Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions by Federal Reserve District – Prepared at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and based on information collected before April 7, 2014. This document summarizes comments received from businesses and other contacts outside the Federal Reserve and is not a commentary on the views of Federal Reserve officials. “Reports… Continue Reading
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Author Archives: Sabrina I. Pacifici
The Distribution of Household Income and the Middle Class
CRS – The Distribution of Household Income and the Middle Class. Craig K. Elwell, Specialist in Macroeconomic Policy, March 10, 2014 “The shape of the income distribution is not itself a subject of legislation, but Members of Congress appear to consider it in their decision-making process concerning a number of policy issues such as taxes, means-tested benefits, and… Continue Reading
The Bureau of Prisons: Operations and Budget
CRS – The Bureau of Prisons (BOP): Operations and Budget. Nathan James, Analyst in Crime Policy, March 4, 2014 “The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is the largest correctional agency in the country, in terms of the number of prisoners under its jurisdiction. The BOP must confine any offender convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment in a federal court. Changes in federal criminal… Continue Reading
New York City Adds 30,000 Photos to Online Gallery
“The New York City Department of Records and Information Services, announced the addition of 30,000 photographs to its on-line gallery. The new additions consist of pictures drawn from the Municipal Archives vast holdings and include 187 historical pictures from the New York City Police Department’s (NYPD) Alien Squad.” “Welcome to the New York City Municipal… Continue Reading
Banking union: restoring financial stability in the Eurozone
Press release (includes charts and graphs): “Since the crisis started in 2008, the European Commission has worked hard to learn all the lessons from the crisis and create a safer and sounder financial sector. The Commission has proposed 28 new rules to better regulate, supervise, and govern the financial sector so that in future taxpayers… Continue Reading
Recent Trends in Federal Home Loan Bank Advances to JPMorgan Chase and Other Large Banks
Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General, Evaluation Report, EVL-2014-006, April 16, 2014. Recent Trends in Federal Home Loan Bank Advances to JPMorgan Chase and Other Large Banks. “The Federal Home Loan Bank System (System) is comprised of 12 regional Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks) and the Office of Finance. The FHLBanks make secured loans, known as advances, to… Continue Reading
Tax burdens on labour income continue to rise across the OECD
“Personal income tax has risen in 25 out of 34 OECD countries over the past three years, as countries reduce the value of tax-free allowances and tax credits and subject higher proportions of earnings to tax, according to new data in the annual Taxing Wages publication. The increases in tax burdens on labour income in 2013 were largest… Continue Reading
New GAO Reports – DoD Contracting, Foreign Aid, NASA, Environmental Policy Act
ARMY MODULAR FORCE STRUCTURE: Annual Report Generally Met Requirements, but Challenges in Estimating Costs and Assessing Capability Remain, GAO-14-294: Published: Apr 16, 2014. Publicly Released: Apr 16, 2014. DEFENSE CONTRACTING: DOD’s Use of Class Justifications for Sole-Source Contracts, GAO-14-427R: Published: Apr 16, 2014. Publicly Released: Apr 16, 2014. FOREIGN AID: USAID Has Increased Funding to Partner-Country Organizations but Could Better… Continue Reading
PRA publishes information on data collection requests relating to life and general insurance firms
“The PRA has updated its website with information about data requests that will be sent to a number of life and general insurance firms in 2014- 2015 to support preparations for, and the transition to, Solvency II. The PRA will send the first data request directly to all firms in early May 2014. The deadline for… Continue Reading
The Economic Importance of Women’s Rising Hours of Work
Eileen Appelbaum, Heather Boushey, and John Schmitt |April 15, 2014: “Over the past three decades, there has been a steady rise in the share of women, especially mothers, in the workforce. As indicated by the data, the majority of women and mothers work, and many work full time and full year. This dramatic increase in women’s… Continue Reading
Vital Signs: Births to Teens Aged 15–17 Years — United States, 1991–2012
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly – April 11, 2014 / 63(14);312-318: “The U.S. teen birth rate has continued to decline, from 84.1 births per 1,000 teens aged 15–19 years in 1991 to an all-time low of 29.4 in 2012 (1). Despite this trend, approximately 305,000 infants were born to teens aged 15–19 years in 2012 , and… Continue Reading
EU Report – Text and Data Mining
Standardisation in the area of innovation and technological development, notably in the field of Text and Data Mining – Report from the Expert Group, 2014. “Text and data mining (TDM) is an important technique for analysing and extracting new insights and knowledge from the exponentially increasing store of digital data (‘Big Data’). It is important to understand the… Continue Reading
