2008
June 19, 2008
Kent Weaver argues that a new approach to Social Security reform requires the president and congressional leaders to agree on an overall mandate for a commission named through a bipartisan nominating process designed to generate a group that is likely to focus on practical, consensus-building solutions. Special procedures in each house of Congress would provide expedited consideration of the commission’s reform package and alternatives, while providing incentives for constructive congressional engagement in the reform process.
March 4, 2008
No single U.S. move would have a greater impact on the direction of Cuban reform than the lifting of travel, trade and financial restrictions, argues Raj Desai. Although Washington's options are severely limited by the current political-economic mood in Latin America, the United States can clear a path for a reformist Cuba to seek its own solutions and to understand the tradeoffs involved in different reform strategies.
2007
October 31, 2007
Despite troubles in the subprime mortgage industry, an otherwise healthy economy should avert a true credit crisis. This brief describes how there is no shortage of capital and why bailing out the lenders would merely encourage them to do it again.
October 18, 2007
Governance reform was high on the agenda at the recent World Bank/IMF Annual Meeting in Washington. Brookings experts Colin Bradford and Johannes Linn examine priorities for reform at both institutions and other global organizations in a new Policy Brief.
June 15, 2007
In the spirit of a unified U.S. security strategy, Carlos Pascual and Larry Diamond offer a framework for near-term congressional action on hearings and appropriations to support a policy toward Iraq that is comprehensive and responsible.
June 1, 2007
Congressional leaders are finally working seriously on long-term approaches to climate change. Three major bills propose variations on a cap-and-trade approach that combines industry emission limits or "caps" with a government-created market for trading emission credits.
March 20, 2007
David L. Caprara, John Bridgeland, and Harris Wofford argue that as policy-makers search for ways to share the best of America with the world, they should start with our international volunteers, who embody this country's spirit of generosity, resourcefulness and hope. With the support of Congress and the Bush Administration, volunteers can become the first face of America to communities in many nations, while advancing concrete initiatives that lift up the lives of the poor throughout the world.
March 10, 2007
David de Ferranti and Anthony J. Ody explain why the time has come to pay greater attention to the potential of small and medium-sized commercial firms to promote economic growth.
March 1, 2007
FBI statistics suggest that violent crime rates increased from 2004 to 2005, and continued to climb through at least the first half of 2006. The massive drop in violent crime witnessed in the 1990s, when homicide rates declined by nearly 45 percent, has stalled since the turn of the millennium (Figure 1). As the Washington Post noted in a front-page article in December 2006, "the historic drop in the U.S. crime rate has ended and is being reversed."
2006
September 1, 2006
To improve developing countries' effectiveness in utilizing scarce public funds, efforts to achieve greater transparency and accountability in budget processes must be strengthened. This brief argues specifically for expanded initiatives to strengthen domestic civil society capacity - independent of governments - to provide substantive analysis of budget choices and the distribution and effectiveness of public spending, and to make the results accessible to the general population both directly and via intermediaries such as the media.
August 1, 2006
Policy Brief #156: Reforming Tax Incentives into Uniform Refundable Tax Credits; by Peter R. Orszag, Fred T. Goldberg, Jr., and Lily L. Batchelder
June 1, 2006
Lex Rieffel and Sarah Zalud argue that Americans engaging in volunteer work in other countries encourage more favorable attitudes among foreigners toward America and generate greater understanding among Americans of foreign perspectives. A more robust cross-cultural dialogue could make the United States less dependent on hard power, which has high budget costs.
May 1, 2006
The worldwide quest for oil resources by and investment practices of China's NOCs have triggered concerns about China's impact on international oil supplies and prices. China's growing oil demand need not lead to conflict with the rest of the world's energy needs. China's participation in the upstream oil market, in fact, can help increase supplies and lower prices, benefiting all consumers.
April 1, 2006
Brookings Policy Brief #153 by William T. Dickens, Isabel V. Sawhill and Jeffrey Tebbs (April 2006)
April 1, 2006
Policy Brief #152 by Johannes F. Linn and Colin I. Bradford, Jr. (April 2006)
March 1, 2006
The devastating 2005 hurricane season—especially the three large hurricanes that struck the Gulf Coast and Florida (Katrina, Rita and Wilma)—has graphically demonstrated how dangerous nature can be. Add in the storms of 2004, and the last two hurricane seasons account for the seven of the twelve most costly natural disasters in American history, as shown in Table 1.
March 1, 2006
In 1998, Sweden adopted a radical new approach to state-based pension provision, with several innovations. Many experts in the United States and elsewhere have been interested in Sweden's move toward mandatory individual accounts for retirement savings, with workers required to set-aside 2.5 percent of covered wages. For purposes of this brief, however, Sweden's novel approach to financing the much larger pay-as-you-go state pensions is of interest. The new Swedish pension system contains features that should achieve what the architects of the new system sought—guaranteed and permanent financial solvency at a fixed contribution rate of 16 percent of wages.
2005
December 1, 2005
The No Child Left Behind Act has the potential to improve many of America’s schools, but this potential is currently undermined by serious flaws in how the program evaluates school performance, writes Martin West. He proposes that the Department of Education allow states sufficient flexibility in devising alternative accountability schemes.
