Defining and measuring pilot mental workload

A theory is sought that is general enough to help the researcher deal with a wide range of situations involving pilot mental stress. A limited capacity theory of attention forms the basis for the theory. Mental workload is then defined as an intervening variable, similar to attention, that modulates or indexes the tuning between the demands of the environment and the capacity of the organism. Two methods for measuring pilot mental workload are endorsed: (1) objective measures based on secondary tasks; and (2) psychophysiological measures, which have not yet been perfected but which will become more useful as theoretical models are refined. Secondary-task research is illustrated by simulator studies in which flying performance has been shown not to be adversely affected by adding a complex choice-reaction secondary task

Redefining the Monetary Agggregates: A Clean Sweep

This paper focuses on the role of sweep programs in properly measuring money. We propose new monetary aggregates that adjust the conventional measures to account for the medium of exchange capability of funds in sweep programs. Using data on swept funds in retail and commercial demand deposit (DD) sweep programs, we provide time series of monthly data on the sweep-adjusted money measures. By the twenty-first century, DD sweeps have led to distortion in reported MZM of approximately 3 percent, 5 percent for M2, and 6 percent for M2M. Underreporting of M1 due to retail and DD sweep programs is almost 70 percent.

The Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2008: From Paradigm to Paradox: Understanding Greater Boston's New Housing Market

Combines an annual survey of Greater Boston's market conditions, housing production, rents, home prices, and public spending and support with an analysis of the dynamics of rising foreclosures, falling prices, and the unresolved problem of affordability

A Proposal for a Comprehensive Restructuring of the Public Information System

After more than ten years of legislative, judicial and bureaucratic tinkering, the public information system created by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is still far from satisfactory. The present public information system has not been successful because its drafters lacked imagination and failed to do the basic work necessary to create a sound foundation for such a comprehensive program. They failed to analyze the realistic goals of a public information system; they ignored the ultimate goals of improved government performance; they misrepresented the system\u27s costs, both in monetary expense to taxpayers and in diminished government performance. They considered neither alternative techniques nor the problem of designing the public information system as an integral part of the total governmental structure. Actual open government for the benefit of the general populace will be possible only if the basic weaknesses of the present system are explored in depth. This Article is an appeal to Congress to undertake the careful analysis necessary to construct a workable, useful public information system

Savings Promotion, Investment Promotion, and International Competitiveness

In an open economy, savings- and investment-promoting policies may have very different effects on the capital account and on the viability of export-oriented and import-competing industries. The nature of the effects is often ambiguous in analytical models. This paper employs a simulation model that combines a detailed treatment of industry interactions, attention to adjustment dynamics, and an integrated treatment of current and capital account transactions to investigate these effects in both the short and long run. We focus on the different effects of savings- and investment-promoting U.S. tax policies on the viability of U.S. export industries. We compare results under the assumption of no international capital mobility (and no international asset transactions) with those under the assumption of full international mobility (which assumes no barriers to or costs of such transactions). Within the case of capital mobility, we consider the importance of the degree of international asset substitutability -- the extent to which individuals respond to differences in anticipated rates of return by altering their portfolios. Simulation results show that the impacts on export industries differ fundamentally depending on the degree of international capital mobility. In the absence of such mobility, savings- and investment- promoting policies have similar effects on U.S. export industries, with insubstantial effects in the short run and larger. beneficial long-run effects that reflect increases in the productiveness of the U.S. economy. Once international capital mobility is accounted for, however, the effects of the two policies differ from one another in both the short and long run. Subsidizing saving helps U.S. export industries initially but hurts them over the longer term. The reverse is true for a policy that subsidizes investment. These differences, which are robust across a range of model specifications and parameter assumptions, stem from the very different implications of the two types of policies for the capital account of the balance of payments.

An Ex Post Evaluation of the Conservation Reserve, Federal Crop Insurance, and Other Government Programs: Program Participation and Soil Erosion

Recent research has questioned the extent to which government policies, including conservation and risk management programs, have influenced environmental indicators. The impacts of income-supporting and risk management programs on soil erosion are considered. An econometric model of the determinants of soil erosion, program participation, conservation effort, and input usage is estimated. While the Conservation Reserve Program has reduced erosion an average of 1.02 tons per acre from 1982 to 1992, approximately half of this reduction has been offset by increased erosion resulting from government programs other than federally subsidized crop insurance.Conservation Reserve Program, farm policy, soil erosion, Agricultural and Food Policy,

Implications of Integrated Commodity Programs and Crop Insurance

Moving from price-triggered to area revenue–triggered programs was perhaps the most common theme among 2007 farm bill proposals. Area revenue–triggered commodity programs may make farm-level revenue insurance products seem redundant, raising questions about why the federal government should continue both programs. Area revenue–triggered programs would remove much of the systemic risk faced by producers. As a result, private sector insurers may be able to insure the residual risk without federal involvement. This paper examines the effects of moving to area revenue–triggered commodity programs with a focus on public policy issues that would likely arise.commodity programs, revenue insurance, systemic risk, Agribusiness, Crop Production/Industries, Productivity Analysis, D81, G22, Q18,