and with more open borders and the expansion of the Internet, criminals endanger the United States not only from within the borders, but beyond. Threats come from a variety of criminal organizations, including Russian, Asian, Italian, Balkan, Middle Eastern, and African syndicates. Policymakers may question whether the tools they have provided the federal government to combat organized crime are still effective for countering today's evolving risks. In the wake of the economic downturn, organized crime could further weaken the economy with illegal activities (such as cigarette trafficking and tax evasion scams) that result in a loss of tax revenue for state and federal governments. Fraudulent activities in domains such as strategic commodities, credit, insurance, stocks, securities and investments could further weaken the already-troubled financial market." Source: Congressional Research Service

Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract

Insolvency of Systemically Significant Companies: Bankruptcy vs. Conservatorship/Receivership

This report first discusses the purposes behind the creation of a separate insolvency regime for depository institutions. The report then compares and contrasts the characteristics of depository institutions with SSFCs. Next, the report provides a brief analysis of some important differences between the FDIC's conservatorship/receivership authority and that of the Bankruptcy Code. The specific differences discussed are: (1) overall objectives of each regime; (2) insolvency initiation authority and timing; (3) oversight structure and appeal; (4) management, shareholder, and creditor rights; (5) FDIC "superpowers," including contract repudiation versus Bankruptcy's automatic stay; and (6) speed of resolution. This report makes no value judgment as to whether an insolvency regime for SSFCs that is modeled after the FDIC's conservatorship/receivership authority is more appropriate than using (or adapting) the Bankruptcy Code. Rather, it simply points out the similarities and differences between SSFCs and depository institutions, and compares the conservatorship/receivership insolvency regime with the Bankruptcy Code to help the reader develop his/her own opinion. Source: Congressional Research Service

Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract

Did Corporate Governance 'Fail' During the 2008 Stock Market Meltdown? The Case of the S&P 500

Abstract:
In 2008, share prices on U.S. stock markets fell further than they had during any one year since the 1930s. Does this mean corporate governance “failed”? This paper argues “no”, based on a study of a sample of companies at “ground zero” of the stock market meltdown, namely the 37 firms removed from the iconic S&P 500 index during 2008. The study, based primarily on searches of the Factiva news database, reveals that institutional shareholders were largely mute as share prices fell and that boardroom practices and executive pay policies at various financial firms were problematic. On the other hand, there apparently were no Enron-style frauds, there was little criticism of the corporate governance of companies that were not under severe financial stress and directors of troubled firms were far from passive, as they orchestrated CEO turnover at a rate far exceeding the norm in public companies. The fact that corporate governance functioned tolerably well in companies removed from the S&P 500 implies that the case is not yet made out for fundamental reform of current arrangements.

Source: Social Science Resource Network
Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1396126

Educational Attainment in the United States

The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that workers with a bachelor’s degree earned about $26,000 more on average than workers with a high school diploma, according to new figures that outline 2008 educational trends and achievement levels.

The tables also show that in 2008, 29 percent of adults 25 and older had a bachelor’s degree, and 87 percent had completed high school. That compares with 24 percent of adults who had a bachelor’s degree, and 83 percent who had completed high school in 1998.

Educational Attainment in the United States: 2008 is a series of tables containing data by characteristics such as age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, marital status, occupation, industry, nativity, citizenship status and period of entry. The tabulations also include historical data on mean earnings by educational attainment, sex, race and Hispanic origin.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Link to site to download data tables

Dissecting the 2008 Electorate: Most Diverse in U.S. History

"The electorate in last year's presidential election was the most racially and ethnically diverse in U.S. history, with nearly one-in-four votes cast by non-whites, according to a new analysis of Census Bureau data by the Pew Research Center. The nation's three biggest minority groups--blacks, Hispanics and Asians--each accounted for unprecedented shares of the presidential vote in 2008."

Source: Pew Hispanic Center

Download full pdf report | Link to online summary with graphics

Perspectives of Chief Ethics and Compliance Officers on the Detection and Prevention of Corporate Misdeeds

"Improvements in corporate compliance, ethics, and oversight have been a significant policy goal for the U.S. government at least since the enactment of the U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines in 1991 and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002. Notwithstanding these earlier government initiatives, the collapse of financial markets in late 2008 has invited renewed questions about the governance, compliance, and ethics practices of firms throughout the U.S. economy. On March 5, 2009, RAND convened a conference in Washington, D.C., on the role and perspectives of corporate chief ethics and compliance officers (CECOs) in supporting organizations in the detection and prevention of corporate misdeeds. The conference brought together leaders from among ethics and compliance officers in the corporate community, as well as stakeholders in the nonprofit sector, academia, and government. Discussions focused on the challenges facing corporate ethics and compliance programs as a first line of defense against malfeasance and misbehavior; on the role of CECOs as champions for implementation in their companies; and on potential steps that might be taken by government to empower CECOs and, by extension, the corporate ethics and compliance programs that they oversee." Source: RAND Corporation

Download full pdf report | Download pdf summary | Link to online abstract

New Indicators of Career/Technical Education Coursetaking

This Statistics in Brief uses data from the 2005 High School Transcript Study (HSTS) to examine the career/technical education (CTE) coursetaking of public high school graduates using new indicators of participation. These indicators examine the extent to which students participate in CTE and in specific occupational areas (such as agriculture and business) broadly (many students earning credits) versus deeply (many credits earned by participating students). First, the brief looks at student participation across the three main CTE curriculum areas (family and consumer sciences education, general labor market preparation, and occupational education). Second, the brief looks at coursetaking within occupational areas, including occupational concentration. Finally, the brief examines coursetaking across occupational areas, including the areas that students tend to combine. Findings indicate that high school graduates’ use of the CTE curriculum is generally broad rather than narrow in the sense that most (70 percent) earn credits in both occupational education and either general labor market preparation or family and consumer sciences education, and most (58 percent) earn credits in more than one occupational area. Five occupational areas had the broadest participation (i.e., had the greatest number of graduates earning credits in the area): business; communications and design; manufacturing, repair, and transportation; consumer and culinary services; and computer and information sciences). The occupational areas with the deepest levels of participation were manufacturing, repair, and transportation; agriculture and natural resources; health sciences; and construction and architecture. Finally, some occupational areas were more likely than others to be taken together. For example, marketing coursetakers were more likely than other occupational coursetakers to earn credits in business. Source National Center for Education Statistics

Download full pdf report | Link to online summary

United Nations Report : Children and armed conflict

The report includes information on compliance with applicable international law to end
the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict and other grave violations being committed against children affected by armed conflict;1 information on progress made in the implementation of the monitoring and reporting mechanism and action plans to halt the recruitment and use of children, as well as progress made in mainstreaming children and armed conflict issues in United Nations peacekeeping and political missions; and a brief summary of the conclusions of the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict, and of its progress.

The report includes a proposal to strengthen the monitoring and reporting on
rape and other grave sexual violence against children.

Download full pdf report

Survey on the Attitudes of Europeans towards Tourism

This Flash Eurobarometer survey (Flash Eurobarometer 258 on the “Survey on the attitudes of Europeans towards tourism” was conducted at the request of Directorate General Enterprise and Industry to collect citizens‟ views, details of holidays and travel in 2007 and 2008 and their plans regarding holidays in 2009.

This analytical report includes the average results for the EU and highlightsvariances in responses based on the interviewees‟ country of residence, their socio-demographic background and fundamental attitudes towards holidays and travel. It also examined how EU citizens chose a holiday destination.

A special emphasis was put on the financial aspect of taking a holiday, as this is becoming the prime concern for travellers as well as for the tourism industry in the midst of a serious economic downturn affecting all economies of the EU.

