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Daily Archives: July 14, 2013

Global Risks Report 2013

“The Global Risks Report 2013 analyses 50 global risks in terms of impact, likelihood and interconnections, based on a survey of over 1000 experts from industry, government and academia. This year’s findings show that the world is more at risk as persistent economic weakness saps our ability to tackle environmental challenges. The report highlights wealth gaps (severe income disparity) followed by unsustainable government debt (chronic fiscal imbalances) as the top two most prevalent global risks. Following a year scarred by extreme weather, from Hurricane Sandy to flooding in China, respondents rated rising greenhouse gas emissions as the third most likely global risk overall. The findings of the survey fed into an analysis of three major risk cases: Testing Economic and Environmental Resilience, Digital Wildfires in a Hyperconnected World and The Dangers of Hubris on Human Health. In a special report on national resilience, the groundwork is laid for a new country resilience rating, which would allow leaders to benchmark their progress. The report also highlights “X Factors” – emerging concerns which warrant more research, including the rogue deployment of geoengineering and brain-altering technologies.”

Relationship and Transaction Lending in a Crisis

Relationship and Transaction Lending in a Crisis by Patrick Bolton, Xavier Freixas, Leonardo Gambacorta and Paolo Emilio Mistrulli – Working Papers No 417, July 2013 “We study how relationship lending and transaction lending vary over the business cycle. We develop a model in which relationship banks gather information on their borrowers, which allows them to provide loans for profitable firms during a crisis. Due… Continue Reading

Should monetary policy lean against the wind? – an analysis based on a DSGE model with banking

Should monetary policy lean against the wind? – an analysis based on a DSGE model with banking by Leonardo Gambacorta and Federico M Signoretti – Working Papers No 418, July 2013 “The global financial crisis has reaffirmed the importance of financial factors for macroeconomic fluctuations. Recent work has shown how the conventional pre-crisis prescription that monetary policy should pay no attention to… Continue Reading

Holding Distribution Utilities Liable for Outage Costs: An Economic Look

Holding Distribution Utilities Liable for Outage Costs: An Economic Look – Timothy J. Brennan – Resources for the Future – July 5, 2013. Resources for the Future DP 13-16, July 2013 “Storm-related service outages in electricity and telecommunications have created public controversies regarding the adequacy of ex ante efforts to prevent outages and ex post… Continue Reading

Coaltion of Good Government Groups Urge US Attorney General to Release Reports on Telephone Surveillance

“[On July 8, 2013] the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), along with 22 other good-government groups, sent a letter to the US Department of Justice urging Attorney General Eric Holder to make public any reports by Inspector General Michael Horowitz regarding the collection of Americans’ telephone records under Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act.… Continue Reading

Transforming Our Conversation of Information Architecture with Structure

Transforming Our Conversation of Information Architecture with Structure by Nathaniel Davis “Information architecture has been characterized as both an art and a science. Because there’s more evidence of the former than the latter, the academic and research community is justified in hesitating to give the practice of information architecture more attention. If you probe the… Continue Reading

Foreign Surveillance and the Future of Standing to Sue Post- Clapper

CRS – Foreign Surveillance and the Future of Standing to Sue Post-Clapper – Andrew Nolan, Legislative Attorney, July 10, 2013 “Recent news accounts (and government responses to those news accounts) have indicated that the government is reportedly engaged in a surveillance program that gathers vast amounts of data, including records regarding the phone calls, emails,… Continue Reading

CRS – Cluster Munitions: Background and Issues for Congress

Cluster Munitions: Background and Issues for Congress – Andrew Feickert, Specialist in Military Ground Forces; Paul K. Kerr, Analyst in Nonproliferation, July 9, 2013 “Cluster munitions are air-dropped or ground-launched weapons that release a number of smaller submunitions intended to kill enemy personnel or destroy vehicles. Cluster munitions were developed in World War II and… Continue Reading

Global corruption barometer 2013

Transparency International – Global corruption barometer 2013 “More than one person in two thinks corruption has worsened in the last two years, according to the world’s largest public opinion survey on corruption from Transparency International, but survey participants also firmly believe they can make a difference and have the will to take action against graft.… Continue Reading

Health of U.S. Streams Reduced by Streamflow Modifications and Contaminants

“A new USGS report [Ecological Health in the Nation’s Streams, 1993—2005] describes how the health of our Nation’s streams is being degraded by streamflow modifications and elevated levels of nutrients and pesticides. The national assessment of stream health was unprecedented in the breadth of the measurements—including assessments of multiple biological communities as well as streamflow… Continue Reading