Heat, light, and taxes in the granite state.

New Hampshire ; Education

Far infrared heterodyne systems

Three far infrared detectors, the InSb hot electron bolometer, the GaAs Schottky diode and the Josephson point contact junction, were incorporated as mixers into sensitive heterodyne systems. The performances of existing heterodyne receivers/radiometers using these detectors are described and compared. Other applications of submillimeter heterodyne techniques are discussed

New England has relied heavily on vulnerable Medicaid financing arrangements

Medical care, Cost of ; New England

Unemployment Insurance Policy in New England: Background and Issues

Most states have exhausted their unemployment insurance (UI) trust fund and borrowed from the federal government at least once during the past 35 years. Under such circumstances, states are required by law to raise UI taxes to replenish their trust funds and to pay off their debts to the federal government. Since higher UI taxes increase employer costs, replenishment forces states into a trade-off between economic competitiveness and trust fund adequacy. Competitive pressures have raised questions about prevailing standards of adequacy and the speed at which they should be attained. Consequently, several states are contemplating tax reductions despite low reserves. This article provides background information and analysis intended to clarify issues underlying the UI policies of New England in general and a tax reduction under consideration in Massachusetts in particular. The main point is that alternative UI policies should not be judged solely by the yardsticks of economic competitiveness and trust fund adequacy. Allocative neutrality and economic stabilization are also relevant concerns. UI systems necessarily force some industries to subsidize others, thereby distorting the allocation of resources in favor of subsidized firms. Yet, many of the same features responsible for these allocative distortions affect economic stability. Every UI alternative entails trade-offs among these rival concerns.unemployment, insurance, New England, Tannenwald, O'Leary

Alternative Measures of State UI Systems

Comparisons among state unemployment insurance (UI) systems can be misleading. Frequently quoted indicators of benefit generosity, tax cost, and adherence to the experience-rating principle are influenced by the relative economic conditions of states. Such comparisons thereby obscure underlying structural differences in state UI systems. A business considering alternative states in which to locate a production facility should be cautious when interpreting UI information in an economic developer's marketing pitch. This paper offers alternative indicators based on how representative firms, with a well specified unemployment experience, would fare in different states. The authors use a micro-simulation approach to model the experiences of representative workers and firms to compare 28 states and contrast the results with those obtained from more conventional indicators. In closing, the authors consider whether a business location decision would be influenced differently by the alternative measures of state UI systems.unemployment, insurance, state, O'Leary, Tannenwald

Interstate Fiscal Disparity in State Fiscal Year 1999

This paper compares states in terms of their relative fiscal capacity, fiscal need, fiscal comfort, and tax effort in state fiscal year 1999 (FY1999). It is the most recent in a series initiated by the U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (ACIR) in 1962. As in previous studies, the authors use the representative tax system and representative expenditure system methodologies in their analysis. Compared with FY1997, the authors find less interstate disparity in fiscal capacity, fiscal need, and fiscal comfort. However, such disparity, though diminished, remains substantial. The New England and Mid-Atlantic regions remain the most 'fiscally comfortable', while the East South Central and West South Central regions are still the most 'fiscally stressed'

Unemployment Insurance Policy in New England: Background and Issues

Most states have exhausted their unemployment insurance (UI) trust fund and borrowed from the federal government at least once during the past 35 years. Under such circumstances, states are required by law to raise UI taxes to replenish their trust funds and to pay off their debts to the federal government. Since higher UI taxes increase employer costs, replenishment forces states into a trade-off between economic competitiveness and trust fund adequacy. Competitive pressures have raised questions about prevailing standards of adequacy and the speed at which they should be attained. Consequently, several states are contemplating tax reductions despite low reserves. This article provides background information and analysis intended to clarify issues underlying the UI policies of New England in general and a tax reduction under consideration in Massachusetts in particular. The main point is that alternative UI policies should not be judged solely by the yardsticks of economic competitiveness and trust fund adequacy. Allocative neutrality and economic stabilization are also relevant concerns. UI systems necessarily force some industries to subsidize others, thereby distorting the allocation of resources in favor of subsidized firms. Yet, many of the same features responsible for these allocative distortions affect economic stability. Every UI alternative entails trade-offs among these rival concerns

Massachusetts Business Taxes: Unfair? Inadequate? Uncompetitive?