Source: Gallup Corporation

Download full pdf report

Technical Report: Understanding Muslim Ethnic Communities

"This technical report accompanies the research and reports on thirteen Muslim ethnic communities in England undertaken for Communities and Local Government in 2008. The reports covered communities originating from Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Iran, Iraq, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Turkey." Source: Communities and Local Government UK : http://www.communities.gov.uk


Download full pdf technical report | Link to site

Statistical Yearbook for Asia and the Pacific 2008

"The Asia-Pacific region is home to 4.1 billion people – more than 60 per cent of the world’s population. But population growth has been slowing: since 2000, it has fallen to 1.1 per cent per year. Growth is higher in the landlocked developing countries at 1.9 per cent, in the least developed countries at 1.8 per cent, and in the small island developing States at 1.7 per cent. In the middle-income economies, on the other hand growth is only 1.0 per cent, and in the high-income economies only 0.2 per cent."
Source: United Nations

Download full Statistical Yearbook in pdf format | Link to site and online overview

Faith in Flux: Changes in Religious Affiliation in the U.S.

"Americans change religious affiliation early and often. In total, about half of American adults have changed religious affiliation at least once during their lives. Most people who change their religion leave their childhood faith before age 24, and many of those who change religion do so more than once. These are among the key findings of a new survey conducted by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life. The survey documents the fluidity of religious affiliation in the U.S. and describes in detail the patterns and reasons for change."

Pew Research Center : Forum on Religion and Public Life

Link to Pew online report with tables and graphics

What's the Difference? - Comparing U.S. and Chinese Trade Data

"There is a large and growing difference between the official trade statistics released by the United States and the People's Republic of China. According to the United States, the 2008 bilateral trade deficit with China was $266.3 billion. According to China, its trade surplus with the United States was $170.8 billion—$95.5 billion less. This paper examines the differences in the trade data from the two nations in two ways. First, it compares the trade figures at the two digit level using the Harmonized System to discern any patterns in the discrepancies between the U.S. and Chinese data. This comparison reveals that over two-thirds of the difference in the value of China's exports to the United States is attributable to five types of goods. The second approach to examining the differing trade data involves a review of the existing literature on the technical and non-technical sources of the trade data discrepancies. This report is updated annually, after the release of official trade data by China and the United States." Source: Congressional Research Service

Download full pdf report | Link to online summary

Setting and Valuing Health Insurance Benefits

This report briefly describes some of the key concepts and policy issues around specifying and valuing health insurance benefits. "Actuarial value" is a summary measure of a health insurance plan's benefit generosity. It is expressed as the percentage of medical expenses estimated to be paid by the insurer for a standard population and set of allowed charges. An actuarial value may also be referred to as a "benefit rate." One purpose of an actuarial value is to distill all the benefit and enrollee cost-sharing provisions of a health insurance plan into a single number, for easier comparisons among plans. Source: Congressional Research Service

Download full pdf report | Link to online abstract

Million Dollar Corporate Donations Database

The NonProfit Times created this free database of corporate giving of $1 million and over. You can search by business name, location, or recipient cause.

Link to Corporate Donations Database

Executive PayWatch Database

Compensation data for the CEOs of some of the largest companies in the United States are included here in the Executive PayWatch database. If you're looking for the executive pay data at a Russell 3000 corporation, this database will lead you to the following information:

* What the CEO of your company took in last year.
* How his/her pay package compares with yours, how long you would have to work to earn what the CEO gets in one year and the number of workers at your salary the CEO's compensation would support.
* How his/her pay package compares with that of the average worker, a minimum wage earner and the president of the United States.
* A fact sheet on all of these comparisons.

Link to executive paywatch database | Link to list of 100 highest paid corporate CEOs

Source: AFL-CIO

Corporate Misgovernance at the World Bank

Abstract:

We test for evidence of corporate misgovernance at the World Bank. Most major decisions at the World Bank are made by its Board of Executive Directors. However, in any given year the majority of the Bank's member countries do not get a chance to serve on this powerful body. In this paper, we empirically investigate whether board membership leads to higher funding from the World Bank's two main development financing institutions, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA). We find that developing countries serving on the Board of Executive Directors can expect an approximate doubling of funding from the IBRD. In absolute terms, countries serving on the board are rewarded with an average $60 million "bonus" in IBRD loans. This is more likely driven by soft forces like boardroom culture rather than by the power of the vote itself. We find no significant effect in IDA funding.

Source: Harvard Business School Faculty Working papers

Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract and other HBR working papers

Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2008

"A joint effort by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and National Center for Education Statistics, this annual report examines crime occurring in school as well as on the way to and from school. It provides the most current detailed statistical information to inform the Nation on the nature of crime in schools. This report presents data on crime at school from the perspectives of students, teachers, principals, and the general population from an array of sources--the National Crime Victimization Survey, the School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, the School Survey on Crime and Safety and the School and Staffing Survey. Data on crime away from school are also presented to place school crime in the context of crime in the larger society." Source: National Center for Education Statistics

Download full pdf report | Link to online abstract

Dropping the Ax: Illegal Firings During Union Election Campaigns, 1951-2007

This report updates an earlier report from January of 2007, which found a steep rise in illegal firings of pro-union workers in the 2000s relative to the last half of the 1990s. It updates the index of the probability that a pro-union worker will be fired in the course of a union election campaign, using published data from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). It also takes into consideration the increase in card-check organizing campaigns that began in the mid-1990s and adjusts the index for this factor.

By 2007, pro-union workers involved in union election campaigns faced about a 1.8 percent chance of being illegally fired during the course of the campaign. If we assume that employers target union organizers and activists, and that union organizers and activists make up about 10 percent of pro-union workers, our estimates suggest that almost one-in-five union organizers or activists can expect to be fired as a result of their activities in a union election campaign. Since 2000, illegal firings have marred over one-in-four NLRB-sponsored union elections, reaching 30 percent of elections in 2007.

Source: Center for economic policy and research


Download full pdf report | Link to online abstract

Teen Births: Examining the Recent Increase

"This research brief explores whether the data reflect a short-term blip or a true reversal in the decline of the U.S. teen birth rate. It also considers potential explanations for the uptick in teen births, and raises data and research gaps that must be filled to inform public and private prevention efforts.

Among the findings:

--Declines in teen contraceptive use may have played some role in the teen birth rate increase. Between 2003 and 2005, a slightly greater percentage of high school girls reported using no method of birth control the last time they had sex.

--Recent declines in teen sexual activity have stalled.

--Economic hardship and the rising cost of certain birth control methods may also have made contraception less affordable for some teens.

--National data indicate a significant decline between 1995 and 2002 in the percentage of students who report having received formal contraceptive education.

This brief is based on a paper by Kristin Anderson Moore, Ph.D., that resulted from a meeting of experts and researchers convened by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy."

Download issue brief | Link to Issue Lab

God Is Back: How the Global Revival of Faith Is Changing the World

"In God Is Back, our speakers explore the thriving nature and far-reaching impact of religious faith throughout the world. Their book is an attempt to explain and understand how and why God has found his way back into the modern world. In so doing, they pay special attention to the pervasiveness of religion in America and tell us how this phenomenon will influence the global economy, politics, and more."

Talk with John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, authors

Source: Carnegie Council transcripts.

Link to transcript | Watch video of presentation | Link to audio

A Historical Look at the Power and Impact of Stimulus

"Will President Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package be an antidote for an economy that’s on life support—spurring spending and creating jobs? Or will it simply drive the federal debt to a record-high $1.75 trillion, prolong inefficient industry practices and reward bad choices, while saddling the country with crippling debt that guarantees higher inflation and taxes down the road?

