The Scout Report for Business & Economics - November 18, 1999

November 18, 1999

A Publication of the Internet Scout Project
Computer Sciences Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison

The target audience of the new Scout Report for Business & Economics is faculty, students, staff, and librarians in business and economics. Each biweekly issue offers a selective collection of Internet resources covering topics in the field that have been chosen by librarians and content specialists in the given area of study.

The Scout Report for Business & Economics is also provided via email once every two weeks. Subscription information is included at the bottom of each issue.


In This Issue

Research

Learning Resources

General Interest

Current Awareness

New Data

In The News


Research

CyberSecuritiesLaw
http://www.cybersecuritieslaw.com/
A truly excellent resource, CyberSecuritiesLaw is an extensive Website focused completely on securities regulation and the Internet. Creator Blake A. Bell, Senior Knowledge Management Counsel of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, has compiled an enormous collection of information, news, cases, and other material dealing with these issues, and the site features several main sections. CyberSecuritiesLaw Tribune is a biweekly assemblage of pithy summaries of current news and accompanying annotations of Websites. Previous issues of the periodical are also archived on the site. CyberSecuritiesLaw Case Digest is a database of legal cases dealing with the Internet and securities matters, searchable by alphabetical order, by date, and by subject. Other resources on this site include summaries of SEC No-Action Letters, SEC releases, and other items relating to the SEC, NYSE, and NASD. Users looking for more information will want to check out the large bibliography of online resources and articles, and two annotated links pages that contain hundreds of Websites dealing with securities regulation and the Internet. All in all, this invaluable Website holds more than 3 MB of data on this subject. [EM]
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Social and Economic Implications of Information Technologies: A Bibliographic Database Pilot Project
http://srsweb.nsf.gov/it_site/index.htm
Sponsored by the National Science Foundation's Division of Science Resource Studies, this Website is a valuable resource that examines information technology from social and economic perspectives. "Road Maps" is a searchable database containing references to "over 4,000 data sets, research papers and books, and Websites that provide insight about the social and economic implications of IT [information technology]. Road Maps is set up so that users can perform very specific searches on pre-selected topics including government, science, education, and globalization. This Website also includes an annotated index of related Websites as well as information about site updates. [EM]
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Euro Economic Sources and Economic Policies in the EMU
http://www.econ.yale.edu/~corsetti/euro/Euroit.htm
European Mirror:
http://www.spbo.unibo.it/corsetti/Euroit.htm
Focusing on online resources that examine the European Monetary Union and the Euro, this Website offers a comprehensive collection of research papers, readings, chronologies, news, and conferences. Created by Giancarlo Corsetti, professor of economics at Yale University, this site starts with a group of readings that cover basic information about the Euro and the European Union. A vast collection of research papers are organized alphabetically by author and also by topic ranging from "Electoral and political cycles" to "The implications of Kosovo for the euro." The site also links to official and government sites, and news and commentary sources. [EM]
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Handbook on the Economic Analysis of Water Supply Projects [.pdf]
http://www.adb.org/Publications/Online/Water/
Handbook on the Economic Analysis of Water Supply Projects was written for non-economists working in the planning, implementation, and management of water supplies. Created by the Asian Development Bank, the handbook is a resource guide to help staff of government agencies, financing institutions, and water utilities understand the principles of economic analysis of water supply projects. Written in easy-to-understand language, the handbook consists of nine chapters, each with separate tables of contents, with titles such as "Least Cost Analysis," "Demand Analysis and Forecasting," and "Sensitivity and Risk Analysis." Each chapter is available only in .pdf format and must be downloaded separately. Also included are an appendix and glossary. [EM]
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Friedrich Hayek Scholars Page
http://www.hayekcenter.org/friedrichhayek/hayek.html
This Website was created by Greg Ransom of the Department of Social Sciences at MoraCosta College and is dedicated the Friedrich Hayek, who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1972. According to Ransom, Hayek is remembered as "a key figure in the 20th century revival of liberalism." A bevy of information is available, including a huge number of Web-published academic research papers discussing Hayek. The site also contains extensive bibliographies of Hayek's writing and commentary on his writing. The Best of the Web section consists of rated articles, papers, conferences, speeches, and course syllabi about Hayek. The Friedrich Hayek Scholars Page also links to video footage of Hayek in 1978, the archives of the Hayek-L discussion list, and a Hayek fact file. [EM]
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Report on the American Workforce, 1999 [.pdf, 1037K]
http://stats.bls.gov/opub/rtaw/rtawhome.htm
The US Department of Labor has issued its annual report on the American workforce. This year's edition concentrates on workplace responses to an increasingly competitive global market, the central role of improved skills for all workers, and the current state of the balance of work and family. The report consists of four chapters, each of the first three analyzing one of the aforementioned issues, the last offering a compendium of data upon which the analyses are based. [DC]
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Learning Resources