In debating Massachusetts business tax policy, protagonists have cited many different indicators purporting to assess the fairness, adequacy, and competitiveness of the Commonwealth's business taxes. These statistics actually reveal very little about the degree to which Massachusetts business taxes achieve these widely accepted tax policy goals. The author explains why these indicators are misleading and presents new indicators of business tax competitiveness that, although imperfect, are more accurate than those most widely quoted. The article concludes that the fairness of Massachusetts business taxes is unclear and that the Commonwealth's corporate income taxes are inadequate. The clearest conclusion drawn is that Massachusetts business taxes do not harm its competitive standing

Law Versus Power on the High Frontier: The Case for a Rule-Based Regime for Outer Space

Yale Journal of International Law, SummerThe future of peace and security in outer space is at a critical juncture. The legal regime that guides commercial, military and scientific activities in space is fragmented and increasingly inadequate to meet the challenges posed by the growing number of actors seeking to exploit space. The most serious challenge to the space regime is posed by the stated intent of the present administration of the United States to pursue national dominance in space, which may eventually include stationing weapons there. Although space is already militarized to some degree, that is, used for military support purposes, no nation has yet placed weapons in space. Such a move would cross an important and longstanding threshold,likely provoking a battle for national superiority in space dominated by the United States. It would seriously undermine the current legal order in space widely supported by the rest of the world. The deployment of ground-based antisatellite weapons would also constitute a serious departure from the current regime. Without a concerted effort to develop a more comprehensive legal regime for space that will limit unconstrained weaponization, the international community will likely face a new military competition in space, with destabilizing consequences for national and global security. Such a competition will place at risk existing military, commercial, and scientific activities in space. With events of September 11, 2001, and the war against Iraq dominating the headlines, the issue of national missile defense, and with it the larger issue of the control and weaponization of space, have receded from the front pages. However, the problem is imminent as the United States moves forward with Pentagon plans to develop "space control" and "global engagement" capabilities, which imply the deployment of weapons in space. If conflict over the use of space, or even actual conflict in space, is to be prevented or at least significantly constrained by general agreement, the international community will need to agree on permitted activity in space and more refined arrangements for distributing the benefits of that activity. Such a regime would be in the strong interest of commercial, scientific and military support constituencies worldwide. Without such agreement, space will largely be shaped by the short-term interests of power rather than the long-term interests of law

Ferromagnetic resonance study of sputtered Co|Ni multilayers

We report on room temperature ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) studies of [$t$ Co$|2t$ Ni]$\times$N sputtered films, where $0.1 \leq t \leq 0.6$ nm. Two series of films were investigated: films with same number of Co$|$Ni bilayer repeats (N=12), and samples in which the overall magnetic layer thickness is kept constant at 3.6 nm (N=1.2/$t$). The FMR measurements were conducted with a high frequency broadband coplanar waveguide up to 50 GHz using a flip-chip method. The resonance field and the full width at half maximum were measured as a function of frequency for the field in-plane and field normal to the plane, and as a function of angle to the plane for several frequencies. For both sets of films, we find evidence for the presence of first and second order anisotropy constants, $K_1$ and $K_2$. The anisotropy constants are strongly dependent on the thickness $t$, and to a lesser extent on the total thickness of the magnetic multilayer. The Land\'e g-factor increases with decreasing $t$ and is practically independent of the multilayer thickness. The magnetic damping parameter $\alpha$, estimated from the linear dependence of the linewidth, $\triangle H$, on frequency, in the field in-plane geometry, increases with decreasing $t$. This behaviour is attributed to an enhancement of spin-orbit interactions with $t$ decreasing and in thinner films, to a spin-pumping contribution to the damping.Comment: 18 pages, 13 figure