The Scout Report for Business & Economics - September 23, 1999

September 23, 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

World Development Report 1999/2000 [.pdf]
http://www.worldbank.org/wdr/2000/
Released on September 15, 1999, the 22nd edition of this annual report from the World Bank Organization examines the effects of globalization and localization on the world economy in the coming millennium. Along with the full report, which can be downloaded by chapter in .pdf format, this extensive Website includes overviews of the World Development Report in general and the 1999/2000 report in particular. An online slide show guides users through the basics of globalization and localization with clear graphs and charts along with accompanying text. The Q&A section explains the reasons why the World Bank chose these two topics and covers the concepts of globalization and localization. The 1998 and 1997 reports are also available from this site, as well as background information on the World Development Report. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

Debt Margin
http://www.fmcenter.org/fmc_superpage.asp?ID=223
This special report from the Financial Markets Center (FMC) includes an extensive collection of articles that look at the phenomena of margin loans in the United States. As the stock market continues to rise, stockholders are using their stocks as collateral to borrow money in order to purchase more stock, causing margin debt. Along with a large section of staff member-authored explanatory briefs that caution against margin loans, this report also includes a detailed chronology of margin rules adjustment spanning from 1934 to 1999, and documents and articles from sources including the New York Stock Exchange, various government officials, and "A Marginal Chorus," a collection of blurbs from economists including John Kenneth Galbraith. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

Y2K Bug and the Consumer [.pdf 1867K]
http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg24/policy/developments/year_2000/year01_en.pdf
Sponsored by Europa, this 96-page report speculates on the effects of the Y2K bug on consumers of electronic products and services ranging from electronic banking to home computers. The report suggests that the Y2K bug "gives a technical basis to what would otherwise be the fear of the new millennium." The report gives a historical background to the millienium bug, examines people's unease with the coming of the year 2000, as well as the technical problems of fixing it on computers worldwide. An extensive, searchable table of contents and thumbnails of all 96 pages make the information more accessible. Because of the size of the report, which is filled with graphics, it is extremely slow to download. For those interested in social and economic effects of Y2K, however, it offers a solid point of view. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

The New Millennium and the Next Bottom Line
Can business meet new social, environmental, and financial expectations and still win? [.pdf]
http://www.wri.org/wri/busiweek/
First appearing as a supplement in Business Week, this collection of articles and resources from the World Resources Institute questions businesses's preparedness for social, financial, and technical expectations in the coming century. Essays, insights, and case studies, available in .pdf format, address issues including "Visionary Leadership," "Managing for the Future," and "Creating New Markets." A collection of articles written by business experts including Craig Barrett, CEO and President, Intel, Tachi Kiucki, Managing Director of Mitsubishi Electric, and C. Michael Armstrong, Chairman and CEO of AT&T is also available, as well as a downloadable poster that was included with the original report. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

Futurework - Trends and Challenges for Work in the 21st Century -- DOL [.pdf]
http://www.dol.gov/dol/asp/public/futurework/report.htm
Published by the US Department of Labor (DOL), this report explores the social impact of the new economy and the role of the "twenty-first century work-place" in America. Futurework cites three elements necessary for the stability of American workers: "rising economic security over a lifetime," "a work and family balance," and "workplaces that are safe and fair." Using numerous charts, tables, and graphs, the report examines topics such as workforce diversity, wage growth, changing workplaces, technology and globalization, and future trends affecting working conditions and worker morale. The report may be downloaded by chapter in HTML or .pdf format. Tables, charts, and boxes may also be downloaded separately. Additional resources at the site include a number of full-text conference papers (in HTML or .pdf formats) and related links. [MD][EM]
[Back to Contents]

Learning Resources

1Jump
http://www.1jump.com/
Billed as the "Ultimate Business Portal," 1Jump is an enormous business search engine featuring over one million companies, 180,000 brands, and 10,000 stock tickers. The companies in the 1Jump database have been compiled by humans, as opposed to computers, and are searchable through natural language keywords. Users may chose to use the Web version, or they may download the more extensive "1Jump Companion for Windows," which also includes a larger list of search terms, a tracking device to keep track of stock quotes, news, and filings, and a chat system to provide information and networking opportunities. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

