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932. Autism and Hope
- Publication Date:
- 01-2006
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- Autism spectrum disorders have become among the most common and severe developmental disabilities facing children—and thus future generations of adults—in the United States today. More than in 200 young children may now be affected by a neurological condition on the spectrum (which includes autism, pervasive development disorder, and Asperger's syndrome or disorder). This fact has become increasingly well reported in recent months.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Health, and Human Welfare
- Political Geography:
- United States
933. China's Social Unrest: The Story Behind the Stories
- Author:
- Albert Kiedel
- Publication Date:
- 09-2006
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Abstract:
- China is confronting widespread violent and even deadly social unrest, raising Communist Party alarms about national security. Some observers speculate that unrest could undermine China's national leadership, as it did in the Ukraine and the Philippines. Some U.S. policy makers might welcome unrest in China as a path to democracy and “freedom.” But rather than an opportunity to transform China's political order, China's social unrest should be understood as the unavoidable side effects—worsened by local corruption—of successful market reforms and expanded economic and social choice. Managing this unrest humanely requires accelerated reform of legal and social institutions with special attention to corruption. More violence would generate more suffering, potentially destabilizing East Asia and harming U.S. interests. The United States should encourage China to strengthen its social reconciliation capabilities, without making electoral political reform a prerequisite for intensifying engagement across the board.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Development, and Economics
- Political Geography:
- United States, China, Ukraine, East Asia, and Asia
934. Intellectual Property Rights as a Key Obstacle to Russia's WTO Accession
- Author:
- Matthew Ocheltree and Sherman Katz
- Publication Date:
- 10-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Abstract:
- Russia has been in the process of seeking membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO) since June 1993. Currently, the United States is the only major economic power that has yet to finalize a bilateral market access agreement with the Russian Federation. Most observers of the situation concur that the enforcement of intellectual property rights laws remains, along with agriculture, one of the two major hurdles to Russian accession to the World Trade Organization.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Russia, United States, Europe, and Asia
935. The Bottom Line on Iran: The Costs and Benefits of Preventive War versus Deterrence
- Author:
- Justin Logan
- Publication Date:
- 12-2006
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- It appears increasingly likely that the Bush administration's diplomatic approach to Iran will fail to prevent Iran from going nuclear and that the United States will have to decide whether to use military force to attempt to delay Iran's acquisition of a nuclear weapons capability. Some analysts have already been promoting air strikes against Iran, and the Bush administration has pointed out repeatedly that the military option is “on the table.” This paper examines the options available to the United States in the face of a prospective final diplomatic collapse.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention, Economics, and War
- Political Geography:
- United States, Iran, and Middle East
936. Mad Cows and Ailing Hens: The Transatlantic Relationship and Livestock Diseases
- Author:
- Kate O'Neill
- Publication Date:
- 05-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute of European Studies (IES), UC Berkeley
- Abstract:
- This paper examines how the emergence and spread of animal diseases such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or “mad cow disease”) or avian influenza have shaped the dynamics of transatlantic trade in live animals and meat products. It then compares the responses of the US and the EU, respectively, to looming, potentially long-term threats of epidemics to human and animal health, focusing particularly on recent outbreaks BSE and avian flu. It documents what appears to be a shift away from a sole reliance on trade embargoes to protect animal and public health from disease outbreaks to deeper, institutional responses on the part of the US and EU respectively. However, while it appears that the EU is learning from the US public health establishment, there is little evidence of transatlantic cooperation in this area.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Disaster Relief, Economics, and Health
- Political Geography:
- United States and Europe
937. An Index of Donor Performance
- Author:
- David Roodman
- Publication Date:
- 11-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development (CGD)
- Abstract:
- The Commitment to Development Index of the Center for Global Development rates 21 rich countries on the “development-friendliness” of their policies. It is revised and updated annually. The component on foreign assistance combines quantitative and qualitative measures of official aid, and of fiscal policies that support private charitable giving. The quantitative measure uses a net transfers concept, as distinct from the net flows concept in the net Official Development Assistance measure of the Development Assistance Committee. The qualitative factors are: a penalty for tying aid; a discounting system that favors aid to poorer, better-governed recipients; and a penalty for “project proliferation.” The charitable giving measure is based on an estimate of the share of observed private giving to developing countries that is attributable to a) lower overall taxes or b) specific tax incentives for giving. De-spite the adjustments, overall results are dominated by differences in quantity of official aid given. This is because while there is a seven-fold range in net concessional transfers/GDP among the scored countries, variation in overall aid quality across donors appears far lower, and private giving is generally small. Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden score highest while the largest donors in absolute terms, the United States and Japan, rank at or near the bottom. Standings by the 2006 methodology have been relatively stable since 1995.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Development, Economics, and Humanitarian Aid
