The Internet is the most robust medium of information exchange in history. Two billion people are now connected, and at current growth rates everyone with Internet access will join the Internet community within a decade. Barring technological and political disruptions, the world's populace will then be on a single common digital platform. The global medium can provide unparalleled personal well-being, economic growth and beneficial social change.
Topic:
Democratization, Economics, Globalization, Political Economy, Science and Technology, Communications, and Regime Change
As the United States struggles to find a politically acceptable and economically sensible solution to its severe fiscal crisis, hidden in plain sight just North of the 49th parallel is an example that ought to be considered more carefully. Quietly, but steadily, under governments of all political stripes, Canada has profoundly re-structured its economy, gotten its fiscal house in order, created a competitive business tax environment, and come into its own as a strong economic player in North America and beyond.
Topic:
Debt, Economics, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Bilateral Relations
Investments in family planning yield demonstrated social and economic returns in all sectors—food, water, health, economic development—yet are one of the least well-funded areas in global health. More than 215 million women want the ability to choose when and how many children to have yet do not have access to voluntary family planning services.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Gender Issues, Health, and Food
Lisa Mensah, Raymond O'Mara III, Colby Farber, and Robert Weinberger
Publication Date:
02-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
The imbalance of too much debt and not enough assets fuels financial insecurity in many American households. Building Americans' household balance sheets should start with making savings and asset-building incentives more efficient and equitable. Although millions of working Americans currently receive little or no tax incentive to save, modest reforms to our tax code have the potential to dramatically improve their financial futures. The Aspen Institute Initiative on Financial Security (Aspen IFS) proposes the Freedom Savings Credit to create a more equitable and economically efficient savings system that will benefit millions of American households and the nation as a whole.
The relationship between population dynamics and economic expansion is complex, but demographic changes play an important role in national development. While it is widely accepted that population growth rates do not have any consistent effect on economic growth, there is one set of population changes that can result in major economic benefits, as well as improved well - being for families and societies. This powerful opportunity is known as the demographic dividend, and it offers the potential to boost economic growth and poverty reduction — but only if government leaders implement sound policies.
Topic:
Demographics, Economics, Government, and Health Care Policy
Today America finds a new market force emerging: companies that achieve an intimate connection between profit and purpose. And these businesses are supported by a developing system of investors and other financial actors that seek to place capital in firms that are achieving social impact. A new trail is being blazed for our country – open, far-reaching, transformative, offering an opportunity for renewal and growth. This is the Impact Economy.
Topic:
Economics, Industrial Policy, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Monetary Policy
The question is never whether the United States has an energy policy. It has dozens. They come with various decision-makers at overlapping levels of authority, ample numbers of stakeholders, and generally lots of confusing and often contradictory signals.
Topic:
Climate Change, Economics, Energy Policy, and Environment
Critics of the Social Security program are fond of disparaging it as a "Ponzi" scheme or as a redistributive transfer of income from the young to the old. Others go even further, labeling the Social Security trust fund as a fiction or claiming the program is bankrupt. Some also suggest that the government bonds held in the trust fund are mere IOUs. Still others say that the program's legal basis is ephemeral, subject to the whims of Congress.
Over the course of the past generation, but especially since the World Wide Web emerged in 1994, digital technologies have been transforming the nature of work, the architectures of markets and the inner dynamics of organizations. They have also been altering the global economy and national cultures, which in turn is forcing governments to change how they build infrastructure, meet social needs and provide services.
Topic:
Economics, Education, Globalization, Government, International Trade and Finance, and Science and Technology
The last 18 months have dealt a devastating blow to Americans' sense of financial security. Few have been untouched by the financial crisis. For many, wealth accumulated over years of saving and investing has disappeared almost overnight. For many more, the economic crisis has imperiled their jobs, their ability to provide for their families, and their optimism about the future.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Financial Crisis