Banking Data and Research
http://www.ala.org/acrl/resnov99.html
This article on free banking data and research, created by Ruth Kobylecky Humphrey for the American Library Association, includes an index of annotations on a wide range of federal and association Websites that offer financial information and help for their members. The index is broken into several sections including Federal Agencies, The Federal Reserve System, International Banking, and the Secondary Market. Within each section, the entries are arranged in alphabetical order and carefully annotated. [EM]
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Soft Currency Economics
http://www.warrenmosler.com/
Created by Warren Mosler, a partner of Adams, Viner, and Mosler, Ltd., Soft Currency Economics aims to "clearly demonstrate, through pure force of logic, that much of the public debate on many of today's economic issues is invalid, often going so far as to confuse costs with benefits." Mosler attempts to show this through a variety of articles and opinion pieces published from 1997 to the present. Soft Currency Economics also includes a lengthy introduction, which introduces many of Mosler's main concerns, as well as a bibliography. [EM]
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e-START
http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/SSG/er00001e.html
A collaborative project by ACE-Canada and Strategis, e-START is concerned with guiding Canadian students in starting up their first businesses and finding "meaningful employment." The site consists of several resources for helping students start out in their careers: Business Cycle, a guide to product and service marketing; Enterprise Resource Centre, an annotated index of Websites suited to help start new businesses; and the Enterprise Career Centre, a collection of several links for creative job searching. E-START also includes local information as well as news about upcoming conferences and competitions. [EM]
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The Economic War Among the States
http://woodrow.mpls.frb.fed.us/sylloge/econwar/index.html
This site, from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, considers the issues surrounding development incentives including direct grants and targeted tax abatements. Along with research papers and federal resources, there is also an overview by Business Week Economics Editor Chris Farrell, a report from the 1996 national conference on this topic, and links to related Websites and media resources. While some of the information on this site is several years old, the site is updated regularly. [EM]
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Internet Financial Index
http://www.financialindex.com/
The Internet Financial Index is a Web directory that specializes in current financial information on topics ranging from basic investing to world markets. Category topics are given down the left side of the page, and they link to carefully annotated entries. The financial news section uses iSyndicate to search for up-to-the-minute financial news and information. At this point, the Internet Financial Index is a little thin; with time, however, it should grow to become an even more valuable resource. [EM]
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General Interest

