Search

Begin New Search Topic Science and Technology

2011. The Defense Science Board Summer Study on Defense Science and Technology

Publication Date:
05-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
Technology has been and must continue to be a key enabler of military advantage, both in conflict and in situations where conflict is close at hand. Over the years, the Department of Defense (DoD) science and technology progrme has discovered, invented, harnessed, and demonstrated such enabling technologies. As industry becomes more global, as scientific endeavors in other countries become more competitive, and as affordable technology increasingly issues from commercial sources, the DoD science and technology program needs to continue to meet challenges and exploit opportunities that arise. The Defense Science Board 2001 Summer Study task force has asked to examine three aspects of the DoD science and technology program: How the Department's S investment should be spend. The level of investment in science and technology. How the military can realize the most value from this investment.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Industrial Policy, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

2012. Annual Industrial Capabilities Report to Congress, MAR 2002

Publication Date:
03-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
Section 2504 of title 10, United States Code, requires that the Secretary of Defense submit an annual report to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives, by March 1st of each year. The report is to include:”(1) A description of the departmental guidance prepared pursuant to section 2506 of this title.(2) A description of the methods and analyses being undertaken by the Department of Defense alone or in cooperation with other Federal agencies, to identify and address concerns regarding technological and industrial capabilities of the national technology and industrial base.(3) A description of the assessments prepared pursuant to section 2505 of this title and other analyses used in developing the budget submission of the Department of Defense for the next fiscal year.(4) Identification of each program designed to sustain specific essential technological and industrial capabilities and processes of the national technology and industrial base.” This report contains the required information.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Economics, Industrial Policy, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

2013. Population, Poverty, and Vulnerability: Mitigating the Effects of Natural Disasters

Author:
George Matrine and Jose Miguel Guzman
Publication Date:
08-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
Hurricane Mitch was one of the most destructive natural disasters of recent times, and it exposed the underlying vulnerability of the Central American region, where poverty magnifies the threat of natural hazards. International assistance for national disasters tends to focus on short-term recuperation rather than on long-range prevention. Policymakers need to pay greater attention to the role of population dynamics within necessary prevention efforts. This article analyzes the relationships between demographic dynamics and Hurricane Mitch in Central America, and extracts from that experience lessons that can help reduce vulnerability to natural disasters in the long run. Specifically, it centers on three aspects: How did demographic processes condition the area's vulnerability prior to Mitch? What are Mitch's consequences for population dynamics in the short- and long-term? How must population dynamics change in order to mitigate the effects of future natural disasters? Systematic use of such information could help blunt natural-disaster impacts in three important ways: planning of spatial organization, reproductive health needs, and design of adequate information systems.
Topic:
Security, Environment, Poverty, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Central America and Caribbean

2014. What is to be Done at Johannesburg? Issues for the World Summit on Sustainable Development

Publication Date:
08-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
Marking the ten-year anniversary of the historic 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa has been viewed throughout its preparations with both great hope and pessimism. Some analysts, activists, and policymakers think the Summit is the last best chance for the world to balance the three pillars (economic, social, and environmental) of sustainable development. Others are looking past Johannesburg altogether, skeptical that it can accomplish much. As of this writing in June 2002, even a clear Summit agenda remains elusive for governments and civil society alike.
Topic:
Security, Energy Policy, Environment, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
South Africa

2015. An E-Parliament to Democratize Globalization: An Idea Whose Time Has Come

Author:
Robert C. Johansen
Publication Date:
11-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame
Abstract:
Human beings have struggled for centuries to gain control of their own destinies, particularly to shape the political decisions that affect their lives. By the late twentieth century, nearly 60 percent of the world's people had achieved democratic governance. But now, because of interdependence and globalization, people living in national democracies have begun to lose their grip on decisions that affect them. Throughout the world, many decisions impacting citizens of one country are made by people living outside their country or by impersonal market forces that are not accountable to anyone and that often subordinate the needs of many people to the prosperity of a few.
Topic:
Globalization, Government, and Science and Technology

