Category «Economy»

Little-Known Surveillance Program Captures Money Transfers Between U.S. and More Than 20 Countries

WSJ: “Hundreds of federal, state and local U.S. law-enforcement agencies have access without court oversight to a database of more than 150 million money transfers between people in the U.S. and in more than 20 countries, according to internal program documents and an investigation by Sen. Ron Wyden. The database, housed at a little-known nonprofit …

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

BankThink ChatGPT will break financial services, but then it might save it

American Banker – Dev Patnaik: “I recently spent the best part of a weekend playing with ChatGPT, the AI-powered natural language tool that answers questions and responds to prompts in an unerringly human way. My conclusion? It signals the end of the financial services industry as we know it. That claim will be laughed off …

Subjects: AI, Economy, Food and Nutrition, Legal Research

Global Risks Report 2023

World Economic Forum: Cost of living dominates global risks in the next two years while climate action failure dominates the next decade. “As 2023 begins, the world is facing a set of risks that feel both wholly new and eerily familiar. We have seen a return of “older” risks – inflation, cost-of-living crises, trade wars, …

Subjects: Economy, Energy, Environmental Law, Financial System, Government Documents, Health Care, Legal Research

Visualizing Congressional Productivity

Center for Data Innovation: The Economist has created a visualization tracking productivity in the U.S. Congress. The visualization shows the number of major bills passed in every session of Congress from 1947 to 2023 as well as the party that held control over the House, Senate, and presidency during each session. In the visualization, bills …

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

USITC Launches New Investigations Database System

“The United States International Trade Commission (USITC) today deployed the Investigations Database System (IDS), an innovative new data management tool that captures, manages, and displays USITC investigation-related information. Users are encouraged to visit the USITC website at https://ids.usitc.gov to explore this new tool. A major new feature is the ability to conduct quick searches and …

Subjects: E-Government, Economy, Financial System, Knowledge Management, Legal Research, Search Engines

How Policymakers Can Thwart the Rise of Fake Reviews

Center for Data Innovation: As businesses compete for customers in the digital economy, some use deceptive tactics to manipulate consumer reviews about their goods or services, or those of their competitors, including by posting fake reviews. These fake reviews can damage honest companies’ reputation and deceive consumers into purchasing goods or services of substandard quality. …

Subjects: Economy, Financial System, Government Documents, Intellectual Property, Legal Research, Legislation

Assessing ExxonMobil’s global warming projections

Science [no paywall for two weeks] – Assessing ExxonMobil’s global warming projections. G. Supran. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3846-1633 , S. Rahmstorf. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6786-7723, and N. OreskesAuthors Info & Affiliations Science 13 Jan 2023 Vol 379, Issue 6628 DOI: 10.1126/science.abk0063 “In 2015, investigative journalists discovered internal company memos indicating that Exxon oil company has known since the late 1970s that …

Subjects: Climate Change, Economy, Energy, Environmental Law, Legal Research

Close to 40% of multinational profits are shifted to tax havens each year

Missing Profits: “Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Copenhagen estimate that close to 40% of multinational profits (close to $1 trillion in 2019) are shifted to tax havens each year. This shifting reduces corporate income tax revenue by more than $200 billion, or 10% of global corporate tax receipts. Explore …

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

Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters

NOAA – “The U.S. has sustained 341 weather and climate disasters since 1980 where overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion (including CPI adjustment to 2022). The total cost of these 341 events exceeds $2.475 trillion. In 2022, there were 18 weather/climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each to affect the United States. …

Subjects: Climate Change, Economy, Environmental Law, Financial System, Government Documents, Housing, Legal Research, Transportation

Too Many Managers: The Strategic Use of Titles to Avoid Overtime Payments

NBER –  Too Many Managers: The Strategic Use of Titles to Avoid Overtime Payments – Lauren Cohen, Umit Gurun & N. Bugra Ozel Working Paper 30826. DOI 10.3386/w30826. Issue Date January 2023 – “We find widespread evidence of firms appearing to avoid paying overtime wages by exploiting a federal law that allows them to do …

Subjects: Economy, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

What are Large Global Banks Doing About Climate Change?

What are Large Global Banks Doing About Climate Change? Daniel O. Beltran, Hannah Bensen, Amy Kvien, Erin McDevitt, Monica V. Sanz, and Pinar Uysal. January 2023 – We review the “climate action plans” of Global Systemically Important Banks (GSIBs) and the progress they are making toward achieving them. G-SIBs have identified the drivers of climate …

Subjects: Climate Change, Economy, Environmental Law, Financial System