Sookoo!
http://www.sookoo.com/
Sookoo (Strategy Organized Online [with] Key Ordered Optimization) is a search engine dedicated to making it "easier to find high-quality business strategy information on the web." According the Sookoo's developers, Alan Wickham and Danny Capparelli, because the search mechanism is already focused on business management information, the hits tend to be much more germane than those from larger, all-purpose search engines. Although search terms seem to be limited, the browseable directory of popular searches renders a decent number of annotated sites. [EM]
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Bank Director Magazine
http://www.bankdirector.com/
Created for directors of financial companies, Bank Director Magazine is a quarterly publication that examines issues of importance to bank directors. The online publication includes the complete table of contents, as well as a selection of articles from the current issue. The site also features a directory of names, addresses, and phone numbers of M&A investment banking and law firms, consulting firms, and technology and retail delivery companies. [EM]
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Strikes! Labor and Labor History in Puget Sound
http://www.lib.washington.edu/exhibits/STRIKES!/index.html
The University of Washington's Center for Labor Studies, Henry Art Gallery, and University libraries have teamed up to create this wonderful online exhibit "to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Seattle General Strike of 1919 and the 65th anniversary of the Maritime Strikes of 1934." The main exhibit contains scanned images of newspaper headlines and articles, photographs, and other artifacts from the two strikes. Descriptions, stories, quotes, and excerpts accompany each item's thumbnail image. Enlarge the images by clicking on them in order to see the details. Other resources on this Website include a short article about the Canadian experience in the strike of 1919, a brief bibliography, and an annotated links page that covers information about the Seattle General Strike of 1919, the 1934 Longshoremen's Strike, and a couple of general sites about labor history. [EM]
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Cost of a Bad Hire Calculator:
http://www.advantagehiring.com/calculators/fs_hfcalcs.htm
Cost of Employee Turnover Calculator:
http://www.advantagehiring.com/calculators/calc_turnover.shtml
These two intriguing calculators are from Advantage Hiring, an employment agency based in Pittsburgh, PA. The Cost of a Bad Hire Calculator allows users to tabulate the cost of a poor decision in hiring by compiling the financial and temporal expenses of the hiring process including hours spent, candidate travel costs, training/ orientation, and relocation costs. Users enter employee salaries, cost of benefits, and number of employee who left in the Cost of Employee Turnover Calculator in order to see how much each employee cost the company. Advantage Hiring also includes several other calculators including Improve Your Selection Process, Salary, Moving, and Free School Reports calculators. [EM]
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National Right to Work Foundation
http://www.nrtw.org/
The National Right to Work Foundation (NRWF) is a "non-profit organization providing free legal aid nationwide to thousands of employees whose human and civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses." Established in 1968, the NRWF believes that all American workers should not be subjected to mandatory union membership. The Website showcases breaking news about unions as well as short issue briefs that address some of the NRWF's concerns. Also included are a map of states that currently have Right to Work legislation, legal information, and an online newsletter. [EM]
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Current Awareness
(For links to additional current awareness on tables of contents, abstracts, preprints, new books, data, conferences, etc., visit the The Scout Report for Business & Economics Current Awareness Metapage: http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/bus-econ/metapage/).

Webcast

Greening Industry Webcast -- New Ideas in Pollution Regulation [RealPlayer]
http://www.worldbank.org/nipr/greening/webcast.htm
On Monday, November 22, 1999, from 2:00 pm to 4:30 pm, there will be a live Webcast of the New Ideas in Pollution Regulation (NIPR) conference, "Greening the Industry." The seminar, a gathering of policy makers, worldwide, is the culmination of six years of work on issues related to industrial pollution regulation and control in developing nations. Four in-depth panel discussions will be featured: use of economic instruments, the dynamics of public information disclosure programs, promoting clean production by small enterprises, and implementation of the [World] Bank's guidelines on pollution abatement. [EM]
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Working Papers

Federal Reserve Board of Governors International Finance Discussion Papers [.pdf]
http://www.bog.frb.fed.us/pubs/ifdp/1999/default.htm
When Would Educational Standards Help Improve Scholastic Achievement?
http://www.bog.frb.fed.us/pubs/ifdp/1999/648/ifdp648.pdf
Investment and the Current Account in the Short Run and the Long Run
http://www.bog.frb.fed.us/pubs/ifdp/1999/647/ifdp647.pdf
Efficient Tests for Autoregressive Unit Roots in Panel Data [PostScript]
http://www.bog.frb.fed.us/pubs/ifdp/1999/646/ifdp646.ps
The Contributions of Domestic and External Factors to Latin American Devaluation Crises: An Early Warning Systems Approach
http://www.bog.frb.fed.us/pubs/ifdp/1999/645/ifdp645.pdf

Federal Reserve System:
FRB Atlanta Working Papers [.pdf]
http://www.frbatlanta.org/publica/work_papers/1999.htm
Liquidity Crises in Emerging Markets: Theory and Policy
http://www.frbatlanta.org/publica/work_papers/wp99/wp9915.pdf
Portable Random Number Generators
http://www.frbatlanta.org/publica/work_papers/wp99/wp9914.pdf

