strength

ADB Needs to Strengthen Project Sustainability to Enhance Performance

ADB needs to address issues causing weak sustainability of its projects to improve performance, says the 2020 Annual Evaluation Review (AER) conducted by ADB’s Independent Evaluation Department.




strength

3309-TAJ: Strengthening Technical and Vocational Education and Training [MOLME/TVET/NCB-GS07]




strength

Why strength training may be the best thing you can do for your health

Building muscle reduces the risk of cancer and stroke, boosts brainpower, burns through calories and more – it might even be better for you than cardio




strength

Why strength training may be the best thing you can do for your health

Building muscle reduces the risk of cancer and stroke, boosts brainpower, burns through calories and more – it might even be better for you than cardio




strength

Upper-Body Strength Key for NASCAR Drivers

Title: Upper-Body Strength Key for NASCAR Drivers
Category: Health News
Created: 4/27/2012 6:06:00 PM
Last Editorial Review: 4/30/2012 12:00:00 AM




strength

Helping Hand: Men's Grip Strength May Up Marriage Prospects

Title: Helping Hand: Men's Grip Strength May Up Marriage Prospects
Category: Health News
Created: 5/2/2018 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 5/2/2018 12:00:00 AM




strength

Prescription-Strength Steroid Creams Sold Over-the-Counter Can Be Dangerous

Title: Prescription-Strength Steroid Creams Sold Over-the-Counter Can Be Dangerous
Category: Health News
Created: 1/23/2020 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 1/24/2020 12:00:00 AM




strength

Ask Grandma to Dance to Boost Her Mood And Strengthen Your Bonds

Title: Ask Grandma to Dance to Boost Her Mood And Strengthen Your Bonds
Category: Health News
Created: 4/17/2020 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 4/20/2020 12:00:00 AM




strength

The Additive Effects of Cell Phone Use and Dental Hygiene Practice on Finger Muscle Strength: A Pilot Study

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine strength of muscles involved with instrumentation (scaling) by dental hygienists and the additive effects of cellular (mobile) phone usage, as indicated by measurements of muscular force generation.Methods: A convenience sample of licensed dental hygienists currently in clinical practice (n=16) and an equal number of individuals not currently using devices/tools repetitively for work (n=16), agreed to participate in this pilot study. All participants completed a modified cell phone usage questionnaire to determine their use pattern and frequency. Upon completion of the questionnaire, participants' force production in six muscle groups was measured using a hand-held dynamometer. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data.Results: A total of 16 licensed dental hygienists (n=16) and 16 participants with no history of using tools/devices repetitively for work (n=16), comprised the experimental and control groups, repectively. The control group generated greater muscle force than the experimental group for the abductor pollicis longus (p=0.045). Significant differences were identified when comparing the low mobile phone users in the experimental group to the control group for the flexor pollicis brevis (p=0.031), abductor pollicis longus (p=0.031), and flexor digitorum (p=0.006), with the control group demonstrating higher muscle force. Years in clinical practice and mobile phone use was shown to have a significant effect on muscular force generation for the flexor pollicis brevis (F=3.645, df=3, p=0.020) and flexor digitorum (F=3.560, df=3, p=0.022); subjects who practiced dental hygiene the longest produced the least amount of muscle force.Conclusion: Results from this pilot study indicate there are no significant additive effects of cell phone use and dental hygiene practice on finger muscles used for instrumentation. However, results indicate that dental hygiene practice demonstrated significant effects on muscular strength as compared to individuals who do not use tools/devices repetitively for work. The small sample size may have impacted results and the study should be repeated with a larger sample.




strength

Effect of gross morphology on modern planktonic foraminiferal test strength under compression

Planktonic foraminifera are a source of important geochemical, palaeoceanographic, and palaeontological data. However, many aspects of their ecology remain poorly understood, including whether or not gross morphology has an ecological function. Here, we measure the force needed to crush multiple planktonic foraminiferal morphotypes from modern core top and tow samples. We find significant differences in the resistance of different morphotypes to compressional force. Three species, Globorotalia tumida (biconvex, keeled), Menardella menardii (discoidal, keeled), Truncorotalia truncatulinoides (conical, keeled), require on average 59% more force (1.07 v. 0.47 N) to crush than the least resistant species (Orbulina universa and Trilobatus sacculifer) in core-top samples. Towed samples of pre-gametogenic individuals also show significant differences of the same magnitude (0.693 v. 0.53 N) between the conical (T. truncatulinoides) and globular/spherical morphologies (Globoconella inflata and O. universa). We hypothesize that the greater compressional strength of certain shapes confers a fitness advantage against predators and could contribute to the repeated, convergent evolution of keeled, conical and bi-convex forms in planktonic foraminifer lineages.

Supplementary material: Raw data for all crushing experiments, wall thickness measurements, and results for all pair-wise Kolmogorov-Smirnov Tests are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3725236.v1




strength

Why strength training may be the best thing you can do for your health

Building muscle reduces the risk of cancer and stroke, boosts brainpower, burns through calories and more – it might even be better for you than cardio




strength

New Zoom 5.0 app rectifies security concerns with government-strength encryption tech and meeting protection

The company has made steps to secure meetings against Zoombombing




strength

Mikel Arteta using shutdown to strengthen bond with Arsenal stars - 'I want them to trust me'

Mikel Arteta says he is trying to use the coronavirus shutdown to strengthen his bond with his Arsenal players.




strength

Steven Gerrard 'blown away' by Liverpool's mental strength during title chase: 'They are monsters'

Steven Gerrard says he has been "blown away" by the mental strength shown by Liverpool's players during their title pursuit, describing them as "monsters".




strength

Arsenal fans, where should you strengthen in the transfer window?

Arsenal were preparing for their first summer transfer window with Mikel Arteta at the helm before the coronavirus pandemic threw the football season into chaos.




strength

Chelsea fans, where should you strengthen in the transfer window?

Chelsea were preparing for their first summer transfer window since their Uefa ban was lifted before the coronavirus pandemic threw the football season into chaos.




strength

Tottenham fans, where should you strengthen in the transfer window?

Tottenham were preparing for their first summer transfer window under Jose Mourinho before the coronavirus pandemic threw the football season into chaos.




strength

Liverpool fans, where should you strengthen in the transfer window?

Liverpool were preparing to seal their first domestic league title for 30 years before the coronavirus pandemic threw the football season into chaos.




strength

Manchester United fans, where should you strengthen in the transfer window?

Manchester United were putting preparations in place for an important transfer window before the coronavirus pandemic threw the football season into chaos.




strength

West Ham fans, where should you strengthen in the transfer window?

West Ham were fighting to maintain their top-flight status before the coronavirus pandemic threw the football season into chaos.




strength

Manchester City fans, where should you strengthen in the transfer window?

Manchester City looked to be planning for something of a squad overhaul before the coronavirus pandemic threw the football season off course.




strength

Crystal Palace fans, where should you strengthen in the transfer window?

