Weak Presidents, Treaty Ratification, and Presidential Leadership Style

Traditionally, the president is seen as getting his way when it comes to foreign-policy issues; however, with treaty making, an aspect very much related to foreign policy, things are different. Treaties are seen as salient, high-profile, and requiring direct positive action by the Senate. Presidents with high approval ratings would expect to have a relatively easy job at getting treaties approved by the Senate, but when a president is faced with low public approval, one of the most useful tools at his disposal to get Senate approval is not in play. The authors look at a case study of President Carter and the ratification of the Panama Canal Treaties to suggest what “weak” presidents can do to get their way

The Impact of Opt-In Privacy Rules on Retail Credit Markets: A Case Study of MBNA

U. S. privacy laws are increasingly moving from a presumption that consumers must object to ( opt out of) uses of personal data they wish to prohibit to a requirement that they must explicitly consent ( opt in ) to uses they wish to permit. Despite the growing reliance on opt-in rules, there has been little empirical research on their costs. This Article examines the impact of opt-in on MBNA Corporation, a diversified, multinational financial institution. The authors demonstrate that opt-in would raise account acquisition costs and lower profits, reduce the supply of credit and raise credit card prices, generate more offers to uninterested or unqualified consumers, raise the number of missed opportunities for qualified consumers, and impair efforts to prevent fraud. These costs would be incurred despite the fact that as of the end of 2000, only about two percent of MBNA\u27s customers had taken advantage of existing voluntary opportunities to opt out of receiving MBNA\u27s direct mail marketing offers. If Congress were to adopt opt-in laws applicable to financial information, the impact across the economy on consumers and businesses would be significant

Teaching a Basic Sight Word Vocabulary

In diagnosing reading ability, the analysis should include an investigation of the subject\u27s knowledge of basic words commonly familiar in most children\u27s oral-aural vocabulary. Likewise, any beginning reading instruction program should include some help in learning commonly used words, since these compose a large part of the vocabulary of many reading series and other printed material

Loyalist or Patriot: The Precarious Position of Edmund Randolph, 1774-1786

On May 29, 1787, Governor Edmund Randolph took the floor of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia with a radical plan for a new federal government. Randolph was a key member of the influential Virginia delegation which paved the way for United States\u27 Constitutionalism. An examination of his early life, legal career, and politics offers a new lens with which to view the emergence of American constitutional ideology. Building off the work ofT.H. Breen, who argues that Virginia\u27s landed gentry inhabited a distinct culture, this work illuminates the dynamics of these elites who were absolutely pivotal in shaping a new sense of American Constitutionalism in the early Republic. Additionally, Shelia Skemp and Willard Sterne Randall\u27s dual biographies of Benjamin and William Franklin illustrated that biography is a fruitful research avenue for understanding not only revolutionary politics, but also the dynamic involved in revolutionary loyalism among elite families in the era. Based on a rich trove of primary sources such as government documents, personal papers, and newspapers, this modern intellectual biography of Edmund Randolph will add a crucial element to the revolutionary politics of this era. A study of the patriot and loyalist divide, through the lens of the early life and times of Edmund Randolph, allows a richer understanding of Edmund Randolph\u27s political education and make up. Edmund Randolph\u27s early years make it possible to see the bifurcation of the Virginia social elite, which had important implications for the construction of a new American brand of constitutionalism

Improving evaluation and metrics in youth financial education

The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, the Take Charge America Institute at the University of Arizona, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis invited a small group of researchers and practitioners to discuss how to improve the evaluation and metrics of youth financial education programs. The meeting focused specifically on youth — which we defined as individuals under the age of 25 – in an effort to distinguish this effort from others that have discussed financial education research more broadly. The goal for the meeting was to help create a research agenda that would move the field towards the development of clearly defined outcomes for youth financial education, metrics for capturing ROI, and quality standards for curriculum and delivery that would serve as "best practices" for educators seeking to offer effective financial education interventions.Financial literacy ; Education

Master of Science

thesisModels that describe conventional reservoirs can be used to explore the possibility of heavier-than-water oil. Steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) is a common process in reservoirs with extra heavy oils (oil sands). In some cases, oil that is heavier than water is present in these reservoirs. The segregation of oil and water may cause issues for recovery. It is important to understand the initial saturation distribution of oil and water for proper design of injection. It was found through simulation that the heavy oil would pool towards the bottom of a heavy oil reservoir with water remaining on top of the oil. With capillary pressure, the heavy oil and water will form a transition zone. The extent of the transition zone is dependent on the density gradient of the oil, the density difference between the oil and water, and the slope of the capillary pressure saturation profile. This finding influences the positioning of production piping in steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) as well as possible geological pooling areas for recovery. The possibility of a water zone between oil zones increases the risk of missing oil in the reservoir when drilling or perforating