Faculty from Emory University and its Goizueta Business School weighed in on the question, looking back at past jump-start packages and ahead at the likely effects of this one." Source: Knowledge@Emory

Link to online article

Report of the Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide on his mission to the Great Lakes region from 22 November to 5

"The root causes of the current conflict in the eastern part of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo are primarily political and economic and not related to
identity. However, extreme ethnic polarization and hatred have become associated
with that conflict.
The Special Adviser believes that the risk of ethnic targeting in North Kivu is
significantly pronounced above other underlying potential causes of genocide.
References to genocide having occurred in the past or allegedly going on at present
are powerfully used to predict that genocide may occur again in the future, in
particular against the Tutsi, who are popularly viewed as the principal perpetrators of
mass atrocities. The likelihood of ethnically motivated killings by armed groups and
the escalation of genocidal hysteria among the civilian populations are factors that
must be addressed in earnest. The regional dimensions of such a prospect must also
be taken into account." Source: United Nations

Download full pdf report
| Link to Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide

Statistical Profile : Mexican Immigrants in the United States

"This statistical profile provides historical data on the flow of migrants from Mexico to the U.S. The profile also describes the demographic, employment and income characteristics of Mexican immigrants in the U.S. using data from the March 2008 Current Population Survey."

Source: Pew Hispanic Center

Download full pdf factsheet

Most Now Say News Paints Mixed Economic Picture

"The latest weekly News Interest Index survey, conducted April 9-13 by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, finds that the share saying they are hearing a mix of economic news has increased across partisan lines, but most notably among Republicans. Last month, nearly twice as many Republicans said they were hearing mostly bad economic news (65%) as said they were hearing both good and bad news (33%). Today, about as many Republicans say they are hearing a mix of both good and bad economic news (50%) as say they are hearing predominantly negative news (48%). " Source: Pew Research Center for people and the press.

Download full pdf report | Download pdf topline questionnaire | Link to online summary

Baby Boomers Embracing Popular Consumer Technology Applications Nearly 20 Times Faster Than Generation Y

From the summary:

"For the past two years, Accenture has been conducting in-depth research about the usage patterns of various types of consumer technology products and services among US consumers. The data represents research completed in the winter of 2008-09 and provides direct comparisons with last winter’s 2007-08 research data. The goal was to determine if there had been any changes in usage between Baby Boomers + (age 45 and older) and Generation Y (ages 18 to 24). The research uncovered several interesting trends."

Link to key findings

Center for Responsive Politics now provides 20 years of downloadable money-in-politics data--for free

From the press release:

"For the first time in CRP's 26-year history, the nonprofit research group's most popular data archives are fully and freely downloadable for non-commercial purposes from the Center's website, OpenSecrets.org--a four-time Webby winner for best politics site online."

"...skilled data-divers can explore the information that's already aggregated on OpenSecrets.org to its full depth. Web developers and database experts can grab federal money-in-politics data that CRP's researchers have standardized and coded, and mash it up with other data sets. Timelines, charts, maps, other graphics and mobile applications are just some of the projects that could result--all powered by CRP's unparalleled data."

Link to CRP's Open Secrets data site

The Western Soundscape Archive (WSA)

"...features audio recordings of animals and environments throughout the western United States. Begun in November of 2007, the archive is housed at the University of Utah's J. Willard Marriott Library and features recordings contributed by volunteers, state and federal agencies, and conservation groups. The website continues to grow and currently includes representative sounds of approximately 80% of the West's bird species, 90% of the region’s frog and toad species, and numerous mammals and reptiles. In September of 2007, the archive was the recipient of a three-year National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)." [via ResearchBuzz]

Link to Western Soundscape Archive

Unions and Upward Mobility for Service-Sector Workers

This report uses national data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) to show that unionization raises the wages of the typical service sector worker by 10.1 percent compared to their non-union peers. The study goes on to show that unionization also increases the likelihood that a service sector worker will have health insurance and a pension. The report also notes that workers with service jobs benefit as much from unionization as workers with manufacturing jobs. Source: Center for economic and policy research

Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract

Charter Schools in Eight States : Effects on Achievement, Attainment, Integration, and Competition

Abstract:
The first U.S. charter school opened in 1992, and the scale of the charter movement has since grown to 4,000 schools and more than a million students in 40 states plus the District of Columbia. With this growth has also come a contentious debate about the effects of the schools on their own students and on students in nearby traditional public schools (TPSs). In recent years, research has begun to inform this debate, but many of the key outcomes have not been adequately examined, or have been examined in only a few states. Do the conflicting conclusions of different studies reflect real differences in effects driven by variation in charter laws and policies? Or do they reflect differences in research approaches — some of which may be biased? This book examines four primary research questions: (1) What are the characteristics of students transferring to charter schools? (2) What effect do charter schools have on test-score gains for students who transfer between TPSs and charter schools? (3) What is the effect of attending a charter high school on the probability of graduating and of entering college? (4) What effect does the introduction of charter schools have on test scores of students in nearby TPSs? Source: RAND Corporation

Download full pdf publication | Download pdf executive summary

Smokers Can't Blow Off Stress

"Ask cigarette smokers why they light up and one answer you're likely to hear is that it relieves stress.

But if that's the goal, it's not at all clear that cigarettes deliver the goods. Half (50%) of all smokers say they "frequently" experience stress in their daily lives, compared with just 35% of those who once smoked and have now quit and 31% of those who never smoked, according to a Pew Research Center Social & Demographic Trends survey conducted June 16-July16, 2008 among a nationally representative sample of 2,250 adults."

Source: Pew Research Center

Link to online memo

Cost of Florida's Ban on Adoption by GLB Individuals and Same-Sex Couples

This memo estimates the impact on children and the cost to the State of Florida of the current prohibition on adoption by gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) individuals and same-sex couples. We use data about the number of children adopted each year as a way to estimate the number of GLB individuals and same-sex couples who would be likely to serve as adoptive parents if the ban were not in place. Prohibiting GLB individuals and same-sex couples from adopting means that 165 children must remain in foster care or must have alternative adoptive homes recruited for them. As a result, we estimate that the ban costs the State of Florida over $2.5 million in per year. As explained below, this estimate is conservative since some likely additional costs are difficult to quantify. In addition, because of the current prohibition on GLB individuals and same-sex couples adopting children in Florida, it is possible that more GLB individuals and same-sex couples would be interested in adopting if the ban were lifted. We estimate that if the ban were lifted, both adoption and foster care by GLB individuals and same-sex couples would increase to the average United States level, leading to 219 children being adopted, and saving the State of Florida $3.4 million dollars in the first year. Source: The Williams Institute. U.C.L.A.

Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract

The Economics of Structured Finance

"This paper investigates the spectacular rise and fall of structured finance. HBS professor Joshua Coval, Princeton professor Jakub Jurek, and HBS professor Erik Stafford begin by examining how the structured finance machinery works. They construct simple examples of collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) that show how pooling and tranching a collection of assets permits credit enhancement of the senior claims. They then explore the challenge faced by rating agencies, examining, in particular, the parameter and modeling assumptions that are required to arrive at accurate ratings of structured finance products. They conclude with an assessment of what went wrong and the relative importance of rating agency errors, investor credulity, and perverse incentives and suspect behavior on the part of issuers, rating agencies, and borrowers." Source: HBS Working Paper Number: 09-060

Download pdf publication | Link to online summary

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: Background and Policy Issues

"U.S. ratification of the United Nations (U.N.) Convention on the Rights of the Child (hereafter referred to as CRC or the Convention) may be a key area of focus during the 111th Congress, particularly if the Barack Obama Administration seeks the advice and consent of the Senate. CRC is an international treaty that aims to protect the rights of children worldwide. It defines a child as any human being under the age of 18, and calls on States Parties to take all appropriate measures to ensure that children’s rights are protected – including the right to a name and nationality, freedom of speech and thought, access to healthcare and education, and freedom from exploitation, torture, and abuse. CRC entered into force in September 1990, and has been ratified by 183 countries, making it the most widely ratified human rights treaty in the world. Two countries, the United States and Somalia, have not ratified CRC. The President has not transmitted CRC to the Senate for its advice and consent to ratification." Source: Congressional Research Service

Download full pdf report | Link to online summary

Hispanics and the Criminal Justice System

"At a time when Latinos are interacting more than ever with police, courts and prisons, their confidence in the U.S. criminal justice system is closer to the low levels expressed by blacks than to the high levels expressed by whites, according to a pair of nationwide surveys by the Pew Research Center."


