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32. Medicare and Medicaid: Still Transforming Health Care 50 Years Later
- Publication Date:
- 04-2015
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Aspen Institute
- Abstract:
- This commentary honors and celebrates the 50th anniversary of Medicare and Medicaid, highlighting the growth, evolution, and remarkable accomplishments of two federal programs that together provide health insurance coverage to some 110 million Americans. It also recognizes President Lyndon B. Johnson, whose determination to bring these programs to life is legendary. This was prepared as part of a commemoration sponsored by the Health, Medicine and Society Program of the Aspen Institute, the LBJ Presidential Library, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Karyn Feiden researched and wrote the commentary, on behalf of the Aspen Institute. Special thanks to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation whose source material is extensively cited here.
- Topic:
- Health, Human Welfare, Social Stratification, Governance, and Health Care Policy
33. Made in Myanmar: Entrenched poverty or decent jobs for garment workers?
- Author:
- Daisy Gardener and Jasmine Burnley
- Publication Date:
- 12-2015
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Abstract:
- In Myanmar, the garment industry is booming thanks to an upsurge in investment by international brands, but garment workers are facing tough conditions. According to new research from Oxfam and labour rights groups in Myanmar, garment workers are working up to 11 hours a day, six days a week, but remain trapped in poverty. Following decades of economic isolation, political reforms have seen global retail heavyweights like GAP, H&M, Primark and Adidas starting to source from Myanmar factories. With the garment industry growing quickly, companies need to act now to ensure that workers making their products can access their fundamental rights and provide a decent living for themselves and their families. This briefing paper presents the research findings and makes recommendations for international sourcing companies and factories to help them protect garment workers’ rights.
- Topic:
- Economics, Human Welfare, Politics, Poverty, and Labor Issues
- Political Geography:
- Myanmar
34. Influencing the Development and Integration of National Standard Climate Change Indicators into the Monitoring and Reporting Frameworks in Uganda
- Author:
- Tracy Kajumba and Irene Karani
- Publication Date:
- 12-2015
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Abstract:
- This paper documents the results of the process of developing and selecting national standard climate change indicators for integration into two national monitoring and evaluation frameworks in Uganda: the Output Budgeting Tool (OBT) and the Local Government Assessment tool (LGAT). The OBT is used by the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (MoFPED) to determine national development standard indicators that are monitored and reported across all sectors in the country. The LGAT determines and annually assesses the minimum performance measures for all local governments in Uganda. Before the intervention of the Africa Climate Change Resilience Allicance (ACCRA) and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) as part of the Tracking Adaptation and Measuring Development (TAMD), both frameworks lacked standard performance indicators on climate change. This meant that local governments were not required to plan, budget or report on climate change. The briefing draws out lessons learned from using a highly participatory and bottom-up process, as well as policy implications at national, sub-national and sectoral levels. It also highlights key prerequisites for successful development and integration of climate change indicators in existing monitoring and reporting frameworks of national states
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Human Welfare, Politics, Governance, and Budget
- Political Geography:
- Uganda
35. Implementing the Forest Rights Act: Lack of political will?
- Author:
- Oomen C. Kurian and Pooja Parvati
- Publication Date:
- 11-2015
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Abstract:
- Historically, usage of and access to forest resources by India’s Adivasi community and other forest dwellers have been considered encroachment and their efforts to acquire forest land have been used as evidence of their anti-development attitude. Government policy has continued to deny them legal rights to use, manage and conserve forest resources and to hold forest lands that they have been residing on and cultivating. In 2006, the passage of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dweller’s (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act (hereafter FRA) tried to make amends by recognizing the customary rights of forest dwellers, including the right over common areas and the right to manage and sell forest produce. However, the overall implementation of FRA still suffers from inadequate community awareness; conflicting legislation; the lack of a dedicated structure for implementation and devoted staff; administrative roadblocks to smooth processing of claims; and a governance deficit.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Economics, Human Welfare, Politics, Natural Disasters, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
36. El Niño Key Messages: Urgent action now can prevent major suffering and loss
- Author:
- Debbie Hillier and John Magrath
- Publication Date:
- 11-2015
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Abstract:
- Millions of poor and vulnerable people face hunger and poverty this year and next because of record global temperatures, droughts and erratic rains in 2014 and 2015, followed by the development of possibly the most powerful El Niño on record. This briefing makes the case to urgently scale up humanitarian response in countries already in crisis. It also draws on the experience of the super El Nino in 1997–98, and the inadequate response to the Horn of Africa drought of 2011, to push for early action to save livelihoods elsewhere. Long-term approaches to reduce food insecurity must be found, and climate change, which is super-charging the effects of El Niño, must be tackled at the UN climate conference in Paris and beyond.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Human Welfare, Natural Disasters, Labor Issues, and Food Security
37. IN3 - Incubating a New Spain through the Promotion of Entrepreneurship
- Author:
- James Costos
- Publication Date:
- 09-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Ambassador's Review
- Abstract:
- Helping entrepreneurs grow their businesses and achieve their full potential is in the interest of anyone who wants to foster prosperity worldwide— that’s why it’s an Obama administration priority. Growth anywhere does some good everywhere, and the fact is that entrepreneurs create jobs and drive economic growth both at home and abroad. In the United States, 40 percent of our $17 trillion economy is generated by companies that did not even exist 20 years ago. Two-thirds of our 65 months of consecutive job growth is driven by small businesses. The owners of those businesses—28 million and growing—employ over half of America’s workforce.
