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61. U.S. Foreign Assistance to Africa: Claims vs. Reality

Author:
Susan E. Rice
Publication Date:
06-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
The Bush Administration has significantly increased aid to Africa, but that increase falls far short of what the President has claimed. U.S. aid to Africa from FY 2000 (the last full budget year of the Clinton Administration) to FY2004 (the last completed fiscal year of the Bush Administration) has not "tripled" or even doubled. Rather, in real dollars, it has increased 56% (or 67% in nominal dollar terms). The majority of that increase consists of emergency food aid, rather than assistance for sustainable development of the sort Africa needs to achieve lasting poverty reduction.
Topic:
International Relations and Human Welfare
Political Geography:
Africa and United States

62. Health Care Rationing: What it Means

Author:
Henry J. Aaron
Publication Date:
12-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
The United States spends more on health care than any other nation. In 2003, medical spending made up more than 15 percent of U.S. GDP, and if historical trends persist, this share will climb to more than one-third of GDP by 2040. With medical technology advancing at an ever-increasing rate, the potential for spending on procedures not worth their costs is growing. But there are few good ideas for reining in medical costs without hurting patients.
Topic:
Economics, Health, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:
United States

63. Insuring America's Workers in a New Era of Offshoring

Author:
Robert E. Litan, Nicholas Warren, and Lael Brainard
Publication Date:
07-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
With a new wave of white-collar offshoring coming fast on the heels of accelerated job losses in manufacturing, an ever-broader pool of American workers is finding that the nation's safety net has more holes than netting. The nation can and must do more to help insure the livelihoods of American workers in the face of structural shifts of whatever form, while preserving the benefits of an open and innovative economy. With technological change and offshoring accelerating job turnover and the pace at which workers' job-specific skills lose value, the time has come for the federal government to strengthen the existing safety net.
Topic:
Economics, Government, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:
United States and America

64. CATO Institute: Aging America's Achilles' Heel: Medicaid Long-Term Care

Author:
Stephen A. Moses
Publication Date:
09-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Seventy-seven million aging baby boomers will sink America's retirement security system if we don't take action soon. A few years ago, the problem went unrecognized by most Americans. Today, the prospect of a fiscal crisis has forced policymakers to focus on solutions.
Topic:
Economics, Government, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:
United States and America

65. CATO Institute: Medicaid's Unseen Costs

Author:
Michael F. Cannon
Publication Date:
08-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Medicaid occupies a special place among government programs for the poor. Public support for Medicaid is broader and deeper than for other safety net programs because the consequences of inadequate medical care can be much more immediate and severe than those of a lack of money or even food.
Topic:
Economics, Government, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:
United States

66. CATO Institute: Treating Doctors as Drug Dealers: The DEA's War on Prescription Painkillers

Author:
Ronald T. Libby
Publication Date:
06-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
The medical field of treating chronic pain is still in its infancy. It was only in the late 1980s that leading physicians trained in treating the chronic pain of terminally ill cancer patients began to recommend that the "opioid therapy" (treatment involving narcotics related to opium) used on their patients also be used for patients suffering from nonterminal conditions. The new therapies proved successful, and prescription pain medications saw a huge leap in sales throughout the 1990s. But opioid therapy has always been controversial. The habit-forming nature of some prescription pain medications made many physicians, medical boards, and law enforcement officials wary of their use in treating acute pain in nonterminal patients. Consequently, many physicians and pain specialists have shied away from opioid treatment, causing millions of Americans to suffer from chronic pain even as therapies were available to treat it.
Topic:
Crime, Human Welfare, and Politics
Political Geography:
United States and America

67. CATO Institute: Health Care in a Free Society: Rebutting the Myths of National Health Insurance

Author:
John C. Goodman
Publication Date:
01-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Almost everyone agrees that the U.S. health care system is in dire need of reform. But there are differing opinions on what kind of reform would be best. Some on the political left would like to see us copy one of the government-run “single-payer”systems that exist in Western Europe, Canada, and New Zealand, among other places. Proponents of socialized medicine point to other countries as examples of health care systems that are superior to our own. They insist that government will make health care available on the basis of need rather than ability to pay. The rich and poor will have equal access to care. And more serious medical needs will be given priority over less serious needs.
Topic:
Government, Human Welfare, and Politics
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, Canada, and New Zealand

68. Africa Action Talking Points on North-South Peace Agreement in Sudan

Publication Date:
01-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Africa Policy Information Center
Abstract:
On Sunday, January 9, African leaders and world diplomats will gather in Nairobi, Kenya to witness the signing of an historic peace deal intended to end Africa's longest-running civil war. This conflict between the Sudanese government in the north and the Sudan People's Liberation Army /Movement (SPLA/M) in southern Sudan has raged for m o re than two decades. Sunday's signing ceremony marks the culmination of two years of form al peace talks and many years of periodic negotiations, sustained by regional and international diplomacy. The signing of this peace deal could mark an historic moment for Sudan, by bringing to an end decades of violence and devastation in Africa's largest country. It could similarly mark an important moment for the entire African continent. However, this peace agreement does not cover the ongoing conflict in Darfur, western Sudan, where the Sudanese government continues to wage a campaign of genocide against civilians from three ethnic groups. Over the past two years, up to 400,000 people have died, and 2 million more have been made homeless in Darfur as a consequence resulting in what the UN has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
Topic:
Human Welfare and Peace Studies
Political Geography:
Kenya, Africa, United States, Sudan, and Nairobi

69. A Silent Tsunami: The Urgent Need for Clean Water and Sanitation

Author:
William K. Reilly and Harriet C. Babbitt
Publication Date:
07-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
Few issues matter more to public health, economic opportunity, and environmental integrity than the availability of clean water and sanitation. With the 4th World Water Forum scheduled for Mexico City in March 2006, the Aspen Institute and the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions at Duke University conducted a multistakeholder dialogue to help highlight the importance of global water issues, suggest steps to provide services more rapidly and effectively, and to identify and draw attention to constructive ways the US government and other US participants can take part in the Forum.
Topic:
Development, Environment, Government, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:
United States and Mexico

70. Multilateral Market-Access Reforms of the Doha Round: A Preliminary Assessment of Implications for EU Agricultural Trade

Author:
Wusheng Yu and Hans G. Jensen
Publication Date:
01-2005
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
The July package of the Doha Round of trade negotiations stipulates that a tiered-formula approach should be used to significantly reduce market access barriers across countries, implying that the EU would have to make larger cuts to its high external tariffs, in comparison with many other WTO members such as the US. This paper provides a preliminary assessment of the likely impact of the tiered-formula reform approach on EU agricultural sectors. Numerical simulations of a multilateral market-access reform scenario show that such cuts would lead to across-the-board decreases in intra-EU trade flows, as compared with a baseline projection. While intra-EU trade flows would decrease, the EU's trade with the rest of the world would increase. Yet such increases would not be symmetric – imports into the EU would increase more than exports, resulting in larger external trade deficits or smaller external trade surpluses in many EU agricultural products. Further, the resulting adjustments in member states' production and net trade positions are not equal: the new member states would generally lose part of their export shares in the EU market to external competitors, as highlighted in the cases of bovine meat and dairy products.
Topic:
Economics, Human Welfare, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States and Europe