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902. Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy: Reorganizing for Results
- Publication Date:
- 09-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The National Academy of Public Administration
- Abstract:
- Of the Department of Energy's $23 billion budget, the $1.3 billion allocated to the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) offers important opportunities to assist in resolving one of the major issues facing the Nation today—the need for sources of clean, reliable, efficient, secure and affordable energy. EERE's programs—which include advanced hydrogen fuel concepts, renewable power technologies, transportation and building technologies—are aimed at improving this country's efficient use of energy, increasing the diversity of energy sources on which we rely, and making us less dependent on foreign energy sources. The management of this small office should be of major interest to leaders of both government and industry as EERE leadership tries to ensure that every dollar is used most effectively in the pursuit of its mission to strengthen America's energy security. This was the goal of Assistant Secretary David Garman as he launched a comprehensive reorganization of EERE on July 1, 2002.
- Topic:
- Economics, Energy Policy, Science and Technology, and Reform
- Political Geography:
- America and Germany
903. Liberalizing Agricultural Trade and Developing Countries
- Author:
- David Orden, Rashid S. Kaukab, and Eugenio Diaz-Bonilla
- Publication Date:
- 03-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Abstract:
- A diverse group of development and trade liberalization advocates agree that reduction of agricultural protection and subsidization in the world's wealthy countries is necessary to strengthen both international growth opportunities and the global trade regime. According to the consensus reached among participants attending a conference cosponsored by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Cordell Hull Institute, WTO Doha Round negotiations on agriculture should compel policy changes in industrialized countries to limit trade-distorting domestic subsidies for agricultural products, lower tariffs, increase market access, and eliminate export subsidies. In response to temporary hardships caused by an overall reduction in agriculture support, governments should have the flexibility to adopt temporary or limited domestic, and perhaps international, compensatory policies. Significant differences in perspective and policy prescriptions were expressed by conference participants about the appropriate speed and scope of agricultural liberalization in developing countries, especially if progress is not made toward reduced support for agriculture in developed countries.
- Topic:
- Development, International Organization, International Trade and Finance, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- United States and Europe
904. Trade Preferences and Environmental Goods
- Author:
- Scott Vaughan
- Publication Date:
- 02-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
- Abstract:
- For the World Trade Organization (WTO), the most important development in a decade related to trade-environment linkages is the agreement to liberalize commerce in environmental goods and services. If properly executed, the agreement will increase the availability of “green” goods in global markets and break the North-South deadlock that has paralyzed discussions on the trade regime governing such goods.
- Topic:
- Environment, International Organization, International Trade and Finance, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- United States
905. Demonizing Drugmakers: The Political Assault on the Pharmaceutical Industry
- Author:
- Doug Bandow
- Publication Date:
- 05-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Few sectors of the economy have provided more benefits to consumers than the pharmaceutical industry. Drugmakers have been vilified by patients and politicians alike, however, because of what they see as unreasonably high drug costs.
- Topic:
- Human Welfare, Industrial Policy, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- United States
906. Is America Exporting Misguided Telecommunications Policy?
- Author:
- Motohiro Tsuchiya and Adam Thierer
- Publication Date:
- 01-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Global telecommunications markets have traditionally been closed to foreign trade and investment. Recent World Trade Organization negotiations resulted in a Basic Telecommunications agreement that sought to construct a multilateral framework to reverse that trend and begin opening telecom markets worldwide. Regrettably, this new WTO framework is quite ambiguous and open to pro-regulatory interpretations by member states.
- Topic:
- International Trade and Finance, Science and Technology, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- United States, America, and South Asia
907. The Politics of the Environment
- Author:
- Karlyn H. Bowman
- Publication Date:
- 08-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
- Abstract:
- Democrats lead Republicans by a substantial margin nationally as the party best able to handle environmental issues, as the first table in this collection shows. The second table looks at the power of the issue on Election Day. In 2000, for example, 9 percent of voters nationwide told exit pollsters from the Los Angeles Times that the environment was one of the top two issues for them in casting their vote. These voters pulled the lever for Gore over Bush, by 76 to 12 percent. As in elections past, other issues were more important to larger numbers of voters. In the 2000 Los Angeles Times exit poll, almost four times as many voters (35 percent) checked morals/ethical values as the top issue for them on the exit poll ballot.
- Topic:
- Environment, Government, Science and Technology, and Treaties and Agreements
- Political Geography:
- Los Angeles
908. Electricity Restructuring
- Author:
- John A. Riggs and Paul Runci
- Publication Date:
- 10-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Aspen Institute
- Abstract:
- Over the July 4th weekend, seventy current and former government officials and experts from industry, academia, and consumer and environmental public interest groups met to discuss the state of the U.S. electricity industry. The lack of progress in addressing critical electricity issues will increase costs and reduce performance in the electricity sector over the next several years. The long-term future of electricity supply and demand is also clouded by the absence of clear and stable government policies.
- Topic:
- Energy Policy, Government, and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- United States and Europe
909. Media Convergence, Diversity, and Democracy
- Author:
- Neil Shister
- Publication Date:
- 03-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Aspen Institute
- Abstract:
- The complexity of democracy is both its defect and its virtue. As an idealized conception, democracy promotes equitable social order through the counter play of interests while the rule of law protects individual citizens from the arbitrariness of the state. In practice, matters are considerably more ambiguous. Contradictions exist between theory and action; the power and privileges of some people invariably make them "more equal" than hers—social equity being a relative term. Even so, belief that democracy renders "the greatest good for the greatest number" constitutes the orthodox faith of contemporary civil religion. "No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all wise," noted Winston Churchill in his oft-quoted observation. "Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried from time to time."
- Topic:
- Politics and Science and Technology
- Political Geography:
- United States
910. Biological Security Public Health: In Search of a Global Treatment
- Author:
- Kurt M. Campbell and Philip Zelikow
- Publication Date:
- 03-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Aspen Institute
- Abstract:
- This summary is drawn from discussions held from August 4 to August 8, 2002 in Aspen, Colorado, building on the background research prepared for the participants. For four consecutive days, the Aspen Strategy Group and its guests examined the nexus of bio-logical security and global public health, focusing on national preparedness for biological attack and for new naturally occurring biological dangers, as well as global preparedness to address extreme biological dangers faced by much of humanity. The ensuing summary draws out the pol-icy recommendations from this dialogue, thereby omitting much of the detail and factual exchanges that were also extremely beneficial to all the participants. The participants were a distinguished group, and a list of them follows. They benefited from a thought-provoking and insightful set of papers, to be found in the subsequent sections of this publication.
- Topic:
- Security, Human Welfare, and Science and Technology