Download full pdf publication | Link to Pew Research Center

Science Watch Sci-Bytes provides Journal Impact Rankings

Thompson Reuter's provides updates on trends in science online via Science Watch. The Sci-Bytes section releases news and journal rankings in various disciplines.

A few recent releases:
Journals Ranked by Impact: Education & Educational Research


Top Journals in Education: Ranked by 2007 Impact Factor

Journals Ranked by Impact: Political Science

Active-duty military service, cohabiting unions, and the transition to marriage

"A small but growing body of research has begun to identify the consequences of military service during the all-voluntary era. In this article, we examine the relationship between military service and the likelihood that cohabiting unions will be converted into marriages. Our paper extends previous research by making a distinction between the effects of active-duty verses reserve-duty service on the transition to marriage using data from the 1979-2004 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY). Our findings indicate that there is a positive relationship between active-duty service and cohabitors transitioning to marriage." Source: Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract

Reining in the Imperial Presidency: Lessons and Recommendations Relating to the Presidency of George W. Bush

From the press release:

"The report, titled "Reining in the Imperial Presidency: Lessons and Recommendations Relating to the Presidency of George W. Bush," contains 50 separate recommendations designed to correct the imbalanced separation of power that characterized the George W. Bush presidency. Chief among Conyers’ recommendations include continued congressional investigations like those the Judiciary Committee has pursued concerning Karl Rove’s interactions with the Justice Department, a blue ribbon commission similar to the panel proposed in Chairman Conyers’ H.R. 104, and independent criminal probes to be conducted by federal prosecutors."

Source: Judiciary Chairman, U.S. House of Representatives


Download full pdf report | Link to press release

I Feel what You Feel if You Are Similar to Me

"Social interactions are influenced by the perception of others as similar or dissimilar to the self. Such judgements could depend on physical and semantic characteristics, such as membership in an ethnic or political group. In the present study we tested whether social representations of the self and of others could affect the perception of touch. To this aim, we assessed tactile perception on the face when subjects observed a face being touched by fingers. In different conditions we manipulated the identity of the shown face. In a first experiment, Caucasian and Maghrebian participants viewed a face belonging either to their own or to a different ethnic group; in a second experiment, Liberal and Conservative politically active participants viewed faces of politicians belonging to their own or to the opposite political party. The results showed that viewing a touched face most strongly enhanced the perception of touch on the observer's face when the observed face belonged to his/her own ethnic or political group."

Source: Serino A, Giovagnoli G, Làdavas E, 2009 I Feel what You Feel if You Are Similar to Me. PLoS ONE 4(3): e4930. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004930

Link to PloS ONE | Download article in pdf format

Authoritative Resources on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)

"The following list of authoritative resources is designed to assist in responding to a broad range of constituent questions and concerns about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), P.L. 111-5. Links to the full text of the act, Congressional Budget Office estimates, White House fact sheets, and federal, state, and municipal government websites are included, along with other useful information. This list reflects information that is currently available on the Internet. It will be updated regularly as other relevant material becomes available." Source: Congressional Research Service

Download full pdf report | Link to online abstract

Americans Favor Carbon Cap, Gays in the Military and Renewing U.S.-Cuba Ties

"Washington’s policy agenda has been dominated by the economy and financial crisis during President Obama’s first two months in office. Yet a number of other policy proposals are currently being considered or may emerge in the future. The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted March 9-12 among 1,308 adults, included public attitudes toward setting limits on carbon emissions, allowing gays to serve openly in the military, and re-establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba." Source: Pew research for People and the Press


Download full pdf report | Download pdf topline questionnaire |

Sharp Growth in Suburban Minority Enrollment Yields Modest Gains in School Diversity

"The student population of America's suburban public schools has shot up by 3.4 million in the past decade and a half, and virtually all of this increase (99%) has been due to the enrollment of new Latino, black and Asian students, according to an analysis of public school data by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center. Once a largely white enclave, suburban school districts in 2006-07 educated a student population that was 41.4% non-white, up from 28% in 1993-94 and not much different from the 43.7% non-white share of the nation's overall public school student population. At the same time, suburban school districts have been gaining "market share"; they educated 38% of the nation's public school students in 2006-07, up from 35% in 1993-94."

Source: Pew Hispanic Center

Download full pdf report | Link to report summary

Kinship and Family Relations

"Core aspects of the kinship system in ancient Egypt are discussed here. The six basic terms through which Egyptians expressed relationships of marriage, descent, and collaterality are considered, as well as the principles that regulated marriage and inheritance. The existence of different terms for kin groups is also taken into account. Lastly, the importance of kinship in ancient Egyptian social organization—both in Predynastic and Dynastic times—is analyzed with consideration of its prominence among the peasantry, in elite contexts, and in the world of the gods."

Source: UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology [via California eScholarship repository]

Download the full pdf report | Link to online abstract

Supreme Court of Japan

"The website of the Supreme Court of Japan provides information about the Supreme Court and the affiliated Legal Training and Research Institute. The website provides an excellent overview of the judicial system in Japan, as well as a guide to judicial proceedings in Japan. The important judgments of the Supreme Court since 1950 are available in full text HTML in English and can be searched by the date of the judgment, case number, bench type (i.e., Grand or Petty), key word, and original court. Biographies of the current justices of the Supreme Court are available with their photos. The website includes a section about the Legal Training and Research Institute, which is the national agency responsible for "nurturing persons entering the legal profession." The website is available in both Japanese and English, and is keyword-searchable." source: Cornell Law Library

Link to site: http://www.courts.go.jp/english/

(India) National Commission for Women

The National Commission for Women was set up as statutory body in January 1992 under the National Commission for Women Act, 1990 ( Act No. 20 of 1990 of Govt.of India ) to :

* review the Constitutional and Legal safeguards for women ;
* recommend remedial legislative measures ;
* facilitate redressal of grievances and
* advise the Government on all policy matters affecting women.

In keeping with its mandate, the Commission initiated various steps to improve the status of women and worked for their economic empowerment during the year under report. The Commission completed its visits to all the States/UTs except Lakshdweep and prepared Gender Profiles to assess the status of women and their empowerment. It received a large number of complaints and acted suo-moto in several cases to provide speedy justice. It took up the issue of child marriage, sponsored legal awareness programmes, Parivarik Mahila Lok Adalats and reviewed laws such as Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961, PNDT Act 1994, Indian Penal Code 1860 and the National Commission for Women Act, 1990 to make them more stringent and effective. It organized workshops/consultations, constituted expert committees on economic empowerment of women, conducted workshops/seminars for gender awareness and took up publicity campaign against female foeticide, violence against women, etc. in order to generate awareness in the society against these social evils.

Link to site: http://ncw.nic.in/

"Comparative Indicators of Education in the United States and Other G-8 Countries: 2009."