December 1, 2005
Policy Brief #147 by Henry J. Aaron (December 2005)
December 1, 2005
Policy Brief #148 by Henry J. Aaron (December 2005)
October 1, 2005
Sometimes nations face a stark choice: allow regions to federate and govern themselves, or risk national dissolution. Clear examples where federalism is the answer exist. Belgium would probably be a partitioned state now if Flanders had not been granted extensive self-government. If under Italy's constitution, Sardinia, a large and relatively remote Italian island, had not been granted significant autonomy, it might well have harbored a violent separatist movement—like the one plaguing a neighboring island, Corsica, a rebellious province of unitary France.
August 1, 2005
Nigeria's debt servicing problems began around 1985, when the Nigerian government's total external debt to all creditors amounted to $19 billion. Since then, the government has paid creditors more than $35 billion while borrowing less than $15 billion. Nevertheless, its outstanding external debt at the end of 2004 grew to almost $36 billion.
August 1, 2005
President Bush surprised both critics and supporters of his foreign policies in March 2002—fourteen months after his inauguration and six months after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001—when he unveiled his proposal to establish the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA).
July 1, 2005
Rumsfeld announced his commitment to a revolution in military affairs in his 2001 confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee. In a harbinger of rhetoric to come, he not only refused to rule out another round of military base closings, but he also announced his intention to reform the military acquisition process, which he declared ill-suited "to meet the demands posed by an expansion of unconventional and asymmetrical threats in an era of rapid technological advances."
July 1, 2005
White-collar offshoring burst into public consciousness early last year in the middle of a peculiarly unbalanced recovery, in which the share of national income going to workers and the rate of job creation were both unusually low. Coming on top of accelerated job shedding in manufacturing and the bursting of the information technology bubble, this new wave of offshoring expanded yet again the group of U.S. workers facing fundamental insecurity about future earnings.
June 1, 2005
The United States can learn from the experiences of other countries, including New Zealand, that have successfully implemented fiscal rules by assuring that fiscal restraint laws are supported politically.
June 1, 2005
Policy Brief #140, by R. Kent Weaver (June 2005)
January 1, 2005
Policy Brief #139, by Pietro S. Nivola (January 2005)
2004
September 1, 2004
Brookings Policy Brief by Pietro S. Nivola. (September 2004)
August 1, 2004
Brookings Policy Brief #136 by Charles L. Schultze. (July 2004)
August 1, 2004
Brookings Policy Brief #137 by David B. Sandalow. (July 2004)
July 1, 2004
Brookings Policy Brief #135 by William G. Gale, J. Mark Iwry and Peter R. Orszag. (July 2004)
June 1, 2004
Brookings Policy Brief #134 by Charles O. Jones. (June 2004)
May 1, 2004
Policy Brief #133 by Theodore H. Moran. (May 2004)
April 1, 2004
Brookings Policy Brief #131 by Colin I. Bradford, Jr. and Johannes F. Linn. (April 2004)
April 1, 2004
Policy Brief #132 by Lael Brainard and Robert E. Litan. (April 2004)
March 1, 2004
Brookings Policy Brief #130 by Alice M. Rivlin and Isabel V. Sawhill. (March 2004)
January 1, 2004
Brookings Policy Brief #129 by Robert E. Litan and Roger G. Noll. (January 2004)
January 1, 2004
Brookings Policy Brief #128 by Anthony Downs. (January 2004)
2003
December 1, 2003
Policy Brief #127: ""Reconsidering the Peace Corps"" by Lex Rieffel. (December 2003)
December 1, 2003
Policy Brief #126 by Peter A. Diamond and Peter R. Orszag. (December 2003)
September 1, 2003
Brookings Policy Brief #123 by Lael Brainard and Allison Driscoll. (September 2003)
September 1, 2003
Policy Brief #125 by James B. Steinberg, Mary Graham, Andrew Eggers. (September 2003)
September 1, 2003
Brookings Policy Brief #124 by Thomas J. Kane and Peter R. Orszag. (September 2003)
August 1, 2003
Policy Brief #122 by Pietro S. Nivola (August 2003).