FRB Boston Working Papers [.pdf]
http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/wpchrono.htm
Is the U.S. Economy Characterized by Endogenous Growth?: A Time-Series Test of Two Stochastic Growth Models
http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/wp99_9.pdf
Does the Federal Reserve Possess An Exploitable Informational Advantage?
http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/wp99_8.pdf
Is Bank Supervision Central to Central Banking?
http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/wp99_7.pdf

FRB Dallas Working Papers [.pdf]
http://www.dallasfed.org/htm/pubs/erpapers.html
Has Monetary Policy Become Less Effective?
http://www.dallasfed.org/htm/pubs/pdfs/erpapers/99_04.pdf

FRB Philadelphia Working Papers [.pdf]
http://www.phil.frb.org/page.asp?page=workpapers99
Does Data Vintage Matter for Forecasting?
http://www.phil.frb.org/files/wps/1999/wp99-15.pdf

FRB St. Louis Working Papers [.pdf]
http://www.stls.frb.org/research/wp/
What Do New Keynesian Phillips Curves Imply for Price Level Targeting?
http://www.stls.frb.org/docs/research/wp/99-021.pdf

Other Institutions:
Bank of International Settlements Policy Papers
http://www.bis.org/publ/pub_list.htm#PO
Strengthening the Banking System in China: Issues and Experience
http://www.bis.org/publ/plcy07.htm

International Monetary Fund Working Papers [.pdf]
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/shortres.cfm?title=&auth_ed=&subject=&ser_note=working%20papers&Year=1999&datecrit=during&lang_f=all
From Toronto Terms to the HIPC Initiative - A Brief History of Debt Relief for Low-Income Countries
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/1999/wp99142.pdf
Nominal Exchange Rates and Nominal Interest Rate Differentials
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/1999/wp99141.pdf
Corporate Insolvency Procedures and Bank Behavior - A Study of Selected Asian Economies
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/1999/wp99135.pdf
Macroeconomic and Sectoral Effects of Terms-of-Trade Shocks - The Experience of the Oil-Exporting Developing Countries
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/1999/wp99134.pdf
Country Risks and the Investment Activity of U.S. Multinationals in Developing Countries
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/1999/wp99133.pdf
Exchange-Rate-Based Stabilization - A Critical Look at the Stylized Facts
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/1999/wp99132.pdf
EMU Challenges European Labor Markets
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/1999/wp99131.pdf
Skill Acquisition and Firm Creation in Transition Economies
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/1999/wp99130.pdf
Emerging Markets Crisis - An Asset Markets Perspective
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/1999/wp99129.pdf
Neglected Heterogeneity and Dynamics in Cross-Country Savings Regressions
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/1999/wp99128.pdf
The Enforcement of Property Rights and Underdevelopment
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/1999/wp99127.pdf
Long-Term International Capital Movements and Technology - A Review
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/1999/wp99126.pdf
Technology and Epidemics
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/1999/wp99125.pdf
Three Million Foreigners, Three Million Unemployed? Immigration and the French Labor Market
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/1999/wp99124.pdf
Regional Income Redistribution and Risk Sharing - How Does Italy Compare in Europe?
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/1999/wp99123.pdf
Inflation, Money Demand, and Purchasing Power Parity in South Africa
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/1999/wp99122.pdf
Determinants of Argentina's External Trade
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/1999/wp99121.pdf

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Technical Papers [.pdf]
http://www.oecd.org/dev/pub/tp1a.htm
Infrastructure Development and Regulatory Reform in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Case of Air Transport
http://www.oecd.org/dev/PUBLICATION/tp/Tp154.pdf
The Economics and Politics of Transition to an Open Market Economy: China
http://www.oecd.org/dev/PUBLICATION/tp/Tp153.pdf