- Topic:
- Economics, Human Welfare, Social Stratification, and Labor Issues
- Political Geography:
- United States and Spain
38. Equatorial Guinea Plays a Leading Role in Combating Malaria
- Author:
- Mark L. Asquino
- Publication Date:
- 09-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Ambassador's Review
- Abstract:
- In August 2014, I attended a ceremony at the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC that celebrated the tenth anniversary of the Bioko Island Malaria Control Project. Those speaking at the event included senior executives from Marathon Oil Corporation, Noble Energy Inc., and Atlantic Methanol Production Company, which are all US petroleum companies that operate in Equatorial Guinea. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President of Equatorial Guinea, also delivered remarks. All of the speakers were enthusiastic about a dynamic project that has had a transformative effect on the health of generations of Equatoguineans by reducing the morbidity and mortality of malaria infection. What follows is an overview of the project’s history as well as the commitment to US innovation and a shared audacity to tackle one of humankind’s most endemic and fatal diseases.
- Topic:
- Development, Health, Human Welfare, Infectious Diseases, and Health Care Policy
- Political Geography:
- United States and Equatorial Guinea
39. ASEAN: Creating the Rules-Based Architecture in Asia
- Author:
- Nina Hachigan
- Publication Date:
- 09-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Ambassador's Review
- Abstract:
- In my second week on the job as the second United States Ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), I headed to Naypyidaw, Burma to meet President Obama at the East Asia Summit. There I witnessed one of the many reasons the United States has increased its engagement with ASEAN: ASEAN convenes Asia. In 1967, leaders of five nations formed ASEAN, renouncing the violence that had characterized their relationships and dedicating themselves to furthering the prosperity of the region. Five more countries joined in the intervening decades and now ASEAN’s Member States, with a total population of some 625 million, are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. ASEAN has delivered well on its primary mission: to keep the peace among a group of member states with huge diversity in levels of economic development, political systems, cultures, religions, and size. This foundation of geopolitical stability has allowed the economies in Southeast Asia to take off and lift tens of millions out of poverty. As a whole, ASEAN has enjoyed the third highest growth rate in the world over the past decade.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Human Welfare, Poverty, and Regional Cooperation
- Political Geography:
- Asia
40. The Case for Intellectual Property Rights: Should Patents Be Strengthened, Weakened or Abolished Altogether?
- Author:
- Joel Blit
- Publication Date:
- 11-2015
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for International Governance Innovation
- Abstract:
- The case for patents rests crucially on three conditions: that innovation is undersupplied in the absence of patents; that patents promote increased innovation; and that the welfare benefits of any additional innovation outweigh the welfare costs associated with the temporary monopoly that patents generate. While it is probably true that innovation is undersupplied, the empirical evidence is mixed on whether patents foster innovation. This may be due to patents stifling cumulative innovation because of holdup and ex ante uncertainty over patent rights. This policy brief recommends that to reduce the potential for holdup, uncertainty around patent rights should be reduced. Patents should be easily searchable and more easily understood by non-legal experts. In addition, patents should be narrower and more clearly demarcated. To the extent that the welfare costs of patents appear to outweigh their benefits, the requirements for obtaining a patent should be tightened. Further, patents should be made less broad and, concomitant with the reduction in the length of the product cycle, the length of patents should also be reduced.
- Topic:
- Human Welfare, Science and Technology, Intellectual Property/Copyright, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- United States