Electronic Commerce and the European Union
http://www.ispo.cec.be/ecommerce/Welcome.html
Electronic Commerce and the European Union, sponsored by the Information Society Project Office of European Commission, strives to "keep Europe at the forefront of the digital economy, particularly in the area of electronic commerce." This extensive site examines a wide array of aspects dealing with the EU and ecommerce in the forms of articles, columns, interactive sections, policy papers, and reports on ecommerce-related activities. A special section for frequent visitors of the site includes articles on legal issues, reports on other dealings of the Information Society, publications, and participatory opportunities such as calls for papers and discussion lists. Users may submit specific questions about electronic commerce or the European Commission to Dr. Ecommerce. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

Business Ethics Resources on WWW
http://www.ethics.ubc.ca/resources/business/
From the University of British Columbia's Centre for Applied Ethics, this extensive catalog of business ethics resources is divided into eight sections including Public Sector Ethics, Publications, Codes of Ethics, and Ethics Institutions and Organizations. Each section consists of briefly indexed links, organized in alphabetical order. Business Ethics Resources on the WWW also links to a page of applied ethics resources and the Centre for Applied Ethics. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

European Employment Service
http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg05/elm/eures/en/indexen.htm
European Employment Service (EURES), a service of the European Union, seeks to "facilitate the free movement of workers within the seventeen countries of the European Economic Area" by providing information and access about opportunities and working conditions, working with employers to recruit employees from countries throughout EU, and offering counseling and guidance to businesses and employees in Crossboarder regions. EURES features the EURES Network, a network of over 500 "Euradvisors," public employment agencies trained to answer questions from those interested in working in another EU country. Users may access the network through the list of Euradvisors, indexed by country. For those ready to start seeking employment, Jobsearch's easy-to-use pull-down menus allow users to locate jobs by occupation and country. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

General Interest

Business History -- Leiden University
http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/history/res/bushis/
Leiden University's Business History Website consists of online resources for business history in the countries of the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, and Japan and Korea, as well as general business history. The resources are indexed by country and include Websites, electronic libraries, electronic mailing lists, databases, and articles. Sites are briefly annotated and are ranked and sorted with a somewhat confusing system of icons, which denote ratings given by the Webmaster as well as content of the site. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

Entrepreneurial Edge
http://edge.lowe.org/
Created by the Edward Lowe Foundation, Entrepreneurial Edge provides small businesses with educational information. Consisting of a searchable compilation of over 3,000 annotated and indexed Websites, articles, and newsletters as well as an online bookstore, Entrepreneurial Edge also includes forums, surveys, and a toolbox of interactive resources. The database is searchable by subject topics. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

Economic Reporting Review
http://www.fair.org/err/
Providing weekly analysis on the economic reporting by the Washington Post and The New York Times, Economic Reporting Review (ERR) strives to alert its readership to the "errors and biases" of these two publications, which are instrumental in shaping Americans's views of US and world economics. Dean Baker, an economist and senior research fellow at the Preamble Center and the Century Foundation, and former senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, writes ERR, in conjunction with the Preamble Center and FAIR. Baker succinctly analyses several topics and articles from one or both newspapers for each issue, as well as offering his picks for Outstanding Stories of the Week. The articles cited are not available through ERR. Users may also subscribe to a email version of Economic Reporting Review. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

"America and the World Trade Organization"
http://www.ustr.gov/new/wto_usa.html
.pdf Version
http://www.ustr.gov/new/wto_usa.pdf
Available from the United States Trade Representative, America and the World Trade Organization (WTO) is an eighteen-page article examining how the US benefits from the WTO. This article gives a brief history of the WTO and lists interesting facts and trivia about the promotion of US employment and exports by the WTO. Also included is a detailed explanation of the goals of the WTO, and the ways in which the WTO aims to promote better jobs, living standards, and economic opportunities for Americans. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

Performance 2000 -- Canadian Business
http://www.canbus.com/CB500/p500.htm
This feature from the magazine Canadian Business categorizes and lists the top 2,000 business in Canada. The list is searchable by business name. Users may also select categories including Rank in 1999, Assets, and Revenue from pull-down menus. A page showing the top 50 businesses includes the last two years's rankings and performance rank. Companies may also be viewed by Growth Leaders and Highest Return to Investors. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

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/).

