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582. Federal Reserve Policy in the Great Recession
- Author:
- Allan H. Meltzer
- Publication Date:
- 06-2012
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Cato Journal
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Overresponse to short-run events and neglect of longer-term consequences of its actions is one of the main errors that the Federal Reserve makes repeatedly. The current recession offers many examples of actions that some characterize as bold and innovative. I regard many of these actions as inappropriate for an allegedly independent central bank because they involve credit allocation, fill the Fed's portfolio with an unprecedented volume of long-term assets, evade or neglect the dual mandate, distort the credit markets, and initiate other actions that are not the responsibility of a central bank.
- Political Geography:
- America
583. Banking Dysfunction
- Author:
- James A. Grant
- Publication Date:
- 06-2012
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Cato Journal
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- "Has anyone bothered to study the cumulative effect of all these things?" the chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase reasonably inquired of the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board at a bankers gathering in Atlanta last June. The CEO, Jamie Dimon, was referring to the combination of cyclical hangover and regulatory constriction. The chairman, Ben Bernanke, replied, "It's just too complicated. We don't really have the quantitative tools to do that" (Grant and Masters 2011: 1).
- Political Geography:
- America
584. America's Voluntary Standards System--A "Best Practice" Model for Innovation Policy?
- Author:
- Dieter Ernst
- Publication Date:
- 02-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- East-West Center
- Abstract:
- For its proponents, America's voluntary standards system is a "best practice" model for innovation policy. Foreign observers however are concerned about possible drawbacks of a standards system that is largely driven by the private sector. There are doubts, especially in Europe and China, whether the American system can balance public and private interests in times of extraordinary national and global challenges to innovation.
- Topic:
- Development, Globalization, Industrial Policy, International Trade and Finance, Science and Technology, Intellectual Property/Copyright, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- China, America, and Europe
585. The Status and Future of International Law after the Libya Intervention
- Author:
- Pierre Thielbörger
- Publication Date:
- 06-2012
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Goettingen Journal of International Law
- Institution:
- The Goettingen Journal of International Law
- Abstract:
- This article uses the case of the Libya intervention to address three general claims about international law. Firstly, it examines whether the reliance of the intervention on the mechanisms of collective security under the UN Charter suggests that international law relating to peace and security has finally overcome its post-9/11 crisis. It concludes that the resolution's vague wording – which makes the distinction between what is “legal” under the resolution, and what is not, hard to draw – undermines such an assumption. Secondly, it explores whether the Libya intervention has put new emphasis on what has been termed the “emerging right of democratic governance”. In spite of the underlying democracy-enhancing spirit of the execution of the intervention, Resolution 1973 was exclusively written in the language of human rights. It did little to indicate a changed attitude of States towards a norm of democratic governance. Finally, the article examines whether the case of Libya shows a renewed international attitude towards States which violate the most fundamental human rights of their citizens. The article concludes by suggesting that, in this third respect, a more muscular liberalism is indeed on the rise again in international law, challenging the formerly almighty concept of State sovereignty. In contributing to this subtle transformation, the Libyan case has made a genuine contribution to the development of the international legal order.
- Topic:
- Security, Human Rights, and International Law
- Political Geography:
- America, Libya, and United Nations
586. 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
587. Accomplished and Embattled: Understanding Obama's Presidency
- Author:
- Theda Skocpol and Lawrence R. Jacobs
- Publication Date:
- 05-2012
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Political Science Quarterly
- Institution:
- Academy of Political Science
- Abstract:
- Hope soared as Barack Obama and his beaming family strode onto the stage in Chicago's Grant Park on 5 November 2008. The election night mood was accentuated by tears of affirmation streaming down the face of longtime civil rights leader Jesse Jackson and lifted by graciousness from defeated GOP candidate John McCain, who congratulated the nation's first African American president-elect for having “achieved a great thing for himself and for his country.” Only a day after a bruising election, two thirds of Americans described themselves as optimistic and proud after Obama's victory. Most Americans yearned for a reduction in partisan bitterness and for united efforts to cope with a deepening economic crisis and ensure opportunity for all.
- Political Geography:
- Africa, America, and Chicago
588. Collision Course: Ronald Reagan, the Air Traffic Controllers, and the Strike that Changed America
- Author:
- Ivan Osorio
- Publication Date:
- 06-2012
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Cato Journal
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- President Ronald Reagan's firing of more than 12,000 illegally striking air traffic controllers in August 1981 is widely considered a defining moment both for Reagan's presidency and for American organized labor. For Reagan, it was the first of many lines in the sand he drew during his presidency. For organized labor, it marked an assault from an anti-union president determined to prevail against a Democratic constituency.
- Political Geography:
- America
589. U.S.-China Competition in Asia: Legacies Help America
- Author:
- Robert Sutter
- Publication Date:
- 02-2012
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- East-West Center
- Abstract:
- As Sino-American competition for influence enters a new stage with the Obama administration's re-engagement with Asia, each power's legacies in the region add to economic, military and diplomatic factors determining which power will be more successful in the competition. How the United States and China deal with their respective histories in regional affairs and the role of their non-government relations with the Asia- Pacific represent important legacies that on balance favor the United States.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Arms Control and Proliferation, Diplomacy, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Bilateral Relations
- Political Geography:
- United States, China, America, and Asia
590. The Emerging Strategic Dynamic in Southeast Asia
- Author:
- Marvin C. Ott
- Publication Date:
- 01-2012
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- East-West Center
- Abstract:
- Southeast Asia, long quiescent in a turbulent international environment, has suddenly become the focal point of what promises to be the signature strategic contest of the 21st century—between the United States and China. But the evolving dynamic is far more complex than a simple binary face-off between an established superpower and an emerging rival. The overarching backdrop is the profound and ongoing economic transformation of Asia. Three centuries of global economic, political and military domination by the industrialized West has given way to a fundamentally new configuration. Economic modernization that began with Japan has spread to the Sinicized populations of the region and beyond, including Southeast Asia. The global center of economic gravity has shifted westward across the Pacific—and economics is the foundation of power. The world has entered the oft-touted “Asia-Pacific Century.”
- Topic:
- Cold War, Communism, and Power Politics
- Political Geography:
- United States, China, America, and Southeast Asia