This report describes how the education system in the United States compares with education systems in the other G-8 countries--Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom. Twenty-seven indicators are organized in five sections: (1) population and school enrollment; (2) academic performance (including subsections for reading, mathematics, and science); (3) context for learning; (4) expenditure for education; and (5) education returns: educational attainment and income. This report draws on the most current information about education from four primary sources: the Indicators of National Education Systems (INES) at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Source: National Center of Education Statistics

Download full pdf report | Link to online abstract and available chapters (NCES)

Multi-Generational Housing Patterns

"While most respondents to this January 2009 survey of adults ages 18 and older said that moving in with a friend or family member was unlikely, among those who thought it was a possibility, one-third said that such a move would be due to a loss in income, while one-fifth said it would be due to a change in job status or a change in health status.

Notably, comfort in living with additional friends or family members was high, with more than four in ten respondents saying they would be comfortable with such an arrangement if it became necessary.

This telephone survey of 1,002 adults ages 18 and older was conducted for AARP by International Communications Research (ICR) from January 15 to January 19, 2009."

Source: AARP

Download full pdf report | Link to online abstract

Delaying Gratification

"Evidence shows that people may be biased towards seeking short-term rewards at the expense of greater long-term benefits. Several factors influence how biased people are likely to be towards the present. Understanding these could inform policies that encourage individuals to make important life choices that affect their own long-term interests. This note reviews evidence on the influence of time in decisionmaking, and looks at the implications for policy domains such as pensions, health and consumer affairs." Source: UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology

Download full pdf report | Link to online abstract at UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology

Losing the World's Best and Brightest

From Press Release:

Foreign National Students in U.S. Plan to Return to Native Countries Post Graduation, Kauffman Foundation Survey Shows

According to the study’s findings, very few foreign students would like to stay in the United States permanently—only 6 percent of Indian, 10 percent of Chinese and 15 percent of Europeans. And fewer foreign students than the historical norm expressed interest in staying in the United States after they graduate. Only 58 percent of Indian, 54 percent of Chinese and 40 percent of European students wish to stay for several years after graduation. Previous National Science Foundation research has shown 68 percent of foreigners who received science and engineering doctorates stayed for extended periods of time, including 73 percent of those who studied computer science. The five-year minimum stay rate was 92 percent for Chinese students and 85 percent for Indian students.

Source: Kauffman Foundation

Download full pdf report | Link to press release at Kauffman Foundation

The State Street Mile: Age and Gender Differences in Competition-Aversion in the Field

Abstract:
Gender differences in “competitiveness,” previously documented in laboratory experiments, are hypothesized to play a role in a wide array of economic outcomes. The current paper provides evidence of competition-aversion in a natural setting somewhere between the simplicity of a laboratory experiment and the full complexity and ambiguity of a labor market. The “State Street Mile” race offers both male and female participants a choice between two different levels of competition. Large, systematic age and gender differences are observed in the relationship between true ability and the decision to enter the more competitive race. Overall, qualified women and older runners are far less likely than qualified young men to enter a competitive race with cash prizes. However, the fastest young women unanimously enter the competitive race. Therefore, while we confirm age and gender differences in competitiveness in our field setting, the economic consequences to capable young women are rather small.

Source: Department of Economics, UCSB. Departmental Working Papers. Paper 02-09R.

Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract [eScholarship Repository]

Declassified and newly released : NixonTapes.org

Description:

nixontapes.org is the only website dedicated solely to the scholarly production and dissemination of digitized Nixon tape audio and transcripts. We have the most complete tape collection in existence--approximately 2,150 hours spread over 2.5 terabytes of hard drives that contain more than 6,000 audio files.** The few hours of audio that we do not have will require additional troubleshooting, and could not be converted due to more advanced technical difficulties. However, we are working through these final "problem tapes" and will make them available before anyone else does. In addition, as the remaining tapes from January through July 1973 are released by NARA, they will be added here.

Source: Nixontapes.org [via ccornell library]

Link to nixontapes.org online database

UN Report: The global economic crisis: systemic failures and multilateral remedies

"The report highlights three specific areas in which the global economy experienced systemic failures. While there are many more facets to the crisis, UNCTAD examines here some of those that it considers to be the core areas to be tackled immediately by international economic policy-makers because they can only be addressed through recognition of their multilateral dimensions." Source: United Nations Council on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

Report available in English French Spanish Chinese and Russian

Download full pdf of report in English | Link to download report in other languages

Support For Health Care Overhaul, But It's Not 1993

From Online Overview:

Most Americans believe that the nation’s health care system is in need of substantial changes. But there is less support for completely rebuilding the health care system than there was in April 1993, during the early stage of the Clinton administration’s unsuccessful effort to revamp health care.

Still, the public continues to favor the government guaranteeing health insurance for all citizens, even if it means raising taxes. About six-in-ten (61%) favor a government guarantee of health insurance, which is little changed from last August (63%).

Source: Pew Research Center for People and the Press

Download full pdf report | Download pdf topline questionnaire | Link to online overview

Digest of Education Statistics, 2008

"The 44th in a series of publications initiated in 1962, the Digest's primary purpose is to provide a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field of American education from prekindergarten through graduate school. The Digest contains data on a variety of topics, including the number of schools and colleges, teachers, enrollments, and graduates, in addition to educational attainment, finances, and federal funds for education, libraries, and international comparisons."

Source: National Center for Education Statistics

Download full pdf publication | Link to abstract and site to download separate chapters

The Myth of Equality in the Employment Relation

Partial Abstract:
Although it is widely understood that employers and employees are not equally situated, we fail adequately to account for this inequality in the law governing their relationship. We can best understand this inequality in terms of status, which encompasses one’s level of income, leisure and discretion. For a variety of misguided reasons, contract law has been historically highly resistant to the introduction of status-based principles. Courts have preferred to characterize the unfavorable circumstances that many employees face as the product of unequal bargaining power. But bargaining power disparity does not capture the moral problem raised by inequality in the employment relation, and thus, it has failed to inspire any meaningful attempt to address that inequality. By contrast, a status-based approach would motivate several common sense doctrinal changes.
Source: University of Pennsylvania Law School. Scholarship at Penn Law. Paper 265.

Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract

Literacy of Foreign-Born Adults in the United States

Abstract:
This Issue Brief draws on data from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) to explore the English literacy of foreign-born adults living in households in the United States. The brief presents the English literacy scores of foreign-born adults age 16 and older by race/ethnicity, age of arrival in the United States, years spent in the United States, highest level of educational attainment, and language spoken before starting school. Scores are reported on three literacy scales: prose, document, and quantitative. Findings indicate that English literacy scores of foreign-born adults varied across a variety of background characteristics. For example, Hispanics, who represented approximately half of foreign-born adults, had lower average prose, document, and quantitative literacy scores than their foreign-born Black, White, and Asian peers. In addition, foreign-born adults who had been in the United States the least amount of time (1 to 5 years) had lower average scores on each literacy scale than foreign-born adults who had spent the most amount of time (21 to 30 years and 31 years or more) in the country.

Source: National Center for Education Statistics

Download full pdf report | Link to online summary and data tables

Maps of Science :

"Intricate maps of science have been created from citation data to visualize the structure of scientific activity. However, most scientific publications are now accessed online. Scholarly web portals record detailed log data at a scale that exceeds the number of all existing citations combined. Such log data is recorded immediately upon publication and keeps track of the sequences of user requests (clickstreams) that are issued by a variety of users across many different domains. Given these advantages of log datasets over citation data, we investigate whether they can produce high-resolution, more current maps of science."

PlosOne Article Link | NY Times Article Link

Why Should Iowa Remain the First Presidential Primary?

From Press Release:

A new study finds that Iowa reflects the diversity of America more than most other U.S. states and is well-placed to deserve its status as the first presidential nomination primary. In particular, Iowa was found to be particularly typical of the U.S. in economic and social terms.

