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181. Distance, Time, and Specialization

Author:
Carolyn Evans and James Harrigan
Publication Date:
05-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
Time is money, and distance matters. We model the interaction of these truisms, and show the implications for global specialization and trade: products where timely delivery is important will be produced near the source of final demand, where wages will be higher as a result. In the model, timely delivery is important because it allows retailers to respond to fluctuating final demand without holding costly inventories, and timely delivery is only possible from nearby locations. Using a unique dataset that allows us to measure the retail demand for timely delivery, we show that the sources of US apparel imports have shifted in the way predicted by the model, with products where timeliness matters increasingly imported from nearby countries.
Topic:
Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

182. Annual Industrial Capabilities Report to Congress

Publication Date:
02-2003
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.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Economics, Industrial Policy, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

183. Modernizing Democracy

Author:
Terry F. Buss and Stevens F. Redburn
Publication Date:
03-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The National Academy of Public Administration
Abstract:
Changes in society and emerging technologies offer new possibilities for meaningful citizen participation in public choices. A new set of computer-based processes will support sophisticated and game -like group decision-making. Advanced software design accompanied by sensitivity to the hum an/machine interactions that must be managed can lead to citizen-friendly software products and processes that ordinary people can use both individually and in a group setting to make complex choices.
Topic:
Democratization, Government, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

184. The Response of Hours to a Technology Shock: Evidence Based on Direct Measures of Technology

Author:
Robert J. Vigfusson, Lawrence J. Christiano, and Martin Eichenbaum
Publication Date:
12-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
We investigate what happens to hours worked after a positive shock to technology, using the aggregate technology series computed in Basu, Fernald and Kimball (1999). We conclude that hours worked rise after such a shock.
Topic:
Economics, Industrial Policy, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

185. How Does the Border Affect Productivity? Evidence from American and Canadian Manufacturing Industries

Author:
Robert J. Vigfusson
Publication Date:
12-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
This paper studies how much of productivity fluctuations are industry specific versus how much are country specific. Using data on manufacturing industries in Canada and the United States, the paper shows that the correlation between cross-border pairings of the same industry are more often highly correlated than previously thought. In addition, the paper confirms earlier findings that the similarity of input use can help describe the co-movement of productivity fluctuations across industries.
Topic:
Economics, Industrial Policy, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States, Canada, and North America

186. Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on DoD Roles and Missions in Homeland Security

Publication Date:
11-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
The United States faces stealthy adversaries who have demonstrated both motives and means to inflict grave damage on the U.S. homeland. The nation's strategy in response to this type of adversary is clear: engage the threat as far as possible from the U.S. homeland, on its turf. This approach requires a multi-agency governmental effort, with the Department of Defense playing a major role.
Topic:
Defense Policy and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

187. Sponsors, Communities and Standards: Winning in the Local Area Networking Business

Author:
Martin Kenney and Urs von Burg
Publication Date:
07-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy
Abstract:
Economics has treated technological standards creation as an outcome of network externalities and decisions on the demand side. They pay little attention to the supply side, where firms make strategi choices on which standard to support. These choices can ignite a contest between adherents to the different proposed standards. This case study examines the contest btween the Ethernet and Token Ring standards for local area networking. We find that the critical difference in explaining the success of Ethernet vibrancy was the nature and strategy of the standard's sponsors in assisting the growth of a community of firms supporting the standard.
Topic:
Economics, Industrial Policy, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

188. Secrets or Shields to Share?: New Dilemmas for Dual Use Technology Development and the Quest for Military and Commercial Advantage in the Digital Age

Author:
Jay Stowsky
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
For a brief period in the early 1990's the U.S. Department of Defense pursued an R policy that was explicitly “dual-use,” funding projects aimed at simultaneously developing both military and civilian applications of the same underlying technologies. The policy emerged from more than a decade of bipartisan agitation in Congress and segments of the military-industrial establishment, spurred by a shared belief that more advanced technologies now “spun on” from civilian to military applications than “spun off” in the other direction (US Department of Defense, Office of the Undersecretary for Acquisition, 1987; Gansler, 1989; Alic et al., 1992; Stowsky 1992, 1999). With the end of the Cold War and mushrooming budget deficits constraining defense spending, Pentagon planners saw dual-use development as a strategy for improving efficiency and lowering costs as well as enhancing quality by enabling the construction of sophisticated weapons systems off a more integrated civil-military technology base (US Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, 1995; US Department of Defense, 1995).
Topic:
Defense Policy, Economics, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

189. Air Force Space Command Strategic Master Plan FY06 and Beyond

Author:
Lance W. Lord
Publication Date:
10-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) develops the Strategic Master Plan (SMP) as the capstone document of the command's Integrated Planning Process (IPP). The SMP presents the AFSPC Vision, outlines a strategy to implement that Vision, and defines a 25-year plan. That plan is integrated across the AFSPC mission areas to provide the space capabilities required to achieve the Vision.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Economics, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

190. The Truth About Missile Defense: Will Science Make A Difference?

Author:
Philip E. Coyle
Publication Date:
10-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Defense Information
Abstract:
In political Washington, one can get the impression that everything is “spin”, that there are no real truths. In the news media different views are aired and debated, but one view is said to be no better than another, and certainly political views cannot be proven the way we learn mathematical proofs in school.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Arms Control and Proliferation, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States