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111. First Hundred Days Plan

Author:
Committee for Economic Development of the Conference Board
Publication Date:
12-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The Conference Board
Abstract:
The Committee for Economic Development of The Conference Board prepared the following analysis and recommendations in the spirit of our founding members, America’s foremost business leaders during World War II, who came together to solve our nation’s crucial postwar economic and social challenges. Similarly, business leaders today, hand-in-hand with policymakers and the American public, must provide a thoughtful response to the COVID-19 crisis and restore confidence in capitalism and our democratic institutions. CED respectfully offers its nonpartisan analysis and recommendations for the first 100 days of the new administration to build a stronger, more resilient, and more responsive economy that provides opportunity and prosperity for all Americans. The objective is to overcome the public health challenge, safely reopen the economy, and get our nation on a path to high levels of employment, production, and consumption—to put our country back to work safely, making capitalism benefit all Americans.
Topic:
Employment, Capitalism, Economy, Public Health, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

112. COVID-19’s Impact on Women in the Workplace: Avoiding a Major Setback

Author:
Committee for Economic Development of the Conference Board
Publication Date:
12-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Conference Board
Abstract:
The disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on industries where women are heavily concentrated combined with the virus’s debilitating impact on child care options and in-person schooling threatens progress in the integration and representation of women in the US economy. Even if the reversal proves temporary, as is likely, the career consequences of the pandemic for individual women could have long-lasting effects and slow future progress.1 When talented workers sit on the sidelines or are prevented from fully contributing to the workforce, those workers are not the only ones affected. The economic strength of the entire nation suffers for the duration of those workers’ entire careers, and employers miss out on an important competitive resource. Thus, the impact of COVID-19 on women is a first-order national concern. Women are a vital part of the American labor force, both as nearly half of workers, and, as the primary facilitators of work by others through formal and informal caretaking roles. Even if progress in more fully integrating women into all aspects and levels of the economy has, at times, been slow, it has also been one of the most important sources of strength for the American economy over the past half century.3 The continued lowering of barriers and further economic integration of women into all fields and roles in proportion to their talents remains one of the surest paths to increasing the size, skill, and contributions to innovation of the American workforce.4
Topic:
Women, Employment, Inequality, Economy, COVID-19, and Workforce
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

113. Today’s Infrastructure Improvements Will Drive Tomorrow’s Economy

Author:
Committee for Economic Development of the Conference Board
Publication Date:
03-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Conference Board
Abstract:
Few issues enjoy such broad bipartisan consensus as the failings of American infrastructure. Roughly two-thirds of Americans rate their own local roads as only in fair or poor condition, and a similar proportion say that the country is not doing enough to meet infrastructure needs, making infrastructure a top-tier issue in 2020. With Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin signaling that infrastructure spending is a priority for the administration if economic stimulus is required to address slowdowns in the economy due to COVID-19, the US approach to infrastructure projects is poised to become an even more pressing issue. Modern, effective infrastructure is an essential requirement for national commerce—and for growing and widely shared prosperity—even as changes in technology drive changes in infrastructure requirements. While definitions vary, a 2019 Trump administration executive order defined infrastructure projects as those relating to surface transportation; aviation; ports; water resources projects; energy production, generation, storage, transmission, and distribution; broadband internet; pipelines; stormwater and sewer infrastructure; drinking water infrastructure; and cybersecurity. Efficient investment in cutting-edge infrastructure connects businesses and workers to more opportunities, increases productivity, and undergirds American competitiveness. Thus, US infrastructure is vital to sustain capitalism and maintain US economic leadership. However, the US routinely lags other advanced nations in infrastructure quality and, when considering the size of its economy, infrastructure investment.
Topic:
Economics, Infrastructure, and Economy
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

114. Smart Regulation in a Post-COVID-19 Economy

Author:
Committee for Economic Development of the Conference Board
Publication Date:
04-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Conference Board
Abstract:
The COVID-19 pandemic has put regulation issues front and center in every American’s life. Within a few short weeks, 41 out of 50 states have issued stay-at-home orders,1 and regulations governing many other aspects of all Americans’ public lives are now imposed because of COVID-19. Among a long list of constraints, nonessential businesses, many of them small businesses, have been required to cease or sharply curtail their services. Schools have been closed, access to parks and outdoor spaces has been restricted, and other staples of all Americans’ public lives, including large gatherings, have been restricted. On the other hand, and more than ever before, Americans have seen other regulations lifted rapidly, particularly in the heavily regulated health care sector. Constraints on testing, laboratories, out-of-state health care workers, vaccine R&D, telemedicine, ventilator production, and infrastructure expansion have been relaxed. Even more extensive relief has addressed the unprecedented havoc that COVID-19 has unleashed on American society, public health, and the economy. Restrictions on work at home, online courses at colleges and universities, the transport of food and alcohol, and hours truck drivers can be on the road are all being lifted or relaxed to meet the demands of the crisis. Restrictions on the production of hand sanitizer and the amount that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) allows passengers to carry on airplanes have also been relaxed.
Topic:
Regulation, Economy, Business, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