Crystal Palace would have had one eye on the transfer window before the coronavirus pandemic led to the suspension of football across the UK and beyond.




strength

Hair loss treatment: A mineral which strengthens hair follicles to stimulate hair growth



HAIR loss treatment: The quest for magic cure to help halt the process of hair loss produces numerous searches and theories. Taking this essential mineral helps strengthen hair follicles which stimulate hair growth.




strength

Sydney news: NSW sexual consent laws strengthened, man stabbed after car crash in West Hoxton

MORNING BRIEFING: A proposal to bring NSW sexual consent laws in line with Victoria and Tasmania is introduced, while a man is rushed to hospital with multiple stab wounds after a two-vehicle crash.




strength

Mike Bowden: Defined by decency, not strength

Michael J Bowden, OAM, was a unique man who lived a full Australian life; physically strong and intellectually determined, he was defined not by strength but by decency.




strength

Mike Bowden: Defined by decency, not strength

Michael J Bowden, OAM, was a unique man who lived a full Australian life; physically strong and intellectually determined, he was defined not by strength but by decency.




strength

Mike Bowden: Defined by decency, not strength

Michael J Bowden, OAM, was a unique man who lived a full Australian life; physically strong and intellectually determined, he was defined not by strength but by decency.




strength

How to strengthen your resolve to exercise during quarantine


For starters, give up the notion that the inspiration to exercise is going to sweep over you like a sweaty tsunami. “Exercise,” says one expert, “needs to be a non-negotiable if we want to stick with it.”




strength

AIOCD urges govt to provide insurance cover to chemists to strengthen fight against COVID─19




strength

Sumitomo (SHI) Demag announces joint venture to strengthen market presence

The new company called PlastiKCs, was founded by injection moulding expert Kurt Callewaert, together with Thiele & Kor Plastics Machinery, a long-standing representative of Sumitomo (SHI) Demag.




strength

UK Government focus on strengthening clinical research amidst unique challenges of Brexit

The Association of Clinical Research Organizations (ACRO) convenes discussion series that seeks to advance an industry with important health and economic impacts...




strength

Attorney General Eric Holder Signs Agreement to Strengthen U.S.-Spanish Cooperation,  Pushes for Terrorist Financing Tracking Program Agreement

"Whether it is in counterterrorism, counter-narcotics, money laundering, smuggling or combating international organized crime, Spain has long been and will continue to be a strong partner for the United States," said Attorney General Holder.




strength

Justice Department Sends to Congress Legislative Proposals to Strengthen Existing Laws Protecting Servicemembers

Late yesterday, the Justice Department sent to Congress a package of legislative proposals that will significantly enhance the department’s ability to protect the rights of members of the military and their families.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer at Public Hearing on Potential Regulation to Strengthen Anti-Money Laundering Safeguards

"This rulemaking presents an important opportunity to close a gap in our financial regulations that makes it easier for criminals to move illicit proceeds through the United States financial system," said Assistant Attorney General Breuer.




strength

Justice Department Announces Nearly $2 Million in Grants to Strengthen Legal Services for the Poor

Attorney General Eric Holder announced today $1.8 million in new resources to improve access to criminal legal services and strengthen indigent defense across the nation.



  • OPA Press Releases

strength

Justice Department Announces More Than $62 Million to Strengthen Reentry, Probation and Parole Programs

The Justice Department has awarded more than $62 million in grants to strengthen efforts to help people returning from prison rejoin their communities and become productive, law-abiding citizens.



  • OPA Press Releases

strength

Department of Justice Takes Steps to Strengthen Federal Background Check System for Firearms Transfers

The Department of Justice today announced it is proposing a regulation that will clarify who, due to mental health reasons, is prohibited under federal law from receiving, possessing, shipping or transporting firearms. In addition to providing general guidance on the federal law, this clarification will help states determine what information may be appropriately shared with the federal background check system for firearms transfers – the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) – in order to keep guns out of the hands of individuals who may be a danger to themselves or others.



  • OPA Press Releases

strength

Associate Attorney General Tony West Delivers Remarks at the Strengthening the Relationship Between Law Enforcement and Communities of Color Forum

I also come to this discussion as my father's son. He was a man born and raised deep in the Jim Crow south. And when the time came for his eldest child and only son to take up driving lessons, dad was my teacher, imparting all the familiar lessons of keeping my eyes on the road and signaling before I turned.




strength

Harness APEC’s Strength to Overcome Challenges: Dr Mahathir

Malaysia, incoming host of APEC, will rally the forum to ensure that the ‘”benefits from trade, investment, and economic cooperation are felt and enjoyed by our people,” said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad as he launched APEC Malaysia 2020.




strength

Takeda agrees license to strengthen plasma pipeline

Takeda in global licensing agreement with ProThera to develop plasma-based therapies for inflammatory conditions.



  • Markets & Regulations

strength

What can COVID-19 teach us about strengthening education systems?

As cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the United States rise, more and more states have adopted shelter-in-place orders to curtail the pandemic. The disruption to most Americans’ daily lives has been drastic and sudden—and perhaps one of the most dramatic shifts was education’s move to a virtual setting. Even before the current pandemic forced school closures,…

       




strength

Strengthening and Streamlining Prudential Bank Supervision

There are a number of causes of the financial crisis that has devastated the U.S. economy and spread globally. Weakness in financial sector regulation was one of the causes and the proliferation of different regulators is, in turn, a cause of the regulatory failure. There is a bewildering, alphabet soup variety of regulators and supervisors for banks and other financial institutions that failed in their task of preventing the crisis and, at the same time, created an excessive regulatory burden on the industry because of overlapping and duplicative functions.

We can do better. This paper makes the case for a single micro prudential regulator, that is to say, one federal agency that has responsibility for the supervision and regulation of all federally chartered banks and all major non-bank financial institutions. There would still be state-chartered financial institutions covered by state regulators, but the federal regulator would share regulatory authority with the states.

The Objectives Approach to Regulation

The Blueprint for financial reform prepared by the Paulson Treasury proposed a system of objectives-based regulation, an approach that had been previously suggested and that is the basis for regulation in Australia. The White Paper prepared by the Geithner Treasury did not use the same terminology, but it is clear from the structure of the paper that their approach is essentially an objectives-based one, as they lay out the different elements of regulatory reform that should be covered. I support the objectives approach to regulation.

There should be three major objectives of regulation, as follows.

• To make sure that there is micro-prudential supervisions, so that customers and taxpayers are protected against excessive risk taking that may cause a single institution to fail.

• To make sure that whole financial sector retains its balance and does not become unstable. That means someone has to warn about the build up of risk across several institutions and perhaps take regulatory actions to restrain lending used to purchase assets whose prices are creating a speculative bubble.