The research was presented in an article by political scientists Michael Lewis-Beck (University of Iowa) and Peverill Squire (University of Missouri) entitled “Iowa: The Most Representative State?” appearing in the January issue of PS: Political Science & Politics, a journal of the American Political Science Association. The article is available online.

Source: American Political Science Association

Download full pdf publication | Link to online press release

Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers: 2008

According to Current Population Survey estimates for 2008, 75.3 million American workers age 16 and over were paid at hourly rates, representing 58.2 percent of all wage and salary workers.1 On July 24, 2008, the Federal minimum wage increased to $6.55 per hour from $5.85 per hour. Data in this report reflect the average number of workers earning the prevailing Federal minimum wage or less for the year (those who earned $5.85 or less from January 2008 through July 2008 and those who earned $6.55 or less from August 2008 through the end of the year). Among those paid by the hour, 286,000 earned exactly the prevailing Federal minimum wage in 2008. About 1.9 million had wages below the minimum.2 Together, these 2.2 million workers with wages at or below the minimum made up 3.0 percent of all hourly-paid workers. Tables 1-10 present data on a wide array of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics for hourly-paid workers earning at or below the Federal minimum wage. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Download full pdf report | Link to online html version

State of the News Media 2009

From the introduction:

Even before the recession, the fundamental question facing journalism was whether the news industry could win a race against the clock for survival: could it find new ways to underwrite the gathering of news online, while using the declining revenue of the old platforms to finance the transition?

In the last year, two important things happened that have effectively shortened the time left on that clock.

First, the hastening audience migration to the Web means the news industry has to reinvent itself sooner than it thought—even if most of those people are going to traditional news destinations. At least in the short run, a bigger online audience has worsened things for legacy news sites, not helped them.

Then came the collapsing economy. The numbers are only guesses, but executives estimate that the recession at least doubled the revenue losses in the news industry in 2008, perhaps more in network television. Even more important, it swamped most of the efforts at finding new sources of revenue. In trying to reinvent the business, 2008 may have been a lost year, and 2009 threatens to be the same.

Source: Pew Project for excellence in Journalism

Link to full report in html | Link to summary online

Girl Power: Educating Girls in the 21st Century

From the foreward: "This book presents compelling evidence of the challenges for educa-tional development and the determining factors for gender inequalities— in education particularly and society more broadly.It also presents examples of country-level experiences that help us understand issues and reaffirm the business case for investing more in female education. The book is a useful reference for researchers,policy makers,and development practitioners.We hope that the key messages,examples,and recommendations summarized in its chapters will help countries implement strategic policies and actions to accelerate the move toward gender equality and the empowerment of women by 2015." Source: World Bank

Download full pdf publication | Link to publication website: World Bank

Lion and Lamb—The Strong Black Woman Gets Abused: “Afflictions of Specialness” in Post-Feminist and Post-Civil Rights Film

"Black women are an endangered species. An endangered species is defined as “anyone or anything whose continued existence is threatened.”i In both American society and popular culture, this definition holds true for African American women. If a Black woman goes missing, she will rarely, if ever, be the topic of a primetime news special. Displaced from social discourses, Black women’s assault in popular media’s hegemonic narratives is peripheral and often unnoticed." Source: UCLA Center for the Study of Women. Thinking Gender Papers. Paper TG09_Sheppard. [via eScholarship Repository]

Download full pdf report | Link to online summary

Broadband Internet Access and the Digital Divide: Federal Assistance Programs

The "digital divide" is a term that has been used to characterize a gap between "information haves and have-nots," or in other words, between those Americans who use or have access to telecommunications technologies (e.g., telephones, computers, the Internet) and those who do not. One important subset of the digital divide debate concerns high-speed Internet access, also known as broadband. Broadband is provided by a series of technologies (e.g. cable, telephone wire, satellite, wireless) that give users the ability to send and receive data at volumes and speeds far greater than current Internet access over traditional telephone lines. Broadband technologies are currently being deployed by the private sector throughout the United States. While the numbers of new broadband subscribers continue to grow, studies conducted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Department of Commerce (DOC), and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) suggest that the rate of broadband deployment in urban and high income areas may be outpacing deployment in rural and low-income areas. Some policymakers, believing that disparities in broadband access across American society could have adverse economic and social consequences on those left behind, assert that the federal government should play a more active role to avoid a "digital divide" in broadband access. One approach is for the federal government to provide financial assistance to support broadband deployment in underserved areas. Others, however, believe that federal assistance for broadband deployment is not appropriate. Some opponents question the reality of the "digital divide," and argue that federal intervention in the broadband marketplace would be premature and, in some cases, counterproductive. Legislation introduced into the 107th Congress sought to provide federal financial assistance for broadband deployment in the form of grants, loans, subsidies, and tax credits. Similar legislation has been introduced into the 108th Congress. In assessing this legislation, several policy issues arise. For example, is the current status of broadband deployment data an adequate basis on which to base policy decisions? Given the early stages of broadband deployment, is federal assistance premature, or do the risks of delaying assistance to underserved areas outweigh the benefits of avoiding federal intervention in the marketplace? And finally, if one assumes that governmental action is necessary to spur broadband deployment in underserved areas, which specific approaches, either separately or in combination, are likely to be most effective? This report will be updated as events warrant. Source: Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress

Download full pdf publication | Link to online summary

Wartime Feminists in the City of Ram: Women’s Movement in the City of Guangzhou during the Second World War

"The Second World War, better known in China as the Anti-Japanese War (1937-1945), fundamentally changed the fate of the country. Faced with this national crisis, two leading parties, the Guomindang (GMD, or the Nationalist Party) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), formed a united front to resist their common enemy, while citizens all over the country were motivated to support the cause of national salvation. People in Guangzhou, the provincial capital of Guangdong Province in southern China, were no exception. As the center of activism for Chinese revolutionaries and the capital of the Nationalist Party in the early twentieth century, wartime Guangzhou remained the gathering place where contemporary patriots created a war resistance movement and even encouraged local women to participate in the effort of national salvation. However, very few studies have been conducted on the activities and views of local female activists during this significant historical moment. This study examines the national identity of Guangzhou female activists through their war activism and self-perceptions."

Source: UCLA Center for the Study of Women. Thinking Gender Papers. Paper TG09_Cheung.
[via eScholarship repository]

Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract

Nationalism, Conflict and the Feminist Subject Among Modern Iraqi Women

Abstract: The American occupation of Iraq, now widely acknowledged in many progressive and not-necessarily progressive circles as an ill-conceived initiative, went through numerous phases in its justification. After the United States government realized that there were no weapons of mass destruction to be found in the country, its rhetoric in framing the war shifted quickly to emphasize democracy, a significant element of which was the liberation of women. This argument used Iraq as a symbol for the backward and traditional stereotypes of the Middle East, and emphasized its despotic government and ‘tribal’ mentality to frame the invasion as an effort in the name of humanity’s collective progress toward Western modernity. Considerable ink has been spilled elsewhere contesting and condemning that narrative; I will not take up the question of its validity today. Instead, I would like to discuss some of the ways that Iraqi women are now articulating and remembering Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, particularly the situation for women therein, and the manner in which those narratives can be understood as a response and a resistance to the American decision to frame the occupation in terms of women’s rights.

Source: UCLA Center for the Study of Women. Thinking Gender Papers. Paper TG09_Macdougall.

Download full pdf report | Link to online abstract

Many Would Shrug if Their Local Newspaper Closed

Limbaugh Flap Draws More Coverage Than Interest

As many newspapers struggle to stay economically viable, fewer than half of Americans (43%) say that losing their local newspaper would hurt civic life in their community “a lot.” Even fewer (33%) say they would personally miss reading the local newspaper a lot if it were no longer available.