Wharton Financial Institutions Center Working Papers [.pdf]
http://wrdsenet.wharton.upenn.edu/fic/wfic/papers/99.html
Financial Risk Management in a Volatile Global Environment
http://wrdsenet.wharton.upenn.edu/fic/wfic/papers/99/9943.pdf
The Key to Risk Management: Management
http://wrdsenet.wharton.upenn.edu/fic/wfic/papers/99/p9942.html
The Technical Process of Bank Privatization in Mexico
http://wrdsenet.wharton.upenn.edu/fic/wfic/papers/97/9742.pdf

Stockholm School of Economics Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance [.pdf]
http://swopec.hhs.se/hastef/
Inside Vs Outside Ownership: A Political Theory of the Firm
http://swopec.hhs.se/hastef/papers/hastef0344.pdf
A general framework for testing the Granger noncausality hypothesis
http://swopec.hhs.se/hastef/abs/hastef0343.htm
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Periodicals

Federal Reserve Board of Governors (FRB BOG)
Federal Bulletin Review [.pdf]
http://www.bog.frb.fed.us/pubs/bulletin/1999/1199lead.pdf
The November 1999 issue of Federal Bulletin Review, from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors includes the lead story "The Role of Specialized Lenders in Extending Mortgages to Lower-Income and Minority Homebuyers." This article examines the recent trends in home-purchase lending to minorities and lower-income homebuyers, using data from the 1993-1998 Home Disclosure Act. [EM]

Federal Reserve System:
FRB Atlanta Financial Update
http://209.239.32.240/publica/finan_update/v12n4/index.html
FRB Chicago Detroit FedPoints
http://www.frbchi.org/pubs-speech/publications/periodicals/fedpoints/1999/sep&oct/fp_sep&oct99.html
FRB Cleveland Economic Trends
http://www.clev.frb.org/research/Et99/1199/index.htm
FRB Dallas Houston Business [.pdf]
http://www.dallasfed.org/htm/pubs/pdfs/houston/hb99_11.pdf
FRB New York Economic Policy Review
http://www.ny.frb.org/rmaghome/econ_pol/forthcom.htm
FRB Richmond Regional Focus
http://www.rich.frb.org/regionfocus/current/index.html
FRB San Francisco Economic Letter
http://www.frbsf.org/econrsrch/wklyltr/wklyltr99/el99-35.html
FRB St. Louis International Economic Trends [.pdf]
http://www.stls.frb.org/docs/publications/iet/iet.pdf
Financial Update, a quarterly periodical from FRB Atlanta includes the cover story "Banks Selling Insurance: Risky Business?" in its latest issue. FRB Chicago's Detroit FedPoints reports on Michigan's economy, including the "record pace" of automobile sales. The November 1999 issue of Economic Trends includes updates on interest rates, economic activity, and household financial conditions. FRB Dallas's bimonthly periodical Houston Business contains articles on the world economy and includes a summary of October 1999 updates to the Houston Beige Book. Forthcoming articles in Economic Policy Review from FRB New York include "Supervisory Information and the Frequency of Bank Examinations," "Macro Markets and Financial Security," and "Exchange Rates and Profit Margins: The Case of Japanese Exporters." The current issue of Regional Focus from FRB Richmond, features stories on small businesses, local autumn produce, and a profile of Charlotte, NC. The November 19, 1999 issue of FRB San Francisco's weekly newsletter Economic Letter examines the global economy. International Economic Trends from FRB St. Louis considers the ramifications of a European Union withholding tax. [EM]

United States International Trade Commission (USITC)
Industry, Trade, and Technology Review [.pdf]
ftp://ftp.usitc.gov/pub/reports/ittr/PUB3253.PDF
The October 1999 issue of Industry, Trade, and Technology Review from the USITC contains articles on the outsourcing of the pharmaceutical industry and the financial crisis in Thailand and its effects on the US economy. [EM]

Bank for International Settlements (BIS)
BIS Review [.pdf]
http://www.bis.org/review/index.htm
Recently released articles and speeches from the BIS Review include the October 28, 1999 speech given by Svein Gjerdrem, Governor of the Norges Bank, at the Royal Norwegian Embassy, on the economy and monetary policy in Norway, the speech given by Joseph Yam JP, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, on the financial system in Hong Kong, and a speech on Korean monetary policy given by Chol-Hwan chon, Governor of the Bank of Korea, on October 12, 1999. [EM]