• To regulate the conduct of business. That means to watch out for the interests of consumers and investors, whether they are small shareholders in public companies or households deciding whether to take out a mortgage or use a credit card.

In applying this approach, it is vital for both the economy and the financial sector that the Federal Reserve has independence as it makes monetary policy. Experience in the United States and around the world supports the view that an independent central bank results in better macroeconomic performance and restrains inflationary expectations. An independent Fed setting monetary policy is essential.

An advantage of objectives-based regulation is that it forces us to consider what are the “must haves” of financial regulation—those things absolutely necessary to reduce the chances of another crisis. Additionally we can see the “must not haves”—the regulations that would have negative effects. It is much more important to make sure that the job gets done right, that there are no gaps in regulation that could contribute to another crisis and that there not be over-regulation that could stifle innovation and slow economic growth, than it is that the boxes of the regulatory system be arranged in a particular way. In turn, this means that the issue of regulatory consolidation is important but only to the extent that it makes it easier or harder to achieve the three major objectives of regulation efficiently and effectively.

For objectives-based regulation to work, it is essential to harness the power of the market as a way to enhance stability. It will never be possible to have enough smart regulators in place that can outwit private sector participants who really want to get around regulations because they inhibit profit opportunities or because of the burdens imposed. A good regulatory environment is structured so that people who take risks stand to lose their own money if their bets do not work out. The crisis we are going through was caused by both market and regulatory failures and the market failures were often the result of a lack of transparency (“asymmetric information” in the jargon of economics). Those who invested money and lost it often did not realize the risks they were taking. To the extent that policymakers can enhance transparency, they can make market forces work better and help achieve the goal of greater stability.

Having a single micro prudential regulator would help greatly in meeting the objectives of regulation, a point that will be taken up in more detail below. It is not a new idea. In 1993-94, the Clinton and Riegle proposals for financial regulation said that a single micro prudential regulator would provide the best protection for the economy and for the industry. In the Blueprint developed by the Paulson Treasury, it was proposed that there be a single micro prudential regulator. 

Read the full paper » (pdf)

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strength

Want to reduce the influence of super PACs? Strengthen state parties


Super PACs and other lightly regulated political organizations are dumping hundreds of millions of dollars into American elections. What should be done about it? Unlike many candidates for federal or state office, so-called independent expenditure groups face no restrictions on how much individuals and groups can give to them. And thanks to several federal court decisions, including Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, independent groups can spend unlimited amounts to influence elections. The public understandably worries about the political clout of wealthy groups—especially since donors often can hide their identities.

Reformers have proposed various remedies: disclosure rules, the appointment of a liberal Supreme Court justice to reverse Citizens United, even a constitutional amendment to overturn that decision. Those long-shot strategies, however, are unlikely to create the kind of small-donor democracy that many reformers seek. Money, like water, will inevitably flow into the political system. Laws can’t do much to reduce the amount of money in politics; what they can change is where the money goes.

An easier path to improving politics

In our new Brookings paper, The State of State Parties, we suggest an easier path to improving politics—one that is right under our nose. Strengthening state political parties can help offset the clout of super PACs.

Our study, based on a survey of 56 state-party organizations plus detailed interviews with 15 of their leaders, points to the distinctive and constructive role that state parties play in American politics. In an era when politics seems to be spinning out of control, party organizations are among the few actors that seek to integrate and balance interests—for instance, by recruiting candidates with broad appeal, by playing honest broker among contending partisan factions, and by building coherent strategies among campaigns up and down the ticket. Party organizations also generate a lot of grassroots activity to mobilize volunteers and voters.

How regulations on parties increase super PAC spending

State parties are among the most heavily regulated entities in American politics, a situation that diminishes their influence relative to non-party groups. For instance, the vast majority of state parties face restrictions on the source and size of donations, and some contribution limits are unrealistically low. In Massachusetts, no donor can give more than annual aggregate of $5,000 to all local and state parties. That’s a paltry sum in statewide elections that can easily cost $55 million, including $20 million in independent expenditures.

Super PACs and other groups naturally fill the vacuum because they do not have to contend with limits on raising and spending money. Often, outside groups effectively drown out the parties. In our survey, only half the parties said they advertise on TV and radio sometimes or often, usually because they lack the resources to do more.

The figure below shows that parties’ independent spending is miniscule compared to the growing expenditures of non-party groups over the past five election cycles. In the 2014 election cycle, the parties accounted for just six percent of total independent spending in the states for which we had good data.

An especially significant finding is that restraints on political parties seem to amplify the activities and influence of outside groups. As illustrated in the table below, 65 percent of respondents in states with contribution limits to parties said that independent groups sponsor more than half or almost all political ads, compared to only 23 percent in states without contribution limits. 

In other words, independent spending is significantly lower when parties are not limited. These differences translate into electoral clout. In states with contribution limits, 65 percent of respondents said independent spending is often a key factor in gubernatorial elections, while fewer than half said the same in states with no limits.

Correlation does not prove causality, but our findings provide strong circumstantial evidence that when you restrict the parties, you get more independent expenditures by non-party groups.

It’s not hard to strengthen state parties

We recommend changes to strengthen state parties and restore them to a place of prominence in campaigns. First, state governments should raise or eliminate contribution limits so the parties can acquire sufficient resources to compete with outside actors. This would allow state parties to serve as clearinghouses for campaign money, which would bring more “dark money” toward accountability and transparency.

Second, parties should be allowed full freedom to coordinate their activities with their candidates and allied groups. This would make them more valuable to candidates and would allow the parties to perform their irreplaceable role of supporting candidates across the party ticket.

We also suggest giving parties favorable tax treatment so that donors are more likely to give to parties than candidate-sponsored super PACs or interest groups. We also recommend other regulatory changes that would encourage parties to do more grassroots work with voters.

Loosening the constraints on state parties would not stop the flow of money into politics (nothing can do that), but would channel more of the money to accountable actors. That’s why we think of this solution as building canals, not dams. And the incremental steps we propose require no sea-changes in public opinion or heroic legislation. In fact, they command support in both parties’ establishments, making them a good starting point for reform. That’s why we conclude that strengthening state parties is a realistic path toward a better balanced, more effective, and more accountable political system.

Authors

Image Source: © Mike Blake / Reuters
      
 
 




strength

Strategies to strengthen the Earned Income Tax Credit


From its modest beginnings in 1975, the Earned Income Tax Credit has grown into one of the nation’s most effective anti-poverty programs. Each year, the EITC supplements low-income workers’ earnings, encouraging work and lifting millions of people out of poverty.1 It has positive lasting effects for parents, who have shown longer-run earnings increases and better health outcomes. At the same time, their children exhibit a host of benefits, from better school performance and higher rates of college enrollment to more hours worked and higher incomes in adulthood.2 

Moreover, the EITC supports economic stability in communities throughout the country where filers collectively receive millions of dollars in earnings supplements annually.3 These successes stem from a series of targeted expansions—supported by both Republicans and Democrats—over the EITC’s 40-year history, transforming it from a small credit into a significant income supplement for low-income working families.4

Yet more can be done to preserve and build on the effectiveness of the EITC, and a growing number of elected officials and policy experts have proposed  strengthening the credit. Three main recommendations have emerged from these proposals.