2016. Economic Convergence through Savings, Trade and Technology Flows—Lessons from Recent Research

Author:
Per Botolf Maurseth
Publication Date:
10-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on income disparity between countries and convergence in economic growth. New theoretical models modify and often reverse the prediction of convergence in the traditional neo-classical model of economic growth. A particular feature of the recent literature as compared to traditional studies of economic growth is that it acknowledges interdependence between countries. International capital flows, trade in goods and (maybe most important) international technology flows influence individual countries growth performance. The empirical literature on the dynamics of the international distribution of income per capita reveals massive unconditional divergence in income levels. For sub-samples of countries on the other hand, the data support the conditional convergence hypothesis: when other factors are accounted for, there is a tendency for income per capita to converge. For the OECD countries, as well as for some other countries, knowledge flows, either embodied in traded goods or disembodied seem to be important for whether poorer countries are able to catch up with richer ones.
Topic:
International Relations, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Science and Technology

2017. Multinationals Searching for R Spillovers

Author:
Leo A. Grünfeld
Publication Date:
08-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
This paper surveys the literature on R and technology spillovers as a motive for FDI. During the last years, a growing body of theoretical studies has generated formal arguments supporting the economic rationale for such behaviour. Yet, theoretical contributions are clustered within a few schools and a wider approach is necessary in order to understand the mechanisms that relate R spillovers to FDI. The empirical literature is more numerous, but provides ambiguous conclusions with respect to the strength of this motive. Micro studies provide less supportive results as compared to studies based on more aggregate data. Studies based on patent information are generally supportive to the existence of this motive.
Topic:
International Relations, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Science and Technology

2018. International R Spillovers and the Absorptive Capacity of Multinationals

Author:
Leo A. Grünfeld
Publication Date:
08-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
This paper studies R spillovers as a motive for firms to go multinational. The establishment of a foreign subsidiary may increase a firm's ability to learn from foreign R activity since R spillovers between firms are moderated by geographical distance. As opposed to earlier studies on this subject, we also model the concept of absorptive capacity where spillovers are endogenised as a function of the firms'own R investments. We employ a three-stage Cournot duopoly model to identify under what conditions a firm chooses to service a foreign market through exports or localised production (going multinational). With exogenous R investments, the absorptive capacity effect contributes to increase the gains from going multinational when the firm is a technology leader in terms of R If R investments are endogenous, only medium-sized absorptive capacity effects will result in firms going multinational. Also, higher spillover rates do not necessarily drive down R and profits for the multinational firm. This stands in contrast to models that ignore the aspect of absorptive capacity.
Topic:
International Relations, Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Science and Technology

2019. Science/Technology — Ocean Power

Publication Date:
05-2002
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxford Analytica
Abstract:
This week's piece examines the prospects for tidal stream and competing offshore renewable energy technologies. Options for exploiting the energy available from the world's oceans include offshore wind, wave and tidal stream energy. Offshore wind is by far the closest to commercial exploitation, but the range of possibilities is surprisingly broad.
Topic:
Development, Environment, Government, and Science and Technology

2020. Regulatory Europeanization, National Autonomy and Regulatory Effectiveness: Marketing Authorization for Pharmaceuticals

Author:
Jürgen Feick
Publication Date:
11-2002
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies
Abstract:
The EC harmonized market entry regulation for pharmaceuticals from the early sixties on, but it achieved neither its goal of uniform national regulatory decisions nor that of automatic mutual recognition. Subsequent attempts to Europeanize the procedures themselves resulted in two alternatives in 1995: a Centralized Procedure for innovative pharmaceutical products implemented at the EU level, and a Decentralized Procedure which tries to assure mutual recognition. First, the paper analyzes the distinctive modes of Europeanization employed in these regulatory alternatives, examining both their impact on the effectiveness of European governing and the balance they strike between European interventionism, national participation and national autonomy. Second, it tries to assess whether Europeanization furthers the goals of pharmaceutical market entry policy as defined in European regulations – public health protection, creation of a single market and the reduction of regulatory costs to industry. There is little evidence that the public's health is less well protected when regulation is Europeanized. Only the Centralized Procedure contributes significantly to the goal of establishing a single market. Regulatory costs in terms of approval time did go down especially for pharmaceutical firms using the Centralized Procedure, mainly because of efficiency-enhancing legal provisions and institutionally induced regulatory competition between national authorities.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Europe