115. The Best and Worst States for Women: The US Women, Peace and Security Index 2020

Author:
Peace and Security (GIWPS) Georgetown Institute for Women
Publication Date:
10-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS)
Abstract:
The US WPS Index offers the most comprehensive measurement of women’s rights and opportunities across 50 states and the District of Columbia. It goes beyond women’s inclusion in the economy and politics to capture key aspects of justice and legal protections, as well as women’s security against violence in their homes and in their communities.
Topic:
Security, Politics, Law, Women, Economy, Violence, Justice, Inclusion, and Gender
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

116. Making U.S. Foreign Policy Work Better for the Middle Class

Author:
Salman Ahmed, Wendy Cutler, Rozlyn Engel, David Gordon, Jennifer Harris, Douglas Lute, Daniel M. Price, Christopher Smart, Jake Sullivan, Ashley J. Tellis, and Tom Wyler
Publication Date:
09-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
If there ever was a truism among the U.S. foreign policy community—across parties, administrations, and ideologies—it is that the United States must be strong at home to be strong abroad. Hawks and doves and isolationists and neoconservatives alike all agree that a critical pillar of U.S. power lies in its middle class—its dynamism, its productivity, its political and economic participation, and, most importantly, its magnetic promise of progress and possibility to the rest of the world. And yet, after three decades of U.S. primacy on the world stage, America’s middle class finds itself in a precarious state. The economic challenges presented by globalization, technological change, financial imbalances, and fiscal strains have gone largely unmet. And that was before the novel coronavirus plunged the country into the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, exposed and exacerbated deep inequities across American society, led long-simmering tensions over racial injustice to boil over, and launched a level of societal unrest that the United States has not seen since the height of the civil rights movement.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Economy, Class, and Trade
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

117. Regaining U.S. Global Leadership on Anticorruption

Author:
Abigail Bellows
Publication Date:
07-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
The stakes for the United States to escalate the fight against corruption have never been higher. U.S. security, economic, and political interests demand a greater focus on countering corruption internationally. The next administration could substantially increase U.S. impact on anticorruption through taking the following measures: Defending against the weaponization of corruption; Providing politically responsive anticorruption assistance; Mainstreaming anticorruption; Enabling U.S. leadership.
Topic:
Security, Corruption, Leadership, and Economy
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

118. Harry Johnson's "case for flexible exchange rates"—50 years later

Author:
Maurice Obstfeld
Publication Date:
07-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE)
Abstract:
Fifty years ago, Harry G. Johnson published "The Case for Flexible Exchange Rates, 1969," its title echoing Milton Friedman’s classic essay of 1953. Though somewhat overlooked today, Johnson’s reprise was an important element in the late 1960s debate over the future of the international monetary system. In this Working Paper, Obstfeld lays out the historical context in which Johnson’s “Case” was written and read and then examines Johnson’s main points and sees how they stand up to nearly five decades of experience with floating exchange rates since the end of the Bretton Woods system. He also reviews the most recent academic critiques of exchange rate flexibility and asks how fatal they are to Johnson’s basic argument. He concludes that the essential case for exchange rate flexibility still stands strong.
Topic:
History, Monetary Policy, Economy, Central Bank, and Currency
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

119. Maintaining America’s Coercive Economic Strength: Five Trends to Watch in U.S. Sanctions

Author:
Howard Berman, Paula J. Dobriansky, Sue E. Eckert, Kimberly Ann Elliott, David L. Goldwyn, Peter Harrell, Theodore Kassinger, George A. Lopez, Richard Nephew, Michel Rademaker, Frederick Reynolds, Elizabeth Rosenberg, Daleep Singh, Julianne Smith, Adam Szubin, and Rachel Ziemba
Publication Date:
03-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for a New American Security (CNAS)
Abstract:
U.S. foreign policy officials have embraced economic sanctions as a tool of choice for American foreign policy. Decisionmakers have deployed sanctions against strategic adversaries and national security threats ranging from Russia to non-state actors such as terrorist groups, drug cartels, and businesspeople who engage in corrupt activities. The appeal to both policy leaders and key constituent groups of the potent economic impacts of sanctions in several recent high-profile cases, particularly those of Iran, Russia, North Korea, and Venezuela, combined with broad bipartisan support for aggressive use of U.S. sanctions, suggests that the United States will favor this policy tool and be an active practitioner in the years ahead. This brief describes five of the most prominent and influential trends that could affect U.S. sanctions and other coercive economic measures in the future. The five trends are: (1) a shift toward more aggressive use of U.S. unilateral sanctions; (2) the growing role of Congress in enacting sanctions and managing their implementation; (3) an increased potential for unintended consequences as a result of growing complexity in sanctions; (4) accelerating efforts of foreign governments to insulate trade and payment channels from U.S. sanctions; and (5) new technological developments that may have the potential to both enhance and weaken the impact of U.S. sanctions in the years ahead.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, National Security, Sanctions, Elections, and Economy
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

120. Sustainable Defense: More Security, Less Spending

Author:
Carl Conetta
Publication Date:
06-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Project on Defense Alternatives
Abstract:
The United States must partner with other nations in addressing challenges like climate change, epidemics of disease, nuclear proliferation, and human rights and humanitarian crises. None of these challenges are best dealt with by military force. Rather, they will depend on building non-military capacities for diplomacy, economic assistance, and scientific and cultural cooperation and exchange which have been allowed to languish in an era in which the military has been treated as the primary tool of U.S. security policy.
Topic:
Security, Defense Policy, Climate Change, Economy, Sustainability, and Hybrid Threats
Political Geography:
North America, Global Focus, and United States of America