Beyond Goldwater-Nichols

This report culminated almost two years of effort at CSIS, which began by developing an approach for both revisiting the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 and for addressing issues that were beyond the scope of that landmark legislation

The Federal Cybersecurity Workforce: Background and Congressional Oversight Issues for the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security

[Excerpt] This report examines congressional oversight of two strategies undertaken by Congress and the executive branch to strengthen the federal cybersecurity workforce: (1) initiatives to define and identify the federal cybersecurity workforce, and (2) hiring and pay flexibilities applicable to cybersecurity positions at DOD and DHS. This report focuses on DOD and DHS because of their key roles in federal cybersecurity and because the majority of hiring and pay flexibilities for cybersecurity professionals authorized by Congress apply to DOD and DHS

The Future of Retail Operations

Retailing consists of all the activities associated with the selling of goods to the final consumer. In this article, we review the research on retail operations published in Manufacturing & Service Operations Research (M&SOM) since 1999. We then discuss the current retail landscape and the new research directions it offers, in which M&SOM can play a prominent role

Should China revisit the 1994 fiscal reforms?

The 1994 reforms in China were remarkably successful in stabilizing the economy and raising revenues for the benefit of sustainable growth and permitting the central government to redistribute resources to poorer regions through an equalization framework. However, the rise of informal local borrowing in the absence of effective own-source revenues raises possible risks and imbalances in the future. There is thus a need to reconsider the fundamentals of intergovernmental fiscal relations, building on the basis laid in the 1994 reforms.Financial Economics, H2, H5, H6, H7,

Examining Medicaid Managed Long-Term Service and Support Programs: Key Issues to Consider

Examines key considerations for states in shifting to Medicaid managed long-term services and support programs, including limited evidence of cost savings and issues for program design, the role of community-based organizations, and state oversight

Natural resources conservation management and strategies in agriculture

This paper suggests a holistic framework for assessment and improvement of management strategies for conservation of natural resources in agriculture. First, it incorporates an interdisciplinary approach (combining Economics, Organization, Law, Sociology, Ecology, Technology, Behavioral and Political Sciences) and presents a modern framework for assessing environmental management and strategies in agriculture including: specification of specific “managerial needs” and spectrum of feasible governance modes (institutional environment; private, collective, market, and public modes) of natural resources conservation at different level of decision-making (individual, farm, eco-system, local, regional, national, transnational, and global); specification of critical socio-economic, natural, technological, behavioral etc. factors of managerial choice, and feasible spectrum of (private, collective, public, international) managerial strategies; assessment of efficiency of diverse management strategies in terms of their potential to protect diverse eco-rights and investments, assure socially desirable level of environmental protection and improvement, minimize overall (implementing, third-party, transaction etc.) costs, coordinate and stimulate eco-activities, meet preferences and reconcile conflicts of individuals etc. Second, it presents evolution and assesses the efficiency of diverse management forms and strategies for conservation of natural resources in Bulgarian agriculture during post-communist transformation and EU integration (institutional, market, private, and public), and evaluates the impacts of EU CAP on environmental sustainability of farms of different juridical type, size, specialization and location. Finally, it suggests recommendations for improvement of public policies, strategies and modes of intervention, and private and collective strategies and actions for effective environmental protection

Benefits and Costs of vertical Separation in Network Industries. The Case of Railway Transport in the European Environment

The article is devoted to a phenomenon called vertical separation in the area of network industries. Vertical separation is understood as de-merging of infrastructure and delegating control over it to independent manager banned from operating on downstream markets which are subject to liberalisation. Arguments for and against these tendencies have been examined using the example of the European railway transport. The complete analysis presents vertical separation as a promising solution for the railway industry. One of the conditions for the success of this reform is forming of a close cooperative relationship, based on loyalty and trust, between the infrastructure manager and its clients – rail operators. Building such a relationship should be supported by the implemented regulatory policy.network industries, public utilities, railway transport, economic regulation, liberalisation, vertical separation

Credit Creation: Reconciling Legal and Regulatory Incentives

As international organizations adopt new legal standards to promote access to credit through the modernization of national secured transactions law, the lack of coordination with regulatory standards for banking institutions thwarts the effectiveness of these efforts. In recognizing the relevance of the problem, UNCITRAL - for the first time since its establishment - is currently considering how to coordinate secured transactions law reforms with the implementation of the Basel Accord. In a similar vein, the problem is currently approached by other international organisations. Although efforts at the national level to coordinate legal and regulatory standards are commendable, coordination between secured transactions law and capital requirements should be addressed at the highest level of the lawmaking process, i.e. when international soft-laws are defined. To advance this argument, the key functions of secured transactions law and capital requirements are isolated and a holistic understanding of the legal and regulatory rules governing the creation of credit is presented. The Article steers away from the idea that banks are mere intermediaries and offers a fresh understanding of the role of regulatory capital in controlling credit creation, through the management of risk. Within this context, the incentives created by secured transactions law and capital requirements are examined by comparing the capital charges for different credit protections, including credit derivatives and commercial loans to small business. First, it emerges that the implementation of new secured transactions law and the limited ability of security interests in personal property to reduce regulatory capital under the Basel Accords stimulate the creation of credit outside the banking system. Second, to control this phenomenon, the Article shows that it is essential to reconcile the incentive structures created by international legal and regulatory standards

Liquidity, financial crises and the lender of last resort – How much of a departure is the sub-prime crisis?

Liquidity risks are endemic to banks, given the maturity transformation they undertake. This gives rise to risk of bank runs, the first line of defence against which should be appropriate liquidity policy of banks. Nonetheless, solvent banks can face liquidity difficulties at times of stress, necessitating liquidity support. The traditional role of the lender of last resort (LOLR) is to avoid unnecessary failures that could threaten systemic stability, while ensuring that there are suitable safeguards for central bank balance sheets and that moral hazard is minimised. The sub-prime crisis has shown that traditional models of bank liquidity risk and of LOLR require revision, as was already apparent to a lesser extent in the Russia/LTCM episode. Funding risk now interacts with market liquidity risk, to create difficult challenges for central banks. The LOLR has had to adapt radically, for example, in terms of lending to investment banks, taking lower quality collateral and lending for longer maturities. Central banks have also been challenged by difficulties in maintaining confidentiality of support and by the interaction of these problems with low levels of deposit insurance