Preserve two key provisions of the EITC that are set to expire in 2017;

Expand the credit for workers without qualifying children; and

Offer filers options to receive a portion of the credit outside of tax time.

In this brief, we consider the first two recommendations, using our MetroTax model and detailed microdata from the 2014 American Community Survey to estimate the impact of these potential changes on workers and on the metropolitan areas and states where they live.5 A new analysis by Steve Holt will take an in-depth look at the issue of periodic payment.

If two key EITC provisions expire in 2017, 7.4 million filers would lose part or all of their EITC.

In 2009, Congress and the Obama administration enacted two targeted, but temporary, expansions to the EITC. The legislation reduced the “penalty” for married couples filing jointly by extending their eligibility for the credit $5,000 beyond that for unmarried filers, and it boosted the credit for families with three or more children (who are more likely to be low-income even when working).

If those provisions expire in 2017, the EITC would shrink for 6.7 million taxpayers, while a little under 700,000 filers would lose eligibility altogether. Two-thirds of filers who would be affected are married couples, 1.8 million of whom are also raising more than two kids (meaning they would be subject to both cuts). The remaining third are unmarried workers with at least three children. Most of these taxpayers (58 percent) have a high school diploma or less, and they are most likely to work in manufacturing, construction, and retail. The typical adjusted gross income of these filers is $28,000 a year, just above the poverty line for a family of four (roughly $24,000 in 2014).

States and metro areas in the Midwest and West would see the steepest cuts if these provisions expire. 

Every state stands to lose millions of dollars if these EITC provisions are not made permanent. States and metro areas with higher-than-average shares of married couples and larger families would be hardest hit. In the Intermountain West, Idaho and Utah could see a 10 percent drop in federal EITC dollars coming into the state (Table 1). The major population centers in those states—including metropolitan Provo and Ogden in Utah and Boise, Idaho—top the list of major metro areas that would experience the biggest cuts if these provisions expire.

While larger states like California and Texas would see their EITC claims drop by smaller percentages, the size of the EITC-eligible population in these states mean that the expiration of these two provisions would translate into a loss of more than half a billion dollars in California ($538 million) and over $400 million in Texas. Taxpayers in the Los Angeles metro area stand to lose an estimated $185 million in EITC receipts, while those in Dallas would forfeit nearly $100 million. (For detailed state and metro data see the appendix.)

Expanding the credit for workers without qualifying children would benefit more than 14.4 million filers. 

The EITC for childless workers is significantly smaller than the credit for families with children. In tax year 2013 (the most recent year for which detailed data are available), workers with qualifying dependents received $2,794 on average through the EITC, compared to the meager $281 claimed by the average childless worker.6 In fact, low-wage earning childless adults are the only group of taxpayers actually taxed into (or deeper into) poverty by the federal tax system.7

Both President Obama and House Speaker Paul Ryan have proposed expanding the EITC for these workers, as have legislators—including Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.)—and Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush.8 (Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz and John Kasich have also called for the EITC to be expanded but have not specified whom that expansion would target.9)

The proposals put forward by Obama, Ryan, Lee, and Bush are strikingly similar (although they differ considerably in how they would pay for it). These expansions would double the size of the credit for childless workers and the pace at which the credit phases in and out (Figure 1). They would also lower the minimum age of eligibility from 25 to 21.10

Together, these changes would boost the value of the credit for 8 million filers and extend eligibility to 6.4 million more taxpayers, increasing EITC dollars for these workers by $6.9 billion.11

The filers who would benefit from these changes are largely unmarried workers (87 percent) who are most likely to be employed in service industries (retail, accommodation and food service, administrative services), health care, and construction. Half of these workers have a high school diploma or less. The typical adjusted gross income for these workers is just $8,300, well below the poverty threshold for individuals and married couples without children (e.g., $12,316 and $15,853, respectively, in 2014).

Several states and large metro areas in the Midwest and Northeast would see the number of childless workers eligible for the EITC more than double if the credit were expanded. 

The District of Columbia and Utah, each of which has above-average shares of the population between 21 and 24, would experience the largest percentage growth in the number of childless workers eligible for the EITC (135 and 134 percent, respectively). However, the bulk of states that would double their pool of eligible filers without qualifying children fall in the Midwest (North Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, and Wisconsin) and Northeast (Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Vermont), and tend have higher-than-average shares of one-person households and households without children.

Similarly, while the number of EITC-eligible childless workers in the Provo metro area would more than triple if the credit were expanded, most of the major metro areas that would at least double the number of eligible workers without qualifying children are in the Midwest (e.g., Grand Rapids, Milwaukee, and Toledo) and Northeast (e.g., Bridgeport, Boston, and Springfield) (Map 1).

In this era of partisan gridlock in Washington, it is rare to find a policy with the kind of bipartisan support the EITC has received—a testament to its effectiveness in encouraging work, alleviating poverty, and improving outcomes for workers and their children. By preserving key provisions of the EITC for working families and by making the EITC work better for workers without qualifying children, millions of Americans across the country stand to benefit.



2. Chuck Marr, et al., “The EITC and Child Tax Credit promote work, reduce poverty, and support children’s development, research finds,” (Washington: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2015).

4. In 1975 the maximum credit for workers with children was $400. In tax year 2015, the maximum credit amount ranges from $3,359 to $6,242, depending on the number of children.

5. For more information on the MetroTax model, see the technical appendix: www.brookings.edu/~/media/Research/Files/Reports/2008/6/05-metro-raise-berube/metroraise_technicalappendix.PDF.

6. For more detailed data on filers and credit amounts by number of qualifying children, visit EITC Interactive at www.brookings.edu/research/interactives/eitc.

7. Chuck Marr, et al., “Lone group taxed into poverty should receive a larger EITC,” (Washington: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2014).

8. Office of Management and Budget, “Fiscal Year 2016 Budget of the U.S. Government,” (Washington: OMB, 2015), available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2016/assets/budget.pdf; House Budget Committee, “The Path to Prosperity: Fiscal Year 2015 Budget Resolution,” (Washington: HBC, 2014), available at http://budget.house.gov/uploadedfiles/fy15_blueprint.pdf; Senator Patty Murray, "21st Century Workers Tax Cut Act," S.660;  Representative Richard E. Neal, "Earned Income Tax Credit Improvement and Simplification Act 2015," H.R. 902; Representative Barbara Lee, "Pathways Out of Poverty Act of 2015”, H.R. 2721.

