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Daily Archives: October 9, 2014

Two New CRS Reports on Ebola

  • The Ebola Outbreak: Select Legal Issues, CRS Legal Sidebar, October 6, 2014: “On August 8th, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease in West Africa a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The recent arrival in the United States of several health care workers who contracted the disease, combined with the first diagnosis of a case in the U.S. at a hospital in Dallas, has sparked discussion about the appropriate government response. Aside from the various policy considerations at issue, the outbreak has generated several legal questions about the federal government’s authority to restrict specific passengers’ travel and/or contain the outbreak of an infectious disease. These questions include, inter alia, whether the federal government may: (1) restrict which countries U.S. nationals may travel to in the event of a public health crisis; (2) bar the entry into the United States of people who may have been infected by a disease; and (3) impose isolation or quarantine measures in order to control infectious diseases.
  • Ebola: Basics About the Disease, October 3, 2014: “The Ebola virus is named after the Ebola River, near where the virus was discovered in  1976 in Zaire, now known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It is in the filovirus family, so called because of its filamentous shape. EVD is also known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever. The disease sometimes causes hemorrhage (i.e., bleeding) from body openings, but this symptom is not consistent. Five strains of Ebola virus have been identified. The Zaire strain is responsible for the current outbreak in West Africa. A slightly different Zaire strain is responsible for a smaller unrelated outbreak now in the DRC.”

Dead or Alive? Valuing an Elephant

“Elephants are among the world’s most charismatic mega fauna and our largest living land mammals. However, the survival of Africa’s elephants is threatened by continuing demand for ivory desired for trinkets, religious statues, ornaments and accessories from Far Eastern Countries. As a result, elephant poaching is rife across Africa, with elephants being killed even in… Continue Reading

Sovereign Crises and Bank Financing: Evidence from the European Repo Market

Boissel, Charles and Derrien, François and Ors, Evren and Thesmar, David, Sovereign Crises and Bank Financing: Evidence from the European Repo Market (April 29, 2014). Available for download at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2506677 “We examine the impact of the European sovereign debt crisis in 2008-2011 on a key segment of the European interbank market, the General Collateral (GC)… Continue Reading

Access Across America: Transit 2014

“This study examined the accessibility to jobs by transit in 46 of the 50 largest (by population) metropolitan areas in the United States. It is the most detailed evaluation to date of access to jobs by transit, and it allows for a direct comparison of the transit accessibility performance of America’s largest metropolitan areas. Rankings were… Continue Reading

Report – 15 Economic Facts About Millenials

The Council of Economic Advisers, October 2014 “Millennials, the cohort of Americans born between 1980 and the mid-2000s, are the largest generation in the U.S., representing one-third of the total U.S. population in 2013. With the first cohort of Millennials only in their early thirties, most members of this generation are at the beginning of their careers… Continue Reading

EFF Launches IFightSurveillance.org and Counter-Surveillance Success Stories

“The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today launched IFightSurveillance.org, a new site showcasing digital privacy advocates from around the world who are leading the fight against mass surveillance. The site includes figures from the organization’s growing list of Counter-Surveillance Success Stories, a set of guides showing how individuals and organizations have taken on state and corporate… Continue Reading

Demographic Trends and Growth in Japan and the United States

NY Fed – Thomas Klitgaard and Preston Mui: “Japan’s population is shrinking and getting older, with the population falling at a 0.2 percent rate this year and the working-age population (ages 16 to 64) falling at a much faster rate of almost 1.5 percent. In contrast, the U.S. population is rising at a 0.7 percent annual rate and the working-age population is rising… Continue Reading

Where GMOs hide in your food – Consumer Reports

“More than 70 percent of Americans say they don’t want genetically modified organisms in their food, according to a recent Consumer Reports National Research Center survey of 1,000 adults. The trouble is, it’s hard to avoid them. Consumer Reports’ tests of breakfast cereals, chips, soy infant formulas, and other popular products found that GMOs lurk… Continue Reading