Search

Begin New Search Topic Development Political Geography United States Content Type Working Paper

281. Banking and Finance Assistance

Author:
Eugene Spiro
Publication Date:
08-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
EastWest Institute
Abstract:
The Banking and Finance Assistance Centre (BFAC) of the East West Institute is an independent, international centre whose mission is to provide assistance to financial sector leaders in the transition economies of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the former Soviet Union (FSU). BFAC was established in 1992 by the East West Institute in response to the need expressed by bank executives and finance officials in CEE for a centre to provide impartial, professional, technical advice and assistance in the course of designing and implementing reform initiatives. Supported, among others, by the EWI network and in particular the United States Agency for International Development, BFAC's projects also cover capital markets and pension reform and small- and medium-sized enterprise development.
Topic:
Development and Economics
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, and Eastern Europe

282. Fieldwork Methodology for a CDIE Assessment of USAID and Poverty Reduction Approaches

Author:
Jonathan Sleeper and Lynn Salinger
Publication Date:
08-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United States Agency for International Development
Abstract:
The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, U.N. agencies, many bilateral donors, and a number of developing countries have made poverty reduction their overarching development objective. The United States was a signatory in 1996 to the OECD/DAC's international development goals, which included halving of world poverty by 2015. Under the aegis of a comprehensive development framework which empowers national partners to design and implement their own development actions, debt relief for the world's most heavily indebted poor countries is being linked by the multinational development organizations to the development of national Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs).
Topic:
Development, Economics, Human Welfare, and Poverty
Political Geography:
United States

283. Complex Emergencies And USAID's Humanitarian Response

Author:
Lynda DeWitt
Publication Date:
07-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United States Agency for International Development
Abstract:
In 1998 some 32 million people needed humanitarian assistance because they were caught up in complex emergencies (armed conflicts or civil wars). That same year, the United States spent $898 million on humanitarian assistance. This amount represented 10.2 percent of official development assistance and was more than triple the amount spent on humanitarian assistance in 1990.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:
United States

284. An Empirical Comparison of Bundesbank and ECB Monetary Policy Rules

Author:
John H. Rogers, Jonathan H. Wright, and Jon Faust
Publication Date:
08-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
We estimate a monetary policy reaction function for the Bundesbank and use it as a benchmark to assess the monetary policy of the ECB since the launch of the euro in January 1999. We find that euro interest rates are low relative to this benchmark. We consider several possible reasons for this, including the divergence between core and headline inflation, inflation having turned out to be higher than could have been foreseen by the ECB and the possibility that the ECB is focussing only on macroeconomic conditions in a subset of member countries. We argue that these potential explanations cannot account for the difference between recent interest rates and our estimated Bundesbank benchmark. Our results suggest that the reaction function of the ECB features a high weight on the output gap relative to the weight on inflation, compared to the Bundesbank.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States

285. Monetary Policy and Exchange Rate Pass-Through

Author:
Jane Ihrig and Joseph E. Gagon
Publication Date:
07-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
The pass-through of exchange rate changes into domestic inflation appears to have declined in many countries since the 1980s. We develop a theoretical model that attributes the change in the rate of pass-through to increased emphasis on inflation stabilization by many central banks. This hypothesis is tested on twenty industrial countries between 1971 and 2003. We find widespread evidence of a robust and statistically significant link between estimated rates of pass-through and inflation variability. We also find evidence that observed monetary policy behavior may be a factor in the declining rate of pass-through.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States