9. Tax Credits for Working Families, “The 2016 Presidential Race,” http://www.taxcreditsforworkingfamilies.org/the-2016-presidential-race-where-the-candidates-stand-on-tax-credits/; Tax Foundation, “Comparing the 2016 Presidential Tax Reform Proposals,” http://taxfoundation.org/comparing-2016-presidential-tax-reform-proposals.

10. President Obama and Rep. Lee also recommend raising the maximum age of eligibility to 67 to harmonize the credit with increases in Social Security’s full retirement age.

11. Raising the maximum age to 67 would benefit an additional 362,000 workers and increase the total EITC amount by another $232 million.

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Authors

      
 
 




strength

Strengthen the Millennium Challenge Corporation: Better Results are Possible

Executive Summary

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is one of the outstanding innovations of the eight-year presidency of George W. Bush. No other aid agency—foreign or domestic—can match its purposeful mandate, its operational flexibility and its potential muscle.

In the first year after it became operational in May 2004, however, the MCC made a number of mistakes from which it has not fully recovered. It also had the bad luck of facing an increasingly tight budget environment as its performance improved.

The MCC may not survive as an independent agency. Critics have advocated closing it down, while many supporters of foreign assistance reform would maintain the MCC program but consolidate it with the Agency for International Development and the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief under a single individual with broad development responsibilities.

In our assessment, one of the singular achievements of this innovation is the “MCC effect”: steps taken by a number of countries to improve their performance against the MCC’s objective indicators in order to become eligible for an MCC compact.

We conclude that the MCC is moving steadily to fulfill its potential of being the world's leading "venture capitalist" focused on promoting economic growth in low-income countries. The Obama administration can realize this potential by affirming the MCC's bold mandate, strengthening its leadership, and boosting its annual appropriations to at least $3 billion beginning in FY 2010.

Policy Brief #167

A Rough Start

The Millennium Challenge Corporation started off in the wrong direction in 2004. New leadership a year later put the MCC back on track. Unfortunately, however, the MCC has not been able to recover quickly enough from its early mistakes to compete successfully for funding in the face of increasingly severe government-wide budget constraints. After more than four years of operation, it has not yet achieved “proof of concept.” As a result, its future as an independent agency is in jeopardy.

The Concept

In March 2002, six months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, President George W. Bush announced a commitment to increase U.S. aid to low-income countries by $5 billion per year, representing a jump of 50 percent from the baseline level of official development assistance (ODA).

More remarkable than the size of the commitment was the nature of the commitment. It would not be more of the same. It would be better. It would reward good performance by focusing exclusively on poor countries implementing sound economic development and poverty reduction strategies, as reflected in objective indicators. It would achieve measurable results.

President Bush’s initial concept did not specify the organizational form of the new program. Instead of putting it under the State Department or Agency for International Development (USAID), President Bush opted for creating a special-purpose government corporation—the Millennium Challenge Corporation—to run the program.

Conception turned out to be the easy part. It took almost a year for the administration to send legislation proposing the MCC to Congress, and it took another year for the Congress to send authorizing legislation to the president.

While the purity of the MCC concept was compromised significantly in the process of obtaining enough votes in Congress to establish it, six key elements were preserved: rewarding good performance; country ownership; measurable results; operational efficiency; sufficient scale at the country level to be “transformational”; and global commitments at the rate of $5 billion per year.

The Record

Perhaps the biggest mistake in the MCC’s first year of operations was a failure to develop a good working relationship with the U.S. Congress. Some staffing choices gave the impression that the MCC had no interest in the experience and expertise that existed in USAID, the multilateral development banks and NGOs working in low-income countries. In retrospect, a third problem may have been starting compact negotiations with more than a dozen countries instead of building its portfolio of compact countries more slowly and carefully.

Paul Applegarth resigned as CEO in June 2005 and John Danilovich took over the following October. At that point, compacts had been signed with five countries. Funding problems were already visible. Against the original proposal seeking a combined $4.6 billion for the first two start-up years (reaching the target $5 billion in FY 2006), the budget request added up to only $3.8 billion, Congress authorized only $3.6 billion, and appropriations only reached $2.5 billion.

For the next three years, FY 2006 – FY 2008, the administration’s budget request for the MCC was straight-lined at $3 billion. Appropriations peaked in FY 2006 at $1.77 billion, and then slipped to $1.75 billion in FY 2007 and $1.482 billion in FY 2008 (after an across-the-board rescission). Thirteen more compacts were signed, bringing the total number of compact countries to 18. In addition, threshold agreements totaling $361 million were being implemented in 14 countries. At the end of FY 2008, cumulative MCC appropriations were $7.5 billion, and cumulative compact commitments were $6.3 billion.

As the Bush administration winds down and the Obama administration gears up, the MCC is in an awkward situation. It has recovered from its start-up problems and now has significant support in Congress and the development community. The evidence of an “MCC effect” is particularly notable. The compact countries are fans of the program, and other potentially eligible countries appear eager to conclude compacts.

However, the “measurable results” promised to an impatient Congress have not yet materialized. Since the first compact will not reach the end of its original four year lifespan until July 2009, it is too early to expect such results. Still, enough questions about the effectiveness of the MCC have been raised to strengthen the position of skeptics in the Congress.

A moment of truth is approaching. Assuming FY 2009 funding remains capped by continuing resolutions at a level no higher than $1.5 billion, the MCC will not be able to conclude more than three compacts averaging $400 million each during this fiscal year. While a strong case can be made for an independent aid agency operating at the rate of $5 billion per year, a rate of $1-$1.5 billion per year for a stand-alone agency is not so easy to justify. Meanwhile, an important coalition of foreign aid advocates sees the change of administration as an opportunity to consolidate a wide range of development and humanitarian assistance programs, including the MCC, into a single agency or cabinet-level department.

Findings and Recommendations

Our assessment of the MCC at the end of FY 2008 focuses on six operational issues and ends with a recommendation to the Obama administration. (The full assessment is in our working paper “The Millennium Challenge Corporation: An Opportunity for the Next President.”)

1. Objective indicators. From the outset, objective indicators of country performance have been at the core of the MCC approach to development assistance. The concept is simple: the MCC will provide funding to countries that excel against performance indicators in three areas: ruling justly, investing in people and providing economic freedom. Selecting countries is not so simple.

The MCC’s 17 indicators of country performance are state of the art. But they are not embedded in concrete. The MCC has been pushing hard for improvements. A number of the independent providers of these indicators have tightened their procedures and methodology, and others have shortened the time between data collection and dissemination. The publication of updated country “scorecards” on the MCC Web site each year provides an unprecedented level of visibility linking country performance to donor assistance. In general, the MCC’s indicators have met broad approval in the donor community.

The “MCC effect” has been the most important benefit of these indicators. The MCC’s indicators provide a comprehensive, objective and highly visible system for comparing a country with its peer group and showing where its performance falls short. One academic study found that eligible countries improved their indicators significantly more after the MCC was established than in the pre-MCC period, and that eligible countries improved their indicators significantly faster than developing countries not eligible for compacts.

