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February 14, 2017 – “Nuclear weapons have been a cornerstone of U.S. national security since they were developed during World War II. In the Cold War, nuclear forces were central to U.S. defense policy, resulting in the buildup of a large arsenal. Since that time, nuclear forces have figured less prominently than conventional forces, and …
The Influence of Gender and Income on the Household Division of Financial Responsibility, By Marcin Hitczenko. 2016 Series.16–20 Research Department Working Papers – Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. “Most previous research on household dynamics has focused on how married couples divide responsibilities for “housework,” a broad category that generally includes routine cleaning chores, child care, …
“Are you looking for data to help you start or grow a business or understand the business landscape for a region? The Census Business Builder (CBB) is a suite of services that provide selected demographic and economic data from the Census Bureau tailored to specific types of users in a simple to access and use …
CRS report via FAS – Monetary Policy and the Federal Reserve: Current Policy and Conditions, Marc Labonte, Specialist in Macroeconomic Policy. February 7, 2017. “Congress has delegated responsibility for monetary policy to the nation’s central bank, the Federal Reserve (the Fed), but retains oversight responsibilities for ensuring that the Fed is adhering to its statutory …
Gustafson, Matthew and Kotter, Jason D., Minimum Wage and Corporate Policy (January 2017). Available for download at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2914598 “We provide evidence that minimum wage changes significantly affect the investment and financing policies of labor intensive public firms. Our identification strategy exploits cross-state and intertemporal variation in whether a state’s minimum wage is bound by …
“The cost estimates that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) developed for the four selected information technology (IT) investments were unreliable and, thus, lacked a sound basis for informing the department’s investment and budgetary decisions. GAO’s Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide (Cost Guide) defines best practices that are associated with four characteristics of …
National Center for Children in Poverty Report January 2017 – “Among all children under 18 years in the U.S., 43 percent live in low-income families and 21 percent—approximately one in five—lives in a poor family. This means that children are overrepresented among our nation’s poor; they represent 23 percent of the population but comprise 33 …
Via FAS – CRS report – Social Security: The Lump-Sum Death Benefit, Wayne Liou Analyst in Social Policy. February 2, 2017. “When a worker who is insured by Social Security and living with a spouse dies, the spouse is entitled to a lump-sum death benefit of $255. If there is no such spouse, the payment …
White House prress release, February 8, 2017 reflects a cabinet with designees still awaiting confirmation: President Donald J. Trump today formally announced the 24 people who will be serving with him on his Cabinet. Unfilled positions – Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, EPA, HUD, Interior, Labor, Small Business, Veterans Affairs, OMB, Director of National Intelligence and the …
“Manufacturing was the nation’s leading investor in capital expenditures in 2015 with $239.6 billion spent for structures and equipment, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2015 Annual Capital Expenditures Survey. Businesses invested $1,638.6 billion in new and used buildings, structures, machinery and equipment (including computer software), up $40.7 billion (2.5 percent) from 2014. This is …
Pew Report – Algorithms are aimed at optimizing everything. They can save lives, make things easier and conquer chaos. Still, experts worry they can also put too much control in the hands of corporations and governments, perpetuate bias, create filter bubbles, cut choices, creativity and serendipity, and could result in greater unemployment. “Algorithms are instructions for …
“Today the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis issued full year 2016 U.S. international trade in goods and services data. The top five countries based on trade in goods in 2016 were China, Canada, Mexico, Japan and Germany. Trade in goods with China was $578.6 billion. Exports were $115.8 billion and imports …