- Political Geography:
- United States, Japan, Norway, and Netherlands
938. Fragile States and U.S. Foreign Assistance: Show Me the Money
- Author:
- Stewart Patrick and Kaysie Brown
- Publication Date:
- 08-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development (CGD)
- Abstract:
- The Bush administration has increasingly acknowledged that weak and failing states represent the core of today's global development challenge. It has also recognized that such states are potential threats to international peace and security. But despite the rhetoric, it has yet to formulate a coherent strategy around fragile states or commit adequate resources towards engaging them. Excluding funding for Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and HIV/AIDS, the administration's FY07 budget request proposes to spend just $1.1 billion in direct bilateral assistance to fragile states—little more than a dollar per person per year. In this new working paper, CGD research fellow Stewart Patrick and program associate Kaysie Brown urge U.S. policymakers to consider increasing aid to fragile states and to think creatively about how and when to engage these troubled countries. The authors also call for the policy community to integrate non-aid instruments into a more coherent government strategy. To put its money where its mouth is, the U.S. should treat aid to weak and failing states as a form of venture capital, with high risk but potentially high rewards.
- Topic:
- Economics, Government, and Humanitarian Aid
- Political Geography:
- Pakistan, Afghanistan, United States, and Iraq
939. The U.S. External Deficit and the Developing Countries
- Author:
- William R. Cline
- Publication Date:
- 03-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development (CGD)
- Abstract:
- In the absence of US fiscal adjustment and a further correction of the dollar, the current account deficit is headed to $1.3 trillion by 2010 (8 to 8.5 percent of GDP) and net US foreign liabilities to over $8 trillion (50 percent of GDP). According to CGD/IIE Senior Fellow William R. Cline, the rising trade deficit and associated borrowing from abroad are now financing a decline in personal saving and a rise in the government deficit. This imbalance will increasingly put the US economy—and the developing countries—at risk. This working paper focuses on the impact that the US external deficit and a possible “hard landing” for the US and world economies will have on developing countries. Cline finds that these countries are at risk since they have relied heavily on a continuing expansion of trade surpluses with the United States as a source of demand. Developing countries with high borrowing abroad are also doubly sensitive to a spike in world interest rates—once directly from higher US interest rates, and once indirectly through higher risk spreads—that might be associated with a hard landing. This Working Paper is based on The United States as a Debtor Nation, a book published in 2005 by the Center for Global Development and the Institute for International Economics.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, and Third World
- Political Geography:
- United States
940. Tax policies to promote private charitable giving in DAC countries
- Author:
- David Roodman and Scott Standley
- Publication Date:
- 02-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development (CGD)
- Abstract:
- Researchers have written hundreds of papers on the causes and consequences of official foreign aid, while paying almost no attention to private overseas giving, by individuals, universities, foundations, and corporations. Yet private giving is significant—some $15.5 billion/year, compared to more than $60 billion/year in public giving—and is in no small part an outcome of public policy. In most rich countries, tax deductions and credits lower the “price” of charity to donors. And governments with low tax revenue/GDP ratios leave more money in private pockets for private charity. To correct the near-complete lack of information on this de facto aid policy, we survey officials of 21 donor nations on the use of tax incentives to promote private charity. From the results, we develop an index of the overall incentive for private charity, expressed as a percentage increase over the hypothetical giving level absent incentives. France's tax code creates the largest price incentive while those of Austria, Finland, and Sweden offer none. Factoring in the income effect of the tax ratio, Australia, Ireland, Germany, and the United States move to the top, with combined price and income effects sufficient to double private giving. As a result, tax policy appears to have nearly doubled private overseas giving from donor countries in 2003, from a counterfactual $8.0 billion. Two-thirds of the $7.5 billion increase occurred in the United States. Of that, nearly 40% appears to be U.S. charity to Israel. According to 21-country scatter plots, countries with lower church attendance and more faith in the national legislature have lower taxes (stronger income effect), but average levels of targeted tax incentives. Income (GDP/capita) does correlate with private overseas aid/capita, but also with public aid/capita, so that the two aid flows are complementary in magnitude.
- Topic:
- Debt, Economics, Humanitarian Aid, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- United States, Finland, Germany, Australia, Sweden, Ireland, and Austria