The MCC’s objective indicator approach has been very successful. Still, it is important to recognize certain inherent limitations. Four are worth singling out:

  • The majority of the measures used to measure performance are available only with a time lag.
  • The indicators reveal relative performance, not absolute performance. Good performers on the basis of the indicators still face daunting challenges.
  • Even a top performing country is likely to see its ranking slip on one of the indicators at some point during compact implementation. This can create a credibility problem for the program even when the underlying trend is positive.
  • Measuring corruption is especially problematic. The corruption indicator is probably state of the art, but corruption has many elements, and there is no agreement on which weights to assign to each one.

Recommendation: Retain and continue to refine the objective indicators.

2. Country selection. Initially, the MCC was limited to funding low-income countries. Since FY 2006, the MCC has been able to commit up to 25 percent of its resources to lower-middle-income countries. For FY 2008, these were countries with annual per capita incomes between $1,736 and $3,595. Together, the two groups included 95 countries.

The MCC board reviews country scorecards once a year and decides which countries to add to the eligibility list. Selection is not automatic based on the indicators. The board considers a wide range of political, economic and social factors.

The MCC’s overall track record in selecting countries is good but not brilliant. At the end of FY 2008, there were 18 countries with signed compacts, five threshold countries that had been declared eligible for compacts, and three additional countries declared eligible that were not in the threshold program. The few selections that have been criticized are cases where political factors might have tipped the balance in favor of the country.

Most of the selected countries have small populations, perhaps because it is easier to be transformational in a small country. Even large countries, however, have poor regions and a case can easily be made that the MCC might have a greater impact by focusing on one poor region in a large country like India or Indonesia than on one entire microstate like Vanuatu.

Recommendation: As long as the MCC’s funding level remains below $2 billion per year, stick with the current approach to selection but avoid new cases where political factors appear to be overriding performance indicators. At higher funding levels, give greater weight to improvements in absolute performance so that the indicators will not be a constraint to adding countries and enlarging the MCC’s impact.

3. Compact design. Compact design can be broken down into four elements: preparation, size, content and choice of partner. One of the hallmarks of the MCC approach to development assistance is an exceptional degree of participation by the host country government and civil society. In a relatively short time, the MCC approach to country ownership has set a high standard to which other donor agencies should aspire.

Compact size is seriously constrained by the statutory five-year limit on the length of a compact and by the prohibition against concurrent compacts. The limit leads to unrealistic expectations: anyone who believes a five-year program can be transformational does not understand development. The inability to have concurrent compacts has led the MCC to bundle together activities that would better be pursued separately. Within these constraints, compact size so far is defensible.

Regarding content, one early criticism of the MCC centered on its bias toward infrastructure projects. Agriculture and infrastructure were the clear priorities at the outset, based on partner-country priorities. These two sectors still account for more than half of all MCC funding, but attention to other sectors has grown. For example, funding for education was absent from the first 10 compacts, but was present in five of the next eight.

This evolution may reflect congressional pressure to be active in the social sectors despite evidence that more investment to expand productive capacity and lower costs could have a greater poverty reduction payoff.

The MCC has also shied away from non-project funding (budget support), which has the advantages of being fast-disbursing, having very low overhead costs and avoiding performance failure by rewarding countries for results recently achieved. Similarly, the MCC has yet to use its considerable ability to leverage funding from private investors, especially for infrastructure projects.

On partnership, all of the compacts to date have been with national governments even though the MCC has the authority to enter into compacts with regional/municipal authorities and private sector parties such as NGOs. With this narrow focus, the MCC is probably missing some opportunities to have a bigger impact.

Our major concern is that the design of the 18 compacts concluded so far reflects very little innovation. They can be characterized as collections of the kinds of development interventions that USAID, the World Bank and other donors have been undertaking for decades. Perhaps in the attempt to overcome its early start-up problems and minimize congressional criticism, the MCC has been too risk averse.

Recommendation: Immediately remove the prohibition against concurrent compacts that is a disincentive to improving performance. Allow the MCC to extend compacts beyond five years when unanticipated complications arise. Provide encouragement from the White House and Congress to be more innovative in compact design.

4. Compact implementation. No MCC compacts have been completed, so assessment of their impact is premature. One problem is the lag from the date of compact signing to the date of its entry into force, which has lengthened from about three months for the first three compacts to 10 months for the 10th and 11th compacts. This reflects the MCC’s tactical decision to delay entry into force until the legal framework is in place and the implementing organization is up and running. The normal process of tendering for infrastructure projects accounts for some of the slowness, and bad luck has also created recent problems in the form of unanticipated increases in fuel and commodity costs.

The choice of an appropriate local implementing agency is both difficult and critical to success. The objectives of country ownership and capacity building/institutional development argue for selecting an existing government ministry or agency. Realities on the ground have led the MCC typically to establish a special-purpose organization (“accountable entity” in the MCC’s jargon). In effect, the MCC has promoted strict accountability at the expense of building partner-country capacity.

The MCC’s approach to monitoring and evaluation is a source of pride, but it could become the program’s Achilles’ heel. The MCC’s recent decision to make public the “economic rate of return” analysis for each new compact puts it at the head of the donor community. Other donor agencies have been unwilling to take this step, except in a more opaque form. A potentially critical problem with the MCC’s approach is latent in the micro performance benchmarks established for each compact. It seems likely that the results will be mixed at the end of most of the compacts. Given the high expectations created for the MCC’s impact, the failure to show superior results could undermine congressional support for the MCC going forward.

Finally, the MCC has largely lived up to its billing as a lean organization. It is now fully staffed at its ceiling of 300 positions. The MCC’s field offices, established after compact signing, are typically limited to two positions.

Recommendation: Continue to refine implementation techniques to the point of becoming a pace-setter and develop performance benchmarks that are less likely to generate disappointment.

5. Threshold Programs. The MCC has committed some $360 million to 16 “threshold” countries. Nearly all of these programs are managed by USAID. Two different visions seem to coexist. One vision is to prepare countries for a compact within a year or two. A second vision is to address a particular “target of opportunity” that will help a country qualify for a compact eventually. It is too soon to say how effective these programs have been under either approach.

However, the individual projects funded under the threshold programs have been indistinguishable from the typical USAID project involving a contract with an American firm to field a team of expatriate advisors focusing on a particular sector. A fundamental problem with the threshold programs is that they give the impression of trying to boost performance scores by short-term actions rather than rewarding the kind of self-generated progress that is more likely to be sustainable.

Recommendation: As long as MCC funding remains below $2 billion per year, shift funding of threshold programs to USAID funding. This will help to ensure that the activities being funded are of high value, and encourage USAID to take a more strategic approach to its operations in low-income countries.

