Monthly archives: January, 2017

BEA’s API Expands Access to International Services Trade Data

BEA Blog: “The most detailed data on U.S. international trade in services published by the Bureau of Economic Analysis are now accessible through our application programming interface, or API. This includes detailed annual statistics on U.S. trade in services by type of service for 90 countries and areas, including new estimates of trade related to …

Subjects: E-Government, Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research

New Uber site provides anonymized data from over 2 billion trips

News release: “Every hour of every day, people use Uber to get around the more than 450 cities we serve. From Sydney to Summit, we’ve been working hard to get to know these cities, with the goal of making them cleaner, more efficient and less crowded. Along the way, we’ve found that local leaders, urban …

Subjects: Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Privacy, Transportation

GAO Report – Retirement Security and Risky Investments

Retirement Security: Improved Guidance Could Help Account Owners Understand the Risks of Investing in Unconventional Assets, GAO-17-102: Published: Dec 8, 2016. Publicly Released: Jan 9, 2017. “People who invest their retirement accounts in unconventional assets—such as real estate or virtual currency—may be placing their savings at risk. Retirement accounts allowing such unconventional investments increase owners’ …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Legal Research

Researchers confirm ocean warming underestimated

Via The New Reddit Journal of Science – “…researchers [Zeke Hausfather, Kevin Cowtan, Dave Clarke, Peter Jacobs, Mark Richardson, Robert Rohde] who just published a new open access paper in Science Advances showing that ocean warming was indeed being underestimated, confirming the conclusion of a paper last year that triggered a series of political attacks. …

Subjects: Climate Change, Education, Environmental Law, Government Documents, Knowledge Management

NYT – Falcons, Drones, Data: A Winery Battles Climate Change

Jackson Family Wines is among California winemakers employing both high-tech and old-school techniques to adapt to hotter, drier conditions: “On a misty autumn morning in Sonoma County, Calif., Katie Jackson headed into the vineyards to assess the harvest. It was late in the season, and an army of field workers was rushing to pick the …

Subjects: Climate Change, Economy, Energy, Environmental Law, Knowledge Management

News Reporters Drive Growth in Media FOIA Litigation

“The number of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) cases brought by reporters and news organization has substantially increased during the last four years. Media-filed lawsuits which represented 3.5 percent of total federal filings during earlier years jumped to comprise more than one out of every ten FOIA suits (10.8%) at their peak in FY 2015. …

Subjects: Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

International Trade and Finance: Overview and Issues for the 115th Congress

CRS report via FAS – International Trade and Finance: Overview and Issues for the 115th Congress. Mary A. Irace, Coordinator. Section Research Manager; Rebecca M. Nelson, Coordinator. Specialist in International Trade and Finance. December 21, 2016. “The U.S. Constitution grants authority to Congress to regulate commerce with foreign nations. Congress exercises this authority in numerous …

Subjects: Congress, Economy, Financial System, Government Documents

MA Office of Consumer Affairs Business Reg Introduces Web-Based Data Breach Notification Archive

Mass.gov: “The Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation today announced the online public availability of its Data Breach Notification Archive.  The Massachusetts Data Security Law (M.G.L. c.93H) requires any entity that keeps a Massachusetts resident’s personal information to notify affected residents, the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation, and the Attorney General’s Office …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Government, Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

Paper – Foreclosure Sales and Recourse

Westrupp, Victor, Foreclosure Sales and Recourse. (September 15, 2016). Available for download at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2893468 “I document the imbalance of foreclosure sales with respect to recourse laws applied to primary mortgages in the U.S. using geographic state borders as exogenous variation combined with individual transaction data located close to the border. Under a regression discontinuity …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System, Legal Research

Paper – The Real Effects of NASDAQ Delistings

Liu, Karen, The Real Effects of NASDAQ Delistings (November 14, 2016). Available for download at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2893493 “It is claimed that exchange listing of its stock benefits a firm by improving its stock liquidity and access to capital, thereby affecting real decisions and consequent outcome variables. Testing this claim empirically encounters obvious and formidable endogeneity …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System, Legal Research

Office of Government Ethics “has lost contact with Pence-Trump transition”

NBC News: “The office tasked with overseeing ethics and conflicts in the federal government struggled to gain access to leaders of the Trump transition team, and warned Trump aides about making decisions on nominees or blind trusts without ethics guidance, according to new emails obtained by MSNBC. Office of Government Ethics Director Walter Shaub emailed …

Subjects: Congress, Economy, Financial System, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research