American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI)
Economic Outlook
http://www.aei.org/eo/eo11116.htm
The November 1999 Economic Outlook consists of the article "Can Japan Grow?," which considers Japan's economic future. [EM]
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Books and Journals

BakerBooks -- Harvard Business School
http://www.library.hbs.edu/bakerbooks/
The latest issues of New Books at Baker Library and New Books from HBS Press are now available from Harvard University's BakerBooks site. These updates are posted by the 15th of each month and cover new additions for the preceding month. [EM]

Econbase -- Elsevier
http://www.elsevier.nl:80/homepage/sae/econbase/menu.sht
The abstracts, tables of contents, and in some cases, full-text, for the following journals are now available online: Economic Modelling (Vol 16, No 3), Economics Letters (Vol 65, No 2), Energy Economics (Vol 21, No 6), Insurance Mathematics and Economics (Vol 25, No 1), International Review of Law and Economics (Vol 19, No 3), Journal of Accounting and Economics (Vol 27, No 3), and Journal of Corporate Finance (Vol 5, No 3). [EM]
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Conferences

Inomics Conference Calls:
Email Conference Alert
http://www.inomics.com/query/alert
Conference Search
http://www.inomics.com/query/conf_search
The economics research service Inomics (described in the June 18, 1998 Scout Report for Business & Economics) includes a conference alert service. Interested parties may specify their interests and receive email notifications of up-coming events, or they may search the Inomics conference database by date, geographic location, or JEL classification. [EM]

Conferences with Econometric Interest
http://www.eur.nl/few/ei/links/#conferences
The Royal Economics Society's Econometrics Journal site lists conferences in econometrics at this Econometric Links section. [EM]
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Jobs

Job Openings from The Chronicle of Higher Education
Job Openings in Economics
http://chronicle.com/free/jobs/faculty/sscience/econ/links.htm
Job Openings in Business and Management
http://chronicle.com/free/jobs/faculty/professional/business/links.htm

Job Openings for Economists (JOE)
http://www.eco.utexas.edu/joe/joe/

Inomics: Job Openings for Economists
http://www.inomics.com/query/job_search
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New Data

Federal Reserve Board of Governors (FRB BOG)
Household Debt-Service Burden
http://www.bog.frb.fed.us/releases/housedebt/default.htm
The FRB provides quarterly data for the ratio of household debt to disposable income. The report offers statistical charts as well as a short explanation of how the information was collected. [EM]
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Census Bureau
1997 Economic Census - Frozen Fruit, Juice, and Vegetable Manufacturing [.pdf, 987K]
http://www.census.gov/prod/ec97/97m3114a.pdf
This 39-page report from the Census Bureau gives the economic status of frozen fruit, juice, and vegetable manufacturing in the United States. Seven tables include Produce Statistics 1997 and 1992, Industry Statistics by Employment Size: 1997, and Industry Statistics for Selected States: 1997. [EM]
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Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
Productivity and Costs
http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/prod2.toc.htm
Productivity and costs of the third quarter show that, in both business and non-farm sectors, the productivity increases were larger, at 4.0 percent and 4.2 percent, respectively, than in the same sectors during the second quarter. [EM]
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United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
1999 Agency Reports/ Schedule
http://www.usda.gov/news/calindex.htm
USDA summarizes its report releases from various sources (the Economic Research Service, the National Agricultural Statistics Service, the Foreign Agricultural Service, and the World Agricultural Outlook Board) at this calendar site. Notable data for November 1999 include Turkey Hatchery reports, which show turkey eggs in incubators on November 1, 1999 up 5 percent from last year, totalling 28.9 million eggs. [EM]
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In The News