6. Governance. The MCC legislation created a board of directors with five ex officio members and four private sector members. Having private sectors members on the board is one of the great strengths of the MCC, enhancing its objectivity and credibility, helping to ensure bipartisan support, and providing strategic links to the broader development community. By comparison to the boards of other government corporations, the MCC board is small in size and more biased toward public-sector members. Having the secretary of state chair the board weakens the image of the MCC as an agency focused on long-term development.

Recommendation: Amend the MCC legislation to add four more private sector members to the MCC board, allow the board to elect one of its private sector members as chairman.

The Existential Issue.

Although the MCC has not yet lived up to its promise, it still has the potential of offering the biggest bang for the buck among all U.S. development assistance programs. Six features are not only worth keeping but strengthening further: rewarding good performance; using objective indicators to guide the selection of countries; focusing on low-income countries; achieving a high degree of country ownership; avoiding earmarks and time limits on spending authority; and keeping staff small.

However, the current operating level of less than $2 billion per year is far below the original concept. Retaining a separate agency for such a small program within a much larger bilateral assistance program is questionable. With funding moving toward the pace of $5 billion per year, and with added authority to have concurrent compacts, the MCC can be more innovative and more transformational.

The MCC has the potential of being the world's leading "venture capitalist" focused on promoting economic growth in low-income countries. As a core component of a foreign policy that relies more on partnership with other countries, the Obama administration can realize this potential by affirming the MCC's bold mandate, strengthening its leadership, and boosting its annual appropriations to at least $3 billion beginning in FY 2010.R. Kent Weaver is a Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution and a Professor of Public Policy and Government at Georgetown University. He is the author of the forthcoming book Reforming Social Security: Lessons from Abroad.


Lex Rieffel is a nonresident senior fellow in Brookings's Global Economy and Development program. He is a former U.S. Treasury official and teaches a graduate course at George Washington University.

James W. Fox, formerly chief economist for Latin America at USAID, is an economic consultant. 


Compact, Threshold and Other Eligible Countries, FY 2008

Country

Agreement Signed

Amount
($ Million)

Type

Comments

Compact Countries

Madagascar

4/18/2005

$110

LIC

Year 3

Honduras

6/13/2005

$215

LIC

Year 3

Cape Verde

7/4/2005

$110

LMIC

Year 2

Nicaragua

7/14/2005

$175

LIC

Year 1

Georgia

9/12/2005

$295

LIC

Year 2

Benin

2/22/2006

$307

LIC

Year 1

Armenia

3/27/2006

$236

LMIC

Year 1

Vanuatu

3/29/2006

$66

LIC

Year 2

Ghana

8/1/2006

$547

LIC

Year 1

Mali

11/13/2006

$461

LIC

Year 1

El Salvador

11/29/2006

$461

LMIC

Year 2

Lesotho

7/23/2007

$363

LIC

Year 1

Mozambique

7/31/2007

$507

LIC

Year 1

Morocco

8/3/2007

$691

LMIC

Year 1

Mongolia

10/22/2007

$285

LIC

Year 1

Tanzania

2/17/2008

$698

LIC

Threshold, Compact year 1

Burkina Faso

7/15/2008

$481

LIC

Threshold, Compact not yet in force

Namibia

7/28/2008

$305

LMIC

Compact not yet in force

Countries with Threshold Programs

Malawi

9/23/2005

$21

LIC

Compact Eligible,Threshold Signed

Albania

4/3/2006

$14

LMIC

Paraguay

5/8/2006

$35

LIC

Zambia

5/22/2006

$23

LIC

Philippines

7/26/2006

$21

LIC

Compact Eligible, Threshold Signed

Jordan

10/17/2006

$25

LMIC

Compact Eligible, Threshold Signed

Indonesia

11/17/2006

$55

LIC

Ukraine

12/4/2006

$45

LMIC

Compact Eligible, Threshold Signed

Moldova

12/15/2006

$25

LIC

Compact proposed, Threshold Signed

Kenya

3/23/2007

$13

LIC

Uganda

3/29/2007

$10

LIC

Guyana

8/23/2007

$7

LIC

Yemen

9/12/2007

$21

LIC

Sao Tome and Principe

11/9/2007

$9

LIC

Peru

6/9/2008

$36

LMIC

Other Eligible Countries

Bolivia

LIC

Compact Proposal Received

Kyrgyz Republic

LIC

Threshold Eligible

Mauritania

LIC

Threshold Eligible

Niger

LIC

Threshold Eligible

Rwanda

LIC

Threshold Eligible

Senegal

LIC

Compact Proposal Received

Timor-Leste

LIC

Compact Eligible, Threshold Eligible


MCC Eligibility Indicators

Indicator

Category

Source

Civil Liberties

Ruling Justly

Freedom House

Political Rights

Ruling Justly

Freedom House

Voice and Accountability

Ruling Justly

World Bank Institute

Government Effectiveness

Ruling Justly

World Bank Institute

Rule of Law

Ruling Justly

World Bank Institute

Control of Corruption

Ruling Justly

World Bank Institute

Immunization Rates

Investing in People

World Health Organization

Public Expenditure on Health

Investing in People

World Health Organization

Girls' Primary Education Completion Rate

Investing in People

UNESCO

Public Expenditure on Primary Education

Investing in People

UNESCO and national sources

Business Start Up

Economic Freedom

IFC

Inflation

Economic Freedom

IMF WEO

Trade Policy

Economic Freedom

Heritage Foundation

Regulatory Quality

Economic Freedom

World Bank Institute

Fiscal Policy

Economic Freedom

national sources, cross-checked
with IMF WEO

Natural Resource Management

Investing in People

CIESIN/Yale

Land Rights and Access

Economic Freedom

IFAD / IFC


Countries with Threshold Programs

Country

Agreement
Signed

Amount
($ Million)

Purpose

Burkina Faso

7/22/2005

12.9

Increase Girls' primary education




strength

Strengthening Medicare for 2030


Event Information

June 5, 2015
9:00 AM - 1:00 PM EDT

Falk Auditorium
Brookings Institution
1775 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20036

Register for the Event

In its 50th year, the Medicare program currently provides health insurance coverage for more than 49 million Americans and accounts for $600 billion in federal spending. With those numbers expected to rise as the baby boomer generation ages, many policy experts consider this impending expansion a major threat to the nation’s economic future and question how it might affect the quality and value of health care for Medicare beneficiaries.

On June 5, the Center for Health Policy at Brookings and the USC Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics hosted a half-day forum on the future of Medicare. Instead of reflecting on historical accomplishments, the event looked ahead to 2030—a time when the youngest Baby Boomers will be Medicare-eligible—and explore the changing demographics, health care needs, medical technology costs, and financial resources available to beneficiaries. The panels focused on modernizing Medicare's infrastructure, benefit design, marketplace competition, and payment mechanisms. The event also included the release of five policy papers from featured panelists.

Please note that presentation slides from USC's Dana Goldman will not be available for download. For more information on findings from his presentation download the working paper available on this page or watch the event video.