July 1, 2003
Brookings Policy Brief #121 by Paul Masson and Heather Milkiewicz. (July 2003)
June 1, 2003
Policy Brief #120 by E.J. Dionne, Jr. and Kayla Meltzer Drogosz. (June 2003)
June 1, 2003
Bush's MCA proposal is a tremendous opportunity to enhance U.S. development efforts, but it could harm the environment and undermine long-term economic growth unless managed correctly. Policy Brief #119, by Nigel Purvis (June 2003)
April 1, 2003
Policy Brief #118 by Shang-Jin Wei and Heather Milkiewicz. (April 2003)
March 1, 2003
Policy Brief #117 by Robert W. Crandall (March 2003)
February 1, 2003
Policy Brief #115, by E.J. Dionne Jr., Bruce Katz, James M. Lindsay, Thomas E. Mann, Peter R. Orszag (February 2003)
February 1, 2003
Despite the welcome emphasis in the National Security Strategy on the security threats posed by failing states, the NSS does not offer any vision, policies, or new resources to counter these threats. Policy Brief #116, by Susan E. Rice (February 2003
January 1, 2003
The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) service test could provide important incentives for banks to serve ""unbanked"" and ""underbanked"" populations, but an analysis of almost 2,000 CRA examinations conducted over the last five years reveals anomalies in
January 1, 2003
Policy Brief #78, by Carol Graham (April 2001)
January 1, 2003
The U.S. - together with regional allies - needs a new North Korea policy to handle the rapidly intensifying nuclear crisis in Northeast Asia. Policy Brief #114, by Michael E. O'Hanlon (January 2003)
2002
December 1, 2002
Policy Brief #112, by Robert Litan (December 2002)
December 1, 2002
Policy Brief #113, by Michael E. O'Hanlon, Susan E. Rice, and James B. Steinberg (December 2002)
November 1, 2002
Policy Brief #111, by Carol Graham and Paul Masson (November 2002)
October 1, 2002
Policy Brief #109, by Ivo H. Daalder, James M. Lindsay, and James B. Steinberg (October 2002)
October 1, 2002
Policy Brief #108, by Howard Kunreuther, Geoffrey Heal, and Peter R. Orszag (October 2002)
October 1, 2002
After September 11, America has been able to maintain close ties to India and Pakistan. Washington should move beyond managing the crisis and help develop a road to peace in the region. Policy Brief #110, by Navnita Behara (October 2002)
September 1, 2002
Policy Brief #107, by Polly Nayak (September 2002)
August 1, 2002
Policy Brief #106, by Carol Graham, Robert Litan, and Sandip Sukhtanker (July 2002)
July 1, 2002
Policy Brief #103, by Michael Kremer and Seema Jayachandran (July 2002)
July 1, 2002
Policy Brief #105, by Charles H. Ferguson (July 2002)
July 1, 2002
Policy Brief #102, by Henri Barkey and Philip H. Gordon (July 2002)
July 1, 2002
Policy Brief #104, By Gary Burtless and Holger Schaeffer (July 2002)
June 1, 2002
Policy Brief #101, by William G. Gale and Samara Potter (June 2002)
June 1, 2002
Policy Brief #100, by Alan Auerbach, William G. Gale, and Peter Orszag (June 2002)
May 1, 2002
Policy Brief #99, by Clifford Gaddy and Fiona Hill (May 2002)
April 1, 2002
Policy Brief #97, by Robert E. Litan (April 2002)
April 1, 2002
Policy Brief #98, by Carol Graham (April 2002)
March 1, 2002
Policy Brief #95, by Michael O'Hanlon (March 2002)
February 1, 2002
Policy Brief #94, by Ivo Daalder and James Lindsay (February 2002)
January 1, 2002
Policy Brief #93, by Philip H. Gordon and Michael E. O'Hanlon (January 2002)
2001
December 1, 2001
Policy Brief #91, by Lael Brainard (December 2001)
December 1, 2001
Policy Brief #92 by Edward J. Lincoln (December 2001)
November 1, 2001
Policy Brief #90, by Philip Gordon, James B. Steinberg, December 2001
November 1, 2001
Policy Brief #67 by Anthony Downs (November 2000)
November 1, 2001
Policy Brief #68, by Ivo H. Daalder and I.M. Destler (November 2000)
October 1, 2001
Policy Brief #66, by Warwick J. McKibbin (October 2000)
October 1, 2001
Policy Brief #65, by Paul C. Light (October 2000)
September 1, 2001
Policy Brief #86, by Catharin E. Dalpino, September 2001
September 1, 2001
Policy Brief #64, by Alan J. Auerbach and William G. Gale (September 2000)
August 1, 2001
The formula used to allocate the 435 seats among the states, a peculiar method first adopted in 1941, violates the principle of one person, one vote by systematically giving more representation to residents of small states than to residents of large
August 1, 2001
Policy Brief #87, by Suzanne Maloney (August 2001)
August 1, 2001
Policy Brief #86, by Michael E. O'Hanlon, August 2001
July 1, 2001
Policy Brief #86, by Tom Bjorkman, July 2001
June 1, 2001
Policy Brief #62, by William G. Gale and Joel Slemrod (June 2000)
June 1, 2001
Policy Brief #61 by Richard N. Haass and Meghan L. O'Sullivan (June 2000)
June 1, 2001
Policy Brief #60, by Alan S. Blinder (June 2000)
June 1, 2001
Policy Brief #85, by Roberta Cohen and James Kunder, June 2001
June 1, 2001
Policy Brief #84, by Jean O. Lanjouw, June 2001
June 1, 2001
Policy Brief #82, by Thomas Mann, June 2001
May 1, 2001
Policy Brief #57, by Rachel Glennerster and Michael Kremer (May 2000)
May 1, 2001
Policy Brief #59, by Henry J. Aaron (May 2000)
May 1, 2001
Policy Brief #58, by Nicholas R. Lardy
May 1, 2001
Policy Brief #80, by Fiona Hill (May 2001)