Working Papers

Federal Reserve Board of Governors (FRB BOG) Finance and Economic Discussion Series
http://www.bog.frb.fed.us/pubs/feds/1999/index.html
Monitoring, Moral Hazard, and Market Power: A Model of Bank Lending
http://www.bog.frb.fed.us/pubs/feds/1999/199937/199937pap.pdf
Computers and Growth with Costs of Adjustment: Will the Future Look Like the Past?
http://www.bog.frb.fed.us/pubs/feds/1999/199936/199936pap.pdf
Finance and Growth: Theory and New Evidence
http://www.bog.frb.fed.us/pubs/feds/1999/199935/199935pap.pdf
The Banking Industry and the Safety Net Subsidy
http://www.bog.frb.fed.us/pubs/feds/1999/199934/199934pap.pdf
Pricing Systemic Crises: Monetary and Fiscal Policy When Savers are Uncertain
http://www.bog.frb.fed.us/pubs/feds/1999/199933/199933pap.pdf
Recent Trends in Compensation Practices
http://www.bog.frb.fed.us/pubs/feds/1999/199932/199932pap.pdf

Federal Reserve System:
FRB Atlanta Working Papers [.pdf]
http://www.frbatlanta.org/publica/work_papers/1999.htm
Financial Regulatory Structure and the Resolution of Conflicting Goals
http://www.frbatlanta.org/publica/work_papers/wp99/wp9912.pdf
Payment Intermediation and the Origins of Banking
http://www.frbatlanta.org/publica/work_papers/wp99/wp9911.pdf
Settlement Risk under Gross and Net Settlement
http://www.frbatlanta.org/publica/work_papers/wp99/wp9910.pdf
Does It Take Two? The Effect of Partners' Characteristics on Teenage Pregnancy
http://www.frbatlanta.org/publica/work_papers/wp99/wp9909.pdf
FRB Kansas City Research Working Papers [.pdf]
http://www.kc.frb.org/publicat/reswkpap/rwp99.htm
Industrial Specialization and the Asymmetry of Shocks Across Regions
http://www.kc.frb.org/publicat/reswkpap/PDF/rwp99-06.pdf
Output Fluctuations and Fiscal Policy: U.S. State and Local Governments 1978-1994
http://www.kc.frb.org/publicat/reswkpap/PDF/rwp99-05.pdf

FRB Minneapolis Working Papers [.pdf]
http://research.mpls.frb.fed.us/research/dp/
Calibration and Bayesian Learning
http://research.mpls.frb.fed.us/research/wp/wp596.pdf

FRB New York Staff Reports [.pdf]
http://www.ny.frb.org./rmaghome/staff_rp/1999.htm
Payment Intermediation and the Origins of Banking
http://www.ny.frb.org/rmaghome/staff_rp/sr85.pdf
A General Equilibrium Analysis of Check Float
http://www.ny.frb.org/rmaghome/staff_rp/sr84.pdf

FRB San Francisco Working Papers [.pdf]
http://www.frbsf.org/econrsrch/workingp/index.html
Housing Price Cycles and Prepayment Rates of U.S. Mortgage Pools
http://www.frbsf.org/econrsrch/workingp/wp99-12.pdf
Market Evidence on the Opaqueness of Banking Firms' Assets
http://www.frbsf.org/econrsrch/workingp/wp99-11.pdf

Other Institutions:
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Working Papers
http://www.oecd.org/eco/wp/onlinewp.htm
Tax reform in Switzerland
http://www.olis.oecd.org/olis/1999doc.nsf/5f293a526e52eb79c125675a00318d4c/0f716880a96df9fac12567cc00562a0b/$FILE/08E98054.ENG
Trends in market openness
http://www.olis.oecd.org/olis/1999doc.nsf/5f293a526e52eb79c125675a00318d4c/0e14e6547964efaac12567c3002da667/$FILE/08E97884.ENG
World Bank Policy Research Domestic Finance and Capital Markets Working Papers
http://www.worldbank.org/html/dec/Publications/Workpapers/domfincapmkts.html
Market Discipline and Financial Safety Net Design
http://www.worldbank.org/html/dec/Publications/Workpapers/wps2000series/wps2183/wps2183.pdf
Fiscal Adjustment and Contingent Government Liabilities: Case Studies of the Czech Republic and Macedonia
http://www.worldbank.org/html/dec/Publications/Workpapers/wps2000series/wps2177/wps2177.pdf
Fiscal Risks and the Quality of Fiscal Adjustment in Hungary
http://www.worldbank.org/html/dec/Publications/Workpapers/wps2000series/wps2176/wps2176.pdf
The Distributional Consequences of Monetary Policy: Evidence from Malaysia
http://www.worldbank.org/html/dec/Publications/Workpapers/wps2000series/wps2170/wps2170.pdf