286. Russia in the International System

Publication Date:
06-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
Russia's Foreign Policy Russian foreign policy in the coming years will be characterized by weakness; frustration--primarily with the United States as the world's preeminent power--over Russia's diminished status; generally cautious international behavior; and a drive to resubjugate, though not reintegrate, the other former Soviet states. The international situation affords Russia time to concentrate on domestic reforms because, for the first time in its history, it does not face significant external threats. But rather than use the breathing space for domestic reforms, Putin is as much--if not more--focused on restoring Russia's self-defined rightful role abroad and seeking to mold the CIS into a counterweight to NATO and the European Union. The Outside World's Views of Russia Russia does not have any genuine allies. Some countries are interested in good relations with Russia, but only as a means to another end. For example, China sees Russia as a counterweight to the United States but values more highly its ties with the United States. Some countries see Russia as a vital arms supplier but resent Russia also selling arms to their rivals (China-India, Iran-Iraq). Pro-Russia business lobbies exist in Germany, Italy, Turkey, and Israel (one-fifth of whose population now consists of Soviet émigres), but they do not single-handedly determine national policies. Europe is the only region that would like to integrate Russia into a security system, but it is divided over national priorities and institutional arrangements as well as put off by some Russian behavior. Most CIS governments do not trust their colossal neighbor, which continues to show an unsettling readiness to intervene in their internal affairs, though they know Russia well and are to a considerable degree comfortable in dealing with it. Turkey has developed an improved dialogue and an unprecedented number of economic ties with Russia during the post-Cold War period, but this more positive pattern of relations has not fully taken root, and Ankara remains suspicious of Moscow's intentions. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Moscow's role in the Middle East has been reduced, but Israel, Syria, Egypt, Libya, and Iraq all favor good relations with Russia. Mutual interests also override disagreements in Russian-Iranian relations, but Tehran is wary of Russian behavior, particularly toward Saddam Hussein. India still trusts Russia--a sentiment that is perhaps a residue of the genuine friendship of Cold War days--but clearly not in the same way it once did, and New Delhi fears that weakness will propel Russia into doing things that could drive India further away. In East Asia, the most substantial breakthrough has been the resurrected relationship between Russia and China, one that entails significant longer-term risk for Russia. Other countries in the region value their links with Moscow as a means to balance a more powerful China, or as a useful component of their larger political and economic strategies, but Russia's role in East Asia--as elsewhere--remains constrained by the decline in its political, military, and economic power over the last decade. Russia's Weakness Russia's weakness stems from long-term secular trends and from its domestic structure. In essence, the old nomenklatura and a few newcomers have transformed power into property on the basis of personal networks and created an equilibrium resting on insider dealings. These insiders may jockey for position but have a vested interest in preserving the system. The public does not like the system but is resigned to it and gives priority to the preservation of order. As for the economy, it is divided into a profitable, internationally integrated sector run by oligarchs and a much larger, insulated, low-productivity, old-style paternalistic sector that locks Russia into low growth. No solace will be forthcoming from the international business and energy worlds. They do not expect the poor commercial climate to improve greatly and will not increase investments much beyond current levels until it does. Militarily, Russia will also remain weak. Its nuclear arsenal is of little utility, and Moscow has neither the will nor the means to reform and strengthen its conventional forces. Hope for the Future? The best hope for change in Russia lies with the younger generation. Several participants reported that under-25 Russians have much more in common with their US counterparts, including use of the Internet, than with older Soviet generations. But there was some question over whether the new generation would change the system or adapt to it. Others placed some hope in international institutions, for instance the World Trade Organization, eventually forcing Russia to adapt to the modern world. Dissenting Views Some participants dissented from the overall forecast of depressing continuity. The keynote speaker, James Billington, stated that Russia would not be forever weak and that the current confusion would end in a few years either through the adoption of authoritarian nationalism or federated democracy. One scholar felt the Chechen war was feeding ethnic discord in other areas of the Federation to which Moscow would respond with increased authoritarianism, not necessarily successfully. Finally, a historian observed that the patience of Russians is legendary but not infinite, meaning that we should not be overly deterministic.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, and Development
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, China, Middle East, and Israel

287. Permanent and Transitory Components of Business Cycles: Their Relative Importance and Dynamic Relationship

Author:
Chang-Jin Kim, Jeremy Piger, and Richard Startz
Publication Date:
05-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
This paper investigates the relationship between permanent and transitory components of U.S. recessions in an empirical model allowing for business cycle asymmetry. Using a common stochastic trend representation for real GNP and consumption, we divide real GNP into permanent and transitory components, the dynamics of which are different in booms vs. recessions. We find evidence of substantial asymmetries in postwar recessions, and that both the permanent and transitory component have contributed to these recessions. We also allow for the timing of switches from boom to recession for the permanent component to be correlated with switches from boom to recession in the transitory component. The parameter estimates suggest a specific pattern of recessions: switches in the permanent component lead switches in the transitory component both when entering and leaving recessions.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States and Mexico

288. Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Future DoD Airborne High-Frequency Radar Needs/Resources

Publication Date:
04-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
The Defense Science Board Task Force was formed to address questions related to the development of X-band, active, electronically steered arrays (AESAs) for airborne platforms. Areas focused on were advanced radar capabilities for ground targets and air targets.The airborne radar inventory can be divided into three broad categories:(1) Air target surveillance and cueing radars mounted in rotodomes (e.g., AWACS,-2C).(2) Nose- mounted fighter radars for air and ground targets (e.g., F-15, F-16, F-22, JSF).(3) Side-looking radars for ground reconnaissance, surveillance, and cueing (e.g., U-2, JSTARS, Global Hawk). Categories (2) and (3) are dominated by X-band radars; the insertion of AESA technology into category (3) was the primary subject for this task force.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Development, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

289. Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Options for Acquisition of the Advanced Targeting Pod and Advanced Targeting FLIR Pod

Publication Date:
02-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
The Under Secretary of Defense (AT) requested that the DSB form a brief study of ongoing Navy and Air Force programs aimed at developing advanced laser guided weapon targeting pods for their tactical aircraft. This request for a DSB Task Force was occasioned by Congressional interest in the possibilities of a Joint development and production program for these pods.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Development, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

290. Protecting the Homeland: Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Defensive Information Operations 2000 Summer Study Volume I

Publication Date:
02-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
The task forces see a spectrum of threats to the homeland emerging. The 2000 summer study begins a series of studies byt he Defense Science Board aimed at assisting the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community in defining their roles in protecting the nation from unconventional attacks on the United States. Other studies now planned as part of this series of studies include Defense Against Chemical Warfare Attack: Countering the Strategic Nuclear Threat in the 21st century; a follow-up study on Intelligence on Threats to the Homeland; and a second study on the issues associated with Defense Against Biological Warfare Attack. The focus of all these DSB studies is on identifying the technology and operational capability needed to protect the homeland. It is not on the assignment of roles and missions for employing said capabilities. Significant recommendations are made in these reports including suggestions for implementation.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Development, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

291. Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Training Superiority Training Surprise

Author:
Ralph Chatham and Joe Braddock
Publication Date:
01-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
In late 1998 the Undersecretary of Defense (Personnel Readiness), the Director, Defense Research and Engineering, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff requested the Defense Science Board to create a task force on training and education. Drs. Joe Braddock and Ralph Chatham were appointed co-chairmen. The task force met periodically throughout 1999 and early 2000. This document is the report of our deliberations.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Development, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

292. Commentaries: The U.S. National Intelligence Council's Global Trends 2015: Excerpts, Commentaries, And Response

Author:
Ellen Laipson, Michael A. Ledeen, Michael J. White, John Gannon, Eugene J. Carroll, Richard P. Cincotta, Johanna Mendelson Forman, Michael Hanssler, Liliana Hisas, Leslie Johnston, Gavin Kitchingham, Gayl D. Ness, David Rejeski, Ervin J. Rokke, Judith Shapiro, Aleksei V. Yablokov, and Arno Weinmann
Publication Date:
01-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
In January 2001, the U.S. National Intelligence Council (NIC), a center within the Central Intelligence Agency that provides the agency's director with mid- and long-term strategic thinking and direction, published Global Trends 2015: A Dialogue About the Future with Nongovernmental Experts. This unclassified and public report, which expanded on the NIC's previous effort Global Trends 2010, takes a look at the world over the next 15 years from the perspective of the national security policymaker.
Topic:
Security, Development, Environment, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

293. Caribbean Tourism: Igniting the Engines of Sustainable Growth

Author:
Anthony T. Bryan
Publication Date:
11-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The North-South Center, University of Miami
Abstract:
Tourism drives economic growth in ways that make it one of the best engines for job creation and development for poor countries that possess natural beauty and relevant infrastructure. The industry is highly labor intensive and encourages entrepreneurship. Under its ambit, property owners, restaurants, and local suppliers of goods and services, among others, develop the habits of risk taking without which no economy can realize its full potential. Tourism holds out the prospect of a better life for those stakeholders who make money from it. Not unlike trade, it improves an economy's competitiveness. Trade does so because it stimulates local suppliers to match the quality and variety of imported goods. Tourism does so because returning travelers to a destination demand the goods and services they have seen in other countries (Elliott 2001).
Topic:
Development, Environment, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States, Latin America, and Caribbean

294. Geography, Markets, Resources, and Development: The Assets of the Americas Revisited

Author:
L. Ronald Scheman
Publication Date:
07-2001
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The North-South Center, University of Miami
Abstract:
In May 1996, the price of copper crashed from US$2,600 to $1,775 per ton. The Sumitomo Corporation of Japan acknowledged unprecedented losses of $2.6 billion from unauthorized trading by its chief copper trader, one of the faceless manipulators of the international commodities markets, Yasuo Hamanaka. Among the major banks caught in this modern variation of the Ponzi scheme were J.P. Morgan and the London Metal Exchange. Chile, whose economy was highly dependent on income from the commodity, was quickly and painfully reminded that the highly leveraged markets on which it depended, even in the hands of the most reputable institutions, are fragile and subject to unexpected forces beyond its control. Copper prices began a downward spiral, and they have not yet recovered.
Topic:
Development, Environment, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
United States, America, and Caribbean