"No Fees, Please" California vs. Bank of America
1) Bank of American Homepage
http://www.bankofamerica.com/
2) Wells Fargo Homepage
http://wellsfargo.com/home/
3) "ATM surcharges stay -- for now" -- CNN
http://www.cnn.com/US/9911/16/atm.fees.01/
4) "Wells Fargo, BofA Limit Use of ATMs" -- San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/11/11/MN86818.DTL
5) "ATM backlash" -- San Francisco Examiner
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/examiner/hotnews/stories/11/Batm.dtl
6) "2 Banks Counter ATM Fee Ban by Cutting Service" -- Washington Post
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-11/12/197l-111299-idx.html
7) American Bankers Association Statement on California Municipal ATM Initiatives
http://www.aba.com/aba/ABANews&Issues/PR_110899ATM.asp
8) "A Revolt Against Fees" -- Newsweek
http://www.newsweek.com/nw-srv/printed/us/bz/a59672-1999oct31.htm
9) "Bigger Banks, Bigger Fees Report" -- PIRG [.pdf]
http://www.pirg.org/reports/consumer/bankfees/index.html
10) "ATM and debit card fees are climbing, but you can dodge them" -- Bankrate.com
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/atm/19991020.asp
On November 2, 1999, the citizens of San Francisco, CA voted to prohibit banks from levying surcharges on non-customers using their Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), approving the measure, 66 percent to 34 percent. Santa Monica, CA approved a similar measure several weeks earlier. As the case pended in federal court, two of the largest banks in California, Bank of America and Well Fargo, which own 86 percent of the ATMs in the two cities, chose to limit the use of the ATMs to their account-holders only, making it difficult for non-customers to receive cash. On Monday, November 15, US District Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that the ban on ATM fees was unconstitutional. Santa Monica deputy city attorney, Adam Radinksy was confused by the ruling: "There are examples all over the place of regulations by the states of bank fees." Arkansas, Mississippi, and Wyoming all set monetary limits on ATM fees, and Connecticut and Iowa have never allowed banks to charge non-customers for ATM services. This week's In the News looks at the ATM standoff in California, as well as banking throughout the US through the following articles, editorials, Websites, and news briefs.

Official Websites for Bank of America (1) and Wells Fargo (2) give background on these two banks. CNN looks at the banks's reasons for charging ATM fees (3), and the site links to related Websites and CNN stories, as well as a message board for readers to post their feelings about ATM fees. The San Francisco Chronicle(4) has compiled data on the number of ATMs held by the two banks in San Francisco and Santa Monica, as well as the enormous revenue collected from ATM fees. In this San Francisco Examiner article (5), lawmakers comment on the two banks's reactions to the ban on ATM fees. This article from the Washington Post(6) includes citizen reactions to Wells Fargo and Bank of America's withdrawal of ATM services. A short statement from the American Banker's Association (7) supports Bank of America and Wells Fargo in their rights to charge fees for non-bank members. This short article from Newsweek(7) gives an overarching look at ATM fees. Public Interest Research Group's study on banking fees (9) reports that many Americans can't afford to keep their money in banks. Bankrate.com looks at the rising ATM and debit card fees (10) and gives consumers tips on avoiding them. [EM]
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The Scout Report for Business & Economics
Brought to You by the Internet Scout Project

The Scout Report for Business & Economics is published every other Thursday by the Internet Scout Project, located in the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Department of Computer Sciences.

Susan Calcari
Rachael E. Bower
Emily Missner
Travis Koplow
Paul M Schwartz
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Below are the copyright statements to be included when reproducing annotations from The Scout Report for Business & Economics.

The single phrase below is the copyright notice to be used when reproducing any portion of this report, in any format:

From The Scout Report for Business & Economics, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-1999. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/

The paragraph below is the copyright notice to be used when reproducing the entire report, in any format:

Copyright Susan Calcari and the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, 1994-1999. The Internet Scout Project (http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/), located in the Computer Sciences Department of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, provides information about the Internet to the U.S. research and education community under a grant from the National Science Foundation, number NCR-9712163. The Government has certain rights in this material. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of the entire Scout Report provided this paragraph, including the copyright notice, are preserved on all copies.

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Wisconsin - Madison or the National Science Foundation.


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© 1999 Internet Scout Project
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