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58142. Does U.S. Intervention Overseas Breed Terrorism?: The Historical Record
- Author:
- Ivan Eland
- Publication Date:
- 12-1998
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- According to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, terrorism is the most important threat the United States and the world face as the 21st century begins. High-level U.S. officials have acknowledged that terrorists are now more likely to be able to obtain and use nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons than ever before.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy and Terrorism
- Political Geography:
- United States
58143. The Case for a Russian Currency Board System
- Author:
- Steve H. Hanke
- Publication Date:
- 10-1998
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- The devaluation of the Russian ruble this year was predictable, especially considering Russia's poor monetary history. State-manipulated money has been a Russian hallmark since the time of Peter the Great and shows that the country's money problems are endemic and do not depend on who controls the central bank. Czarist, Soviet, and post-Soviet governments have used the central bank printing press to finance deficit spending, resulting in high inflation, confiscation of savings, capital controls, or a combination of the three.
- Topic:
- Economics and International Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, Asia, and Soviet Union
58144. Time to Terminate the ESF and the IMF
- Author:
- Anna J. Schwartz
- Publication Date:
- 08-1998
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- The International Monetary Fund and the U.S. Treasury Department's Exchange Stabilization Fund are undemocratic institutions unaccountable for their actions. Their current functions have little to do with their original missions. The ESF is used by the executive branch to circumvent Congress in the provision of foreign aid. Its foreign exchange interventions have, in any event, always been wasteful and ineffective at controlling the relative price of the U.S. dollar. The IMF has also been used to provide massive bailouts in the cases of Mexico in 1995 and of Asian countries since 1997. Defenders of the IMF as an international lender of last resort are misinformed since the IMF does not and cannot serve that purpose. Both institutions should be abolished, not reformed, because they are not needed to resolve currency crises and they preclude superior solutions.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Trade and Finance, and Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- United States, Asia, and Mexico
58145. Perspectives From Four Continents: Solving the Global Public Pensions Crisis
- Author:
- Cato Institute
- Publication Date:
- 04-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- On December 8-9 the Cato Institute and The Economist cosponsored a conference on the global public pensions crisis at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in London. Among the speakers were Michael Tanner, director of the Cato Project on Social Security Privatization; Clive Crook, deputy editor of The Economist; Carlos Boloña, former finance minister of Peru; Mukul Asher of the University of Singapore; and Peter Ferrara, chief economist at Americans for Tax Reform and an associate policy analyst at the Cato Institute. Excerpts from their remarks follow.
- Topic:
- Economics, Government, and International Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- London
58146. America's Maligned and Misunderstood Trade Deficit
- Author:
- Daniel T. Griswold
- Publication Date:
- 04-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- America's annual trade deficit, already large by historical standards, could reach a new record in 1998, fueling protectionist sentiment in Congress. Political fallout from the trade deficit numbers could impede efforts to reduce barriers to trade in the United States and abroad. Contrary to popular conception, the trade deficit is not caused by unfair trade practices abroad or declining industrial competitiveness at home. Trade deficits reflect the flow of capital across international borders, flows that are determined by national rates of savings and investment. This renders trade policy an ineffective tool for reducing a nation's trade deficit.
- Topic:
- Economics and Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- United States
58147. The Specter of Pervasiveness: Pacifica, New Media, and Freedom of Speech
- Author:
- Jonathan D. Wallace
- Publication Date:
- 02-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- Under the legal doctrine of pervasiveness, media such as television and radio get much less protection from censorship than do print media. The Supreme Court should reject the pervasiveness doctrine as a dangerously broad and vague excuse for speech regulation. If the doctrine applies to any medium, it could arguably apply to all media. The pervasiveness doctrine thus threatens to curtail the First Amendment's protection of freedom of speech.
- Topic:
- Government, Industrial Policy, Political Economy, and Science and Technology
58148. Europarliament and Environmental Leglislation: The Case of Chemicals
- Author:
- George Tsebelis and Anastassios Kalandrakis
- Publication Date:
- 07-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute of European Studies (IES), UC Berkeley
- Abstract:
- The paper studies the impact of the EP on legislation on chemical pollutants introduced under the Cooperation procedure. A series of formal and informal analyses have predicted from significant impact of the EP, to limited impact (only in the second round) to no impact at all. Through the analysis of Parliamentary debates as well as Commission and Parliamentary committee documents, we are able to assess the significance of different amendments, as well as the degree to which they were introduced in the final decision of the Council. Our analysis indicates first that less than 30% of EP amendments are insignificant, while 15% are important or very important; second, that the probability of acceptance of an amendment is the same regardless of its significance. Further analysis indicates two sources of bias of aggregate EP statistics: several amendments are complementary (deal with the same issue in different places of the legal document), and a series of amendments that are rejected as inadmissible because they violate the legal basis of the document or the germainess requirement) are included in subsequent pieces of legislation. We calculate the effect of these biases in our sample, and find that official statistics underestimate Parliamentary influence by more that 6 percentage points (49% instead of 56% in our sample). Finally, we compare a series of observed strategic behaviors of different actors (rapporteurs, committees, floor, Commission) to different expectations generated by the literature.
- Topic:
- Environment, Industrial Policy, and Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- Europe
58149. The Future of the Public Sector--The Challenges for Policy Research in a Changing Environment
- Author:
- George Galster
- Publication Date:
- 09-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Urban Institute
- Abstract:
- As we approach the 21st century, the public seems increasingly disenchanted with the record of government, and less and less inclined to believe in the value of empirical analysis as a guide to action. Evidence of the loss of confidence in the public sector's ability to operate effectively and efficiently is found in opinion polls, falling rates of electoral participation, and the rising influence of "anti-government" politicians. In such an environment, it is useful to reflect on the historical role that applied social science has played in the public sector and the role it might play in the future.
- Topic:
- Government
- Political Geography:
- United States
58150. Immigrants in New York: Their Legal Status, Incomes, and Taxes
- Author:
- Jeffrey S. Passel and Rebecca L. Clark
- Publication Date:
- 04-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Urban Institute
- Abstract:
- This report provides essential demographic and economic information on legal immigrants residing in New York State and addresses significant shortcomings in the existing data for immigrants and in analyses of fiscal impacts of legal immigrants. It focuses on four major issues: the size of the legal immigrant populations; the characteristics of legal status groups, including both legal and undocumented populations; the incomes and taxes paid by immigrant populations and natives; and the economic adaptation of immigrants and their descendants.
- Topic:
- Government, International Law, and Migration
- Political Geography:
- United States and New York