Not unexpectedly, those who get local news regularly from newspapers are much more likely than those who read less often to see the potential shutdown of a local paper as a significant loss. More than half of regular newspaper readers (56%) say that if the local newspaper they read most often no longer published – either in print or online – it would hurt the civic life of the community a lot; an almost identical percentage (55%) says they would personally miss reading the paper a lot if it were no longer available.

Pew Research Center for the People and the Press

Download full pdf report | Download topline questionnaire | Link to online summary

Presidential Records: Issues for the 111th Congress

Most records of recent former Presidents and former Vice Presidents are required by statute to be turned over to the National Archives and Records Administration at the end of each administration. These records are then disclosed to the public, unless the Archivist of the United States, the incumbent President, or the appropriate former President claims the records should be kept private. On his first full day in office, President Barack Obama issued an executive order (E.O. 13489), rescinding E.O. 13233, changing substantially the presidential record preservation policies promulgated by the George W. Bush Administration. E.O. 13489 grants the incumbent President and the relevant former Presidents 30 days to review records prior to their being released to the public. Under the policies of the Bush Administration, the incumbent President, former Presidents, former Vice Presidents, and their designees were granted broad authority to deny access to presidential documents or to delay their release indefinitely. Moreover, former Presidents had 90 days to review whether requested documents should be released. Prior to President Obamas issuance of E.O. 13489, legislation was introduced in the 111th Congress (H.R. 35) that would statutorily rescind the executive order (E.O. 13233) issued by former President George W. Bush. E.O. 13233 allowed the incumbent President as well as former Presidents whose records were affected to withhold from public disclosure the records of former Presidents and Vice Presidents or to delay their release indefinitely under claims of executive privilege. In addition to statutorily overturning E.O. 13233, H.R. 35 would reduce the time a President would have review his records prior to their public release. This report will analyze President Barack Obamas E.O. 13489, and discuss its departure from the policies of the previous administration. Additionally, this report will examine H.R. 35 and its possible legislative effects on the presidential records policies of the Obama Administration.

Source: Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress

Download full pdf report | Link to online abstract

Why Surveys of Muslim Americans Differ

Muslim Americans are a population of great interest to scholars, journalists and policy makers in the U.S. Yet because Muslims make up a very small percentage of the total U.S. public, it is extremely difficult to interview a large enough sample to provide a reliable picture of their views, experiences and demographic characteristics.

Source:Pew Research Center : Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life

Read entire article online

Statistical Portrait of the Foreign-Born Population in the United States

"This statistical profile of the foreign-born population is based on Pew Hispanic Center tabulations of the Census Bureau's 2007 American Community Survey (ACS). The ACS is the largest household survey in the United States, with a sample of about 3 million addresses. It covers virtually the same topics as those in the long form of the decennial census. The ACS is designed to provide estimates of the size and characteristics of the resident population, which includes persons living in households and, for the first time, persons living in group quarters."
Source: Pew Hispanic Center

Download full pdf of all tables (1-36) | Link to Pew site to download data tables individually.

One in Four California Adolescent Girls Have Had Human Papillomavirus Vaccination

Abstract:
This policy brief looks at awareness and utilization of the Human Papillomavirus vaccine among girls age 13 years and older as well as among young women. Interest in receiving the vaccine, as well reasons for not getting the vaccine, is also explored for teen girls, young women and the parents of age-eligible daughters. Using data from the 2007 California Health Interview Survey, the authors find that one-quarter of California adolescent girls have started the series of shots that protect against HPV, a virus strongly linked to cervical cancer. Additionally, a majority of teen girls, parents and young women in California say they would like to have the vaccine. The research represents the first data on HPV vaccine use and acceptability published for any state. This policy brief was funded by the National Cancer Institute.

Source: UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

Download publication pdf | Link to online abstract

Half a Million Older Californians Living Alone Unable to Make Ends Meet

Abstract:
Using the Elder Economic Security Standard™ Index (Elder Index), the authors of this policy brief find that nearly half a million elders (495,000) living alone in California in 2007 could not make ends meet—lacking sufficient income to pay for a minimum level of housing, food, health care, transportation and other basic expenses. The authors find particular cost inequities for elderly renters, for Latinos, women and the very old and find the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) that many programs use as part of eligibility guidelines is inadequate to support the needs of many seniors in California. The Elder Index is an estimation tool based on the actual cost in each county of basic necessities for older adults. This policy brief presents the first data on older Californians using the 2007 Elder Index. The supporting materials web page includes additional detailed county by county information. This analysis in this report was supported by: UCOP-California Program on Access to Care, Los Angeles County Area Agency on Aging, Aging & Independent Services of San Diego and the Insight Center for Community Economic Development.

Source: UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. Paper 112.

Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract

The Role of Gender, Religion and Friendship in the Perception of the “Other

Abstract:
This paper reports some results from a large scale national study of attitudes towards Islam and Muslims amongst Australian secondary students. Wide-spread negative stereotypes and the relatively new presence of the Muslim community in Australia tend to suggest non-Muslim students may not be well informed, while the longstanding multicultural posture of educational policy suggests otherwise. Variation in response between boys and girls, religion or non-religious affiliated also revealed a high level of significance. Specifically girls and students in non-religious schools were more accepting of Muslims. It was found that having a friend who is Muslim is significantly associated with reduced prejudice towards Muslims. While non-Muslim students agree that acceptance of Muslims does not come easily in Australia, school does not emerge as a site for change. The findings show Australian students are generally ignorant about Muslims and Islam, and few believe that schools are filling the gaps in their knowledge

Source: U.C. Irvine: World Cultures eJournal: Vol. 17: No. 1, Article 2.

Download publication in pdf | Link to online abstract

Harvard Law Library : Studies in Scarlet

"Studies in Scarlet presents the images of over 420 separately published trial narratives from the Harvard Law School Library's extensive trial collections. Included are a number of trials of the wealthy and renowned such as an account of the adultery trial of Caroline, Queen Consort of George IV, the sodomy trial of Oscar Wilde, and the trial of Harry Thaw for the murder of Stanford White, the famous architect who was Evelyn Nesbit Thaw's lover. The larger part of the collection, however, consists of the stories of ordinary men and women thrust into the public eye when their marriages and love affairs went wrong or their relationships did not conform to social standards."

"Studies in Scarlet includes American, British, and Irish cases 1815-1914 involving domestic violence, bigamy, seduction, breach of promise to marry, and the custody of children, as well as trials for murder and rape. These trials are especially rich sources for the study of the history of women in early modern society."

Link to Studies in Scarlet

Declassified Documents via the Parallel History Project on Cooperative Security

The Parallel History Project on Cooperative Security (PHP, the former Parallel History Project on NATO and the Warsaw Pact), provides new scholarly perspectives on contemporary international history by collecting, publishing, and interpreting formerly secret governmental documents.

In response to the declassification of NATO records and the growing availability of documents from archives in Eastern and Central Europe, PHP as a cooperative undertaking of more than twenty partner institutes brings together leading Cold War historians, archivists, and government officials. The findings are presented to the specialist academic community at conferences and published both in print and on the PHP website.

Since its establishment in 1999, the project has collected thousands of pages of material on security-related issues of the Cold War, published a large number of online documentaries and publications on central issues such as mutual threat perceptions and alliance management, and organized several major international conferences on war planning, intelligence, and intra-bloc tensions.

The thrust of PHP research interest is in the recent historical origins and development of current security issues and institutions on the basis of newly available documentary evidence.

Supported by the International Relations Security Network.

