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92. Responding to Change: The New World of Oil and Gas
- Author:
- Bill White(Chair) and Leonard Coburn(Rapporteur)
- Publication Date:
- 09-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Aspen Institute
- Abstract:
- Improved technology has led to enhanced oil and gas productivity at lower cost and significant production increases in the United States and Canada, dramatically changing energy perspectives. The shift from energy scarcity toward abundance is requiring new energy policies. The potential for the United States to become a net exporter of oil and gas changes American views of energy dependency. Shifts in global energy demand growth from developed to less developed countries, and especially to the Asia-Pacific region, require understanding of changing global energy trade. American energy will flow to markets where scarcity is the largest. Canada and the United States are reaping the benefits of this new world of oil and gas. Mexico will lag behind unless it addresses its chronic problems. Without reform, Mexico could become a net importer of all its hydrocarbons, a fundamental change from its current status. Responding to these changes will require knowledge, foresight, and strategies that are bold and comprehensive.
- Topic:
- Economics, Energy Policy, Environment, Oil, and Natural Resources
- Political Geography:
- United States, America, Canada, and Mexico
93. The Future of the U.S. Electricity Sector
- Author:
- Bill Dickenson (Co-Chair), Phil Sharp (Co-Chair), and Dave Grossman (Rapporteur)
- Publication Date:
- 09-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Aspen Institute
- Abstract:
- The future of the U.S. electricity sector is hard to foresee – and it is never wise to overpay one's fortune tellers – but there appear to be some key trends and technologies that may reshape future electricity markets and determine the innovativeness, resilience, security, and global competitiveness of the sector. Discussions of the sector's past, present, and future formed the heart of the 2013 Aspen Institute Energy Policy Forum. This report summarizes and organizes some of the key insights from those discussions.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Economics, Energy Policy, Environment, Markets, and Natural Resources
- Political Geography:
- United States
94. Toward a Single, Global Digital Economy: The First Report of the Aspen Institute IDEA Project
- Publication Date:
- 04-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Aspen Institute
- Abstract:
- 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
95. Networks and Citizenship: Using Technology for Civic Innovation
- Author:
- Jeffrey Abramson
- Publication Date:
- 04-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Aspen Institute
- Abstract:
- In any robust understanding of democracy, citizenship is a crucial component of self-government. In turn, the free flow of information, the accuracy of that information, opportunities to participate in the affairs of government and a sense of civic engagement with others are crucial components of citizenship. In evaluating these components, participants in the 2011 Aspen Institute Forum on Communications and Society (FOCAS) explored how best to take citizenship digital. Participants gathered to take stock of innovative ways that citizens can use information and communication technologies (ICTs) to better practice the core—but often unrealized—ideals of citizen participation and empowerment.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Globalization, Science and Technology, Communications, and Governance
96. A Northern Tiger? Canada's Economic and Fiscal Renaissance and its Implications for the United States
- Author:
- Jeremy A. Leonard
- Publication Date:
- 03-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Aspen Institute
- Abstract:
- 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
- Political Geography:
- United States and Canada
97. Updating Rules of the Digital Road: Privacy, Security, Intellectual Property
- Author:
- Richard P. Adler
- Publication Date:
- 03-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Aspen Institute
- Abstract:
- The Internet is rapidly becoming the main thoroughfare over which the vital functions of society—communications, commerce, news, finance, civic and government affairs—are carried. The Net has already had enormous impact on a range of industry sectors, ranging from retailing and financial services to publishing and entertainment, and it has begun to reshape critical institutions, ranging from education to health care. Virtually every enterprise, no matter what business it is in, has been touched in multiple ways by the digital revolution: functions such as advertising, business intelligence, research, sales, orders, payments, logistics and even the management of daily activities have moved online. Internet-driven connectivity has made the world increasingly "flat" by creating a global marketplace. Government agencies at all levels are in the midst of putting their functions online in order to increase efficiency of operations and enhance transparency. Social media have emerged as a new way for people-especially young people-to connect with one other and express their individuality. These online tools have also demonstrated the capacity to organize political action and to galvanize resistance to repressive regimes, even as they strive to exercise control over these grassroots networks. Wireless media have extended the reach of the Net to the entire world. A series of reports from the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program have documented these tectonic shifts (see table) and explored some of the issues that they are raising.
- Topic:
- Security, Science and Technology, Communications, and Intellectual Property/Copyright
98. Family Planning is the Missing Investment
- Publication Date:
- 03-2012
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Aspen Institute
- Abstract:
- 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
99. Reinventing Health Care
- Author:
- Basit Chaudhry deBronkart, Carole Roan Gresenz, Joseph Hutter, Anjali Jain, Brent C. James, Shawn Martin, Lewis Mattison, Daniel L. Newton, Anthony Nguyen, Brent Parton, Kavita Patel, and Steven Weinberger
- Publication Date:
- 03-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Aspen Institute
- Abstract:
- In many respects, the U.S. health care system is breathtakingly innovative. It produces new technology, medical procedures, and scientific knowledge at a dazzling speed, enabling patient store cover from diseases and injuries once thought incurable or untreatable. As a consequence, the U.S. has one of the highest survival rates for cancers, excels at acute and trauma care, and has produced half of the world's Nobel laureates.
- Topic:
- Science and Technology and Health Care Policy
- Political Geography:
- United States
100. The Freedom Savings Credit: A Practical Step to Build Americans' Household Balance Sheets
- Author:
- 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.
- Topic:
- Security, Debt, Economics, and Financial Crisis
- Political Geography:
- United States and America