Video

Audio

Transcript

Event Materials

       




strength

Life after coronavirus: Strengthening labor markets through active policy

Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, the growing consensus was that the central challenge to achieving inclusive economic prosperity was the creation of good jobs that bring more workers closer to a true “middle-class” lifestyle (Rodrik, 2019). This simple goal will be hard to meet. The lingering effects of the coronavirus crisis will add to the…

       




strength

Using extractive industry data to fight inequality & strengthen accountability: Victories, lessons, future directions for Africa

With the goal of improving the management of oil, gas, and mineral revenues, curbing corruption, and fighting inequality, African countries—like Ghana, Kenya, Guinea, and Liberia—are stepping up their efforts to support good governance in resource-dependent countries. Long-fought-for gains in transparency—including from initiatives like the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)—have helped civil society and other accountability…

       




strength

Strengthening the liberal world order


The world order that was created in the aftermath of World War II has produced immense benefits for peoples across the planet. The past 70 years have seen an unprecedented growth in prosperity, lifting billions out of poverty. Democratic government, once rare, has spread to over 100 nations around the world, on every continent, for people of all races and religions. And, although the period has been marked by war and suffering as well, peace among the great powers has been preserved. There has been no recurrence of the two devastating world wars of the first half of the 20th century.

Today, however, that liberal order is being challenged by a variety of forces—by powerful authoritarian governments and anti-liberal fundamentalist movements, as well as by long-term shifts in the global economy and changes in the physical environment. The questions we face are whether this liberal world order is worth defending, and whether it is capable of surviving the present challenges. We believe the answer to both questions is an emphatic “yes.”

To say that a “liberal” world order is worth defending is, of course, a declaration on behalf of a certain set of principles—a belief that the rights of the individual are primary, that it is the responsibility of governments to protect those rights and that democratic government, in particular, offers the best chance for human dignity, justice and freedom. This is not a universally held view. The leaders of some nations and more than a few people around the world disagree on this hierarchy of values.

There is, and always has been, a division about how nations should be governed, and about the differences in and between democratic and autocratic forms, the role of religion and the connections to economic structures. While recognizing that these differences exist and that every structure has its failings, the authors of this report are confident in their conviction that the liberal world order offers the best hope for meeting human aspirations, both material and spiritual, and for calling forth the very best in people across the world.

To strengthen and preserve this order, however, will require a renewal of American leadership in the international system. The present world order has been forged by many hands and peoples, but the role of the United States in both shaping and defending it has been critical. American military power, the dynamism of the U.S. economy, and the great number of close alliances and friendships that the United States enjoys with other powers and peoples have provided the critical architecture in which this liberal world order has flourished. A weakening of America’s commitment or its capabilities, or both, would invariably lead to its collapse.

But in recent years, many have come to doubt America’s ability to continue playing this role. Only seven years ago, pundits were talking of a “post-American world” with a declining United States and a remarkable “rise of the rest”. These days, however, that prognosis appears to have been at least premature. The United States has substantially recovered from the Great Recession, while the once-heralded “rise of the rest” has stalled.

A new foundation for an effective U.S. foreign policy for a new international environment needs to be established, but it should be recognized that the United States is not omnipotent and faces limitations in what it can do. The emphasis must be on taking advantages of American comparative advantages in certain key areas, doing what the United States does best, and in a way that reflects what those around the world want and need from America.

To this end, this paper focuses on four baskets of policies—Strengthening and Adapting the Liberal Economic Order; Strengthening the International Security Order; Taking Advantage of the Energy Revolution; and Playing to America’s Strengths in Education, Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

A key task for American political leaders and policy advocates will be to demonstrate and explain how the pieces fit together: how trade enhances security; how military power undergirds prosperity; and how providing access to American education strengthens the forces dedicated to a more open and freer world. By looking at the whole picture, the importance of the individual strands of policy will be clearer and therefore easier to sell.

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Publication: World Economic Forum
Image Source: © Ruben Sprich / Reuters
      
 
 




strength

U.S. job market goes from strength to strength as global stock markets tremble


The latest BLS employment report showed remarkable strength in the U.S. job market even as global financial markets were trembling. Employers added 292,000 to their payrolls in December. Upward revisions in previous BLS estimates also boosted gains in October and November. In the last quarter of 2015, payrolls increased at a rate of 284,000 per month, a remarkable performance in the face of rising uncertainty about prospects for the world economy. U.S. employers added a total of 2.65 million jobs in 2015, the second best calendar-year gain of the current recovery. (Gains were stronger in 2014 but smaller in earlier years of the recovery.)

As usual, private employers accounted for an overwhelming share of the job gains. Ninety-seven percent of the gains in the fourth quarter and 96 percent of the gains last year occurred as a result of employment gains in the private sector. Whatever the uncertainty of the world economic outlook, U.S. employers have enough confidence in their own prospects to keep adding to their payrolls at a healthy clip. Public employment remains about 375,000 (1.7 percent) lower than it was at the onset of the Great Depression. Though government payrolls are now growing, in percentage terms they have been rising much more slowly that private payrolls.

Sizeable job gains were recorded in construction, transportation, motion pictures, professional and business services, leisure and hospitality industries, and health care. Gains were modest or negligible in manufacturing and retail trade. Payrolls fell for the twelfth consecutive month in mining, primarily as a result of continued weakness in world energy prices.   

Average hourly pay in private firms edged down 1 cent in December, but the nominal wage was 2.5 percent higher than its level 12 months earlier. This is a somewhat faster rate of improvement compared with the gains workers saw between 2010 and 2014. In terms of purchasing power, U.S. workers are clearly enjoying faster pay gains as a result of lower inflation. The 12-month change in real hourly earnings through November was 1.8 percent, the fastest rate of improvement in the current recovery. 

The BLS household survey also contained a big helping of good news. The unemployment rate remained unchanged, at 5.0 percent, but that was the result of sizeable employment gains combined with a notable influx into the active labor force. The number of survey respondents who said they were employed jumped 485,000, and the number saying they held a job or were actively looking rose 466,000. Over the past 12 months the labor force has increased only 1.69 million, but the number of household survey respondents who say they hold a job has increased 2.49 million.  Contrary to predictions that the implementation of the Affordable Care Act would push employers to put workers on part-time schedules, an overwhelming share of job growth has been in full-time positions. The number of survey respondents who said they held full-time jobs increased 504,000 in December. It has increased 2.6 million over the past year.

The gray cloud in the latest jobs report is the continued weakness in the prime-age labor force participation rate. The participation rate of men and women between 25 and 54 years old is now 80.9 percent, exactly the same as its level a year ago but more than 2 percentage points below its level before the Great Recession. Most labor economists anticipate that easier job finding and rising real hourly pay will bring more potential workers back into the workforce. Among Americans in their prime working years, however, that resurgence in participation is hard to see.


Authors

Image Source: GARY HERSHORN