Link to PHP Website

Association of Religion Data Archives

The ARDA allows you to interactively explore the highest quality data on American and international religion using online features for generating national profiles, GIS maps, church membership overviews, denominational heritage trees, tables, charts, and other reports. Over 450 surveys and other data collections are available for online preview and virtually all can be downloaded free of charge.

The ARDA is based in the Department of Sociology at The Pennsylvania State University. Their is to preserve and provide access to high-quality data on religion in the United States and abroad. ARDA is funded by the Lilly Endowment and the John Templeton Foundation.

Link to the Association of Religion Data Archives

Language And Gender: The Mass Media’s Portrayal Of Two U.S. Presidential Candidates

Abstract:
The presence of Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin during the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign raised new questions about bias and sexism in the media’s portrayal of the candidates. The recent commemorative inaugural edition of Newsweek noted that “Clinton’s campaign for the presidency showed us how far we’ve come on women’s rights – and how far we haven’t come” (109). While Obama and Clinton were vying for the Democratic nomination, the March 17, 2008 Newsweek issue featured a picture of Hillary Clinton and the title “Hear Her Roar: Gender, Class, and Hillary Clinton”. Two online media sources at the time asked if “media outlets [were] biased against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton due to her gender” (www.capitolhillblue.com) and if “Hillary Clinton’s campaign [was] the victim of sexism” (www.redblueamerica.com). As Talbot (2007) notes in Media Discourse: Representation and Interaction, “[in] modern democracies the media serve a vital function as a public forum” (3). Considering the media’s effects on the nation and the public’s ideas, it is essential to analyze the language and discourse of the media during critical moments in national histories such as presidential campaigns.
Sources: UCLA Center for the Study of Women. Thinking Gender Papers. Paper TG09_Avineri. [via eScholarship repository]

Download full pdf publication | Link to online abstract

As Baby Boomers Age, Fewer Families Have Children Under 18 at Home

From the press release:

The findings come from America’s Families and Living Arrangements: 2008, a collection of 2008 Current Population Survey (CPS) statistics on family and nonfamily households, characteristics of single-parent families, living arrangements of children and data on married and unmarried couples. The CPS has been conducted annually since 1940.

“Decreases in the percentage of families with their own child under 18 at home reflect the aging of the population and changing fertility patterns,” said Rose Kreider, family demographer at the U.S. Census Bureau. “In 2008, not only were baby boomers old enough that most of their children were 18 and over, but they were having fewer kids than their parents, as well.”

In 1950, 52 percent of family households had their own child under 18. During the years when the baby boomers were young, this percentage increased, reaching 57 percent in the early 1960s. In 2008, however, when the baby boomers were about ages 44 to 62, and likely to be householders themselves, the percentage of families with a child had declined to 46 percent.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

America's Families and Living Arrangements: Link to detailed tables

U.S. Department of State: The State Department’s 2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

"The reports themselves are based on information that we have received from governments, multilateral institutions, from national and international nongovernmental groups, and from academics, jurists, religious groups and the media. They have gone through a lengthy process of checking and cross-checking. As we present these reports, the Department of State remains mindful of the both international and domestic scrutiny of our own human rights record." Source: U.S. Department of State

Link to site for country by country reports

SPLC Report: Hate Group Numbers Up By 54% Since 2000

The Southern Poverty Law Center identified 926 hate groups active in 2008, up more than 4 percent from the 888 groups in 2007 and far above the 602 groups documented in 2000.

As in recent years, hate groups were animated by fears of Latino immigration. This rise in hate groups has coincided with a 40 percent growth in hate crimes against Latinos between 2003 and 2007, according to FBI statistics.

Two new factors were introduced to the volatile hate movement in 2008: the faltering economy and the Obama campaign.

Link to the "Year in Hate" | Link to list and interactive, state-by-state map of hate groups

Beyond the Bubble: Technology and the Future of Student Assessment

From the online summary:

Students today are growing up in a world overflowing with a variety of high-tech tools, from computers and video games to increasingly sophisticated mobile devices. And unlike adults, these students don't have to adjust to the information age—it will be all they've ever known. Their schools are gradually following suit, integrating a range of technologies both in and outside of the classroom for instructional use. But there's one day a year when laptops power down and students' mobile computing devices fall silent, a day when most schools across the country revert to an era when whiteboards were blackboards, and iPhones were just a twinkle in some techie's eye—testing day.

Source: Education Sector

Download full pdf report | Link to online summary

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

State-by-State Estimates of Key Provisions Affecting Low- and Moderate-Income Individuals

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is designed to boost employment and the economy. It contains a number of spending and tax measures crafted to inject more aggregate demand into the sagging economy. This paper provides state-by-state estimates for a number of the major spending and tax provisions that will affect low- and moderate-income Americans (some provisions cannot be allocated on a state-by-state basis).

The provisions providing relief to low- and moderate-income families and to states facing serious budget shortfalls are among the most effective economic stimulus in the package. Low-income and unemployed families will spend benefits or tax refunds quickly to meet household expenses. The state fiscal relief will lessen the degree to which states will have to enact very painful budget cuts and tax increases, both of which have a negative effect on the economy. In addition, the measures included in the package will help avert severe hardship among low-income populations and preserve some needed state and local services.

The paper provides short descriptions and tables with estimated state-by-state impacts of several key provisions. These estimates are based on the best available data to CBPP. The agencies that administer these programs will provide the official allocations of formula grants in the coming days.

Source: Center on Budget Policy and Priorities

Download full pdf report | Link to CBPP - download site

Budget of the United States Government Fiscal Year 2010

Budget of the United States Government — Fiscal Year 2010: The Budget Documents
Available as one document or download individual departments/agencies

Source:United States Office of Management and Budget

Download full budget document in pdf format (A new era of Responsibility) | Link to download site for various departments/agencies

New Statistical Yearbook for Latin America and the Caribbean, 2008

The Yearbook is divided into four chapters:

* Demographic and social areas, with special attention to gender;
* Economical statistics such as prices, international trade, balance of payments and national accounts;
* Information on natural resources and the environment;
* Methodological aspects and other data on sources, definitions and coverage of the statistics cited.

The document can be fully downloaded in PDF format. Also, it is possible to access to the statistical chart in Excel format. The extension of the data series that can be downloaded in Excel format vary depending on the thematic area and on each indicator or statistic.

Download full pdf report | Link to site for downloading files including data tables

A Rising Share: Hispanics and Federal Crime

From Online Summary:

Sharp growth in illegal immigration and increased enforcement of immigration laws have altered the ethnic composition of offenders sentenced in federal courts. In 2007, Latinos accounted for 40% of all sentenced federal offenders-more than triple their share (13%) of the total U.S. adult population. The share of all sentenced offenders who were Latino in 2007 was up from 24% in 1991, according to an analysis of data from the United States Sentencing Commission (USSC) by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center. Moreover, by 2007, immigration offenses represented nearly one-quarter (24%) of all federal convictions, up from just 7% in 1991. Among those sentenced for immigration offenses in 2007, 80% were Hispanic.

Source: Pew Hispanic Center

Download full pdf report | Link to online summary

Military Recruitment Provisions Under the No Child Left Behind Act: A Legal Analysis

Online Summary:

Under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) of 2001, which amended the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), high schools that receive federal funds must provide certain student contact information to military recruiters upon request and must allow recruiters to have the same access to students as employers and colleges. Because the 111th Congress is likely to consider reauthorization of the ESEA, legislators may contemplate changes to the military recruitment provisions, either as part of the reauthorization or as stand-alone legislation. Currently, one bill, S. 87, has been introduced in the 111th Congress. This report describes the NCLBA military recruitment provisions and discusses the legal issues that they may raise.

Source: Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress

Download full pdf publication | Link to online summary