295. Colombia at the Crossroads

Author:
Aleksandar D. Jovovic
Publication Date:
03-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
Abstract:
The Institute for the Study of Diplomacy hosted the spring session of the Schlesinger Working Group on the topic of strategic surprise in Colombia. After a presentation on four potential scenarios that may face Colombia (see next page), Schlesinger Working Group core members and Colombia specialists examined the key factors driving events in this conflict-scarred country, as well as possible outcomes for current political initiatives. Among other issues, the participants touched on the range and dynamics of the present conflict, its effects on Colombian institutions, the country's neighbors, as well as on the role of powerful outside players, primarily the United States. Upon defining these key factors, participants identified a broad outline for future policy towards Colombia, which would safeguard key U.S. interests, defined as an end to the conflict, political and economic stability in the region, and the suppression of the drug trade. The following report is based on the informal and general findings of the group and is therefore not a consensus document.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Development, and Government
Political Geography:
United States, Colombia, South America, and Latin America

296. Russia's Physical and Social Infrastructure: Implications for Future Development

Publication Date:
12-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
During the past two years, the National Intelligence Council and the Bureau of Intelligence and Research of the US Department of State sponsored a working group and four seminars with experts from outside the Intelligence Community to examine the impact of societal and infrastructural factors on Russia's future over the next two decades. The factors identified--demography, health, intellectual capital, and physical infrastructure--all pose great challenges to Russia. The purpose of the project was to begin to think through in systematic fashion the difficulties and opportunities confronting Russia's leadership in these four specific areas.
Topic:
Demographics, Development, and Government
Political Geography:
Russia and United States

297. Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on DoD Frequency Spectrum Issues

Publication Date:
11-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
Imagine trying to win an overseas air war where target intelligence can be gathered only part of the day, where aerial refueling is hampered by inability to fly in close formation under prevailing weather conditions, and where many newly developed radio systems for air, sea, and land forces don't work the way they did back in the U.S. Sound unlikely? It isn't - these constraints limited the U.S. forces' ability to operate to maximum efficiency during the Kosovo campaign. These restrictions on U.S. military equipment did not arise from sabotage, maintenance failures, or enemy countermeasures - they resulted from the Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition system's failure to insist on qualifying spectrum allocations for new systems that depend on access to the radio frequency spectrum. Without such qualification, systems that function well in the U.S. may not be usable abroad. Unless new systems' use of radio frequencies is qualified, they may interfere with other military users or with critical civilian users of the radio spectrum, even at home.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Development, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

298. Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Defense Software

Publication Date:
11-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
The Defense Science Board (DSB) Task Force on Defense Software was formed in September 1999 and tasked to: Review the findings and recommendations of previous Department of Defense (DoD) -wide studies on software development and acquisition Assess the current environment to identify changes since previous studies Assess the current state of software development programs – both DoD and Commercial Identify focused recommendations to improve performance on DoD software intensive programs.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Development, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

299. Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on the Technology Capabilities of Non-DoD Providers

Publication Date:
06-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Abstract:
In the years since WWII, the global private sector has come to dominate the development of technology and the manufacturing capabilities for a number of technologies of critical importance to the Defense Department of the Military Services. Examples include information systems, propulsion systems such as gas turbines and logistics systems.
Topic:
Defense Policy, Development, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

300. Commentary: Trade and the Environment After Seattle–Perspectives From The Wilson Center

Author:
William M. Daley, Andrea Durbin, Mikhail Gorbachev, Martin Albrow, Stacy D. Vandeever, Anju Sharma, Stephen Clarkson, Kent Hughes, and Tamar Gutner
Publication Date:
06-2000
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
Free trade, seen by many as the engine of world economic growth, has once again become the subject of bitter dispute. Nowhere was this more evident than at the meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Seattle at the end of 1999. There, environmentalists joined with trade unionists and advocates for developing countries in staging mass protests. These diverse groups claimed the WTO is unrepresentative and undemocratic, overlooking environmental interests and those of the world's poor in favor of big business. Inside the negotiating halls, the United States and the European Union clashed over agricultural subsidies and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Developing country representatives complained that they remained marginalized in the official talks.
Topic:
Security, Development, Environment, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States and Europe