Bank of International Settlements (BIS) Policy Papers
http://www.bis.org/publ/pub_list.htm#PO
Bank restructuring in practice
http://www.bis.org/publ/plcy06.pdf

Institute for International Economics Working Papers
http://www.iie.com/CATALOG/WP/1999/wp99.htm
Does Talk Matter After All? Inflation Targeting and Central Bank Behavior
http://www.iie.com/CATALOG/WP/1999/99-10.pdf
The Case for Joint Management of Exchange Rate Flexibility
http://www.iie.com/CATALOG/WP/1999/99-9.htm

Wharton Financial Institutions Center Working Papers
http://wrdsenet.wharton.upenn.edu/fic/wfic/papers/99.html
Marriages of Convenience and Other Trade-offs: Exploring the Ambivalent Nature of Organizational Relationships
http://wrdsenet.wharton.upenn.edu/fic/wfic/papers/99/9937.pdf
Is Share Price Related to Marketability? Evidence from Mutual Fund Share Splits
http://wrdsenet.wharton.upenn.edu/fic/wfic/papers/97/9706.pdf
Offer Price, Target Ownership Structure and IPO Performance
http://wrdsenet.wharton.upenn.edu/fic/wfic/papers/99/9936.pdf
Credit Enhancement through Financial Engineering: Freeport-McMoRan's Gold-Denominated Depository Shares
http://wrdsenet.wharton.upenn.edu/fic/wfic/papers/99/9935.pdf

Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM) Information Systems for Public Sector Management Working Papers
http://www.man.ac.uk/idpm/idpm_dp.htm#isps_wp
Why Health Care Information Systems Succeed or Fail
http://www.man.ac.uk/idpm/ispsm9.pdf
Information Management, IT and Government Transformation: Innovative
Approaches in the new South Africa
http://www.man.ac.uk/idpm/ispsm8.pdf
Centralised vs. Decentralised Management of Public Information Systems: A Core-Periphery Solution
http://www.man.ac.uk/idpm/ispsm7.pdf

Stockholm School of Economics Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance
http://swopec.hhs.se/hastef/
Is the short-run Phillips curve nonlinear? Empirical evidence for Australia, Sweden and the United States
http://swopec.hhs.se/hastef/papers/hastef0330.pdf
Detecting equilibrium correction with smoothly time-varying strength
http://swopec.hhs.se/hastef/papers/hastef0329.pdf
Smooth transitions in a UK consumption function
http://swopec.hhs.se/hastef/papers/hastef0328.pdf
[Back to Contents]

Periodicals

Federal Reserve System:
FRB Chicago Economic Perspectives
http://www.chicagofed.org/publications/economicperspectives/1999/ep3Q99_contnt.pdf
FRB Cleveland Economic Trends
http://www.clev.frb.org/research/Et99/0999/index.htm
FRB Richmond Equilibria
http://www.rich.frb.org/equilibria/issue6/index.html
FRB San Francisco Western Economic Developments
http://www.frbsf.org/econrsrch/wed/1999/wed9908.pdf
Recently released articles from the FRB Chicago's Economic Perspectives include "State budgets and the business cycle: Implications for the federal balanced budget amendment debate," "Birth, growth, and life or death of newly chartered banks," and "New facts in finance." The September 1999 issue of Economic Trends from FRB Cleveland looks at monetary policy, interest rates, and labor markets. Issue 6 of Equilibria from the FRB Richmond announces national teaching awards and examines airline ticket pricing and the economic lessons found in the short story "Cattle Drive," by B. Traven. The August edition of FRB San Francisco's bimonthly publication Western Economic Developments reports that employment and economic growth are still on the rise in the Twelfth District. [EM]

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Staff Papers [.pdf]
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/staffp/1999/06-99/index.htm
Number 2, Volume 46 of IMF Staff Reports includes seven staff reports ranging in topics from East Asian Growth to Colombian Banking. Each report is abstracted and may be downloaded in .pdf format. [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 Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King's September 9, 1999 speech to the Money Marketeers of FRB New York, Alan Greenspan's lecture on the economic record of the United States, which was delivered at Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, MI, on September 8, 1999, and FRB BOG member Laurence Meyer's September 8, 1999 talk on the "implications for the conduct of current monetary policy in the US." [EM]

American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI) Economic Outlook
http://www.aei.org/eo/eo10858.htm
The September 1999 issue of Economic Outlook, from the AEI, consists of an article by John H. Makin explaining interest rate behaviors, including the role of government financial activity, a definition of the Fisher Equation, and the effects of cost-push inflation. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

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 fifteenth 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 and tables of contents for the following journals are now available online: Labor Economics (Vol 6 No 2), Pacific-Basin Finance Journal (Vol 7 No 3-4), Research Policy (Vol 28 No 6), Resources Policy (Vol 25 No 2), Structural Change and Economic Dynamics (Vol 10 No 2), Agricultural Economics (Vol 21 No 1), and Ecological Economics (Vol 30 No 1). [EM]
[Back to Contents]

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]
[Back to Contents]

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
[Back to Contents]

New Data

Census Bureau
Disability Employment Awareness Month
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/1999/cb99-fff13.html
The Census Bureau observes October as Disability Employment Awareness Month with statistics pertaining to disabled employees in the United States workforce. Almost one in five Americans, or 54 million, report that they have some kind of disability; 26 million say their disability is severe. During the employable years, between the ages of 21 and 64, 82 percent of non-disabled Americans held jobs or businesses, as compared with 77 percent of those with nonsevere disabilities, and 26 percent of Americans with severe disabilities. In 1991, only 23 percent of Americans with severe disabilities had jobs, representing a three percent rise. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)
US International Trade in Goods and Services
http://www.bea.doc.gov/bea/newsrel/trad0799.htm
The July 1999 issue of US International Trade in Goods and Services reports that "total July exports of $79.0 billion and imports of $104.2 billion resulted in a goods and services deficit of $25.2 billion, $0.6 billion more than the deficit of $24.6 billion in June, revised." [EM]
[Back to Contents]

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
"What the Nation Spends on Health Care: A Regional Comparison" [.pdf, 20K]
http://stats.bls.gov/opub/ils/pdf/opbils32.pdf
Recently released, the July 1999 issue of Issues in Labor Statistics looks at the amount of money the average American household spent on health care in 1997, as compared to 1987. On average, Americans spent $1841 in 1997, close to $700 more than in 1987. The highest rise in expenditures were in the Midwest, where consumer units spent 73 percent more on health care. Respectively, the Northeast, South, and West spent 64, 58, and 58 percent. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

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 September 1999 include Agricultural Outlook which contains articles examining US corn prices, the drop in US beef production, and the EU's Agenda 2000. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

Energy Information Administration (EIA)
Electric Power Monthly
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/epm.pdf
The September 1999 issue of Electric Power Monthly reports that US generation of electricity in July 1999 was, at 282 billion kilowatthours, down three percent from the previous month. Sales of electricity remained the same in July 1999 as they did a year ago in July 1998, at 281 billion kilowatthours. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

In The News

Gap in US Trade Deficit Grows
1) "US trade gap hits record" -- CNNfn
http://www.cnnfn.com/1999/09/21/economy/trade/
2) "July Trade Gap Grew To Record Level As Imports Again Surged" -- DowJones.com
http://dowjones.wsj.com/n/SB937925435252681074-d-main-c1.html
3) "US Trade Deficit Hits New Record" -- Policy.com
http://www.policy.com/news/dbrief/dbriefarc310.asp
4) "US Stocks" -- All Things Considered [RealAudio]
http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/atc/19990921.atc.20.ram
5) Goods and Services Deficit Increases in July 1999 -- Census Bureau
http://www.census.gov/indicator/www/ustrade.html
6) "Trade Dynamics 101" -- Dismal Scientist
http://www.dismal.com/todays_econ/te_092199.stm
7) "The US Trade Deficit: A Sign of Good Times" -- Center for Trade Policy Studies
http://www.freetrade.org/pubs/speeches/ct-dg081999.html
American's love of imported goods, such as cars and computers, and the strong US economy have added to the US trade deficit at a rate that has surprised the Feds. Rising to a record $25.18 billion, the deficit has softened the dollar against foreign currencies and driven down the Dow Jones industrial average by 2.08 percent (or 225.43 points). In July, 1999, the trade deficit with Canada rose by 28 percent and the trade deficit with Western Europe rocketed an astounding 38 percent. William Daley, the US Commerce Secretary, reports that the trade deficit may continue to grow in the coming months. In order to secure US jobs, Congress is anxious to slow the shipment on foreign goods, ranging "from Japanese steel to Canadian wheat." The following seven resources provide news, background information, and commentary on this issue.

CNNfn gives an excellent brief on rising US imports and the fall of US exports in its article "US trade gap hits record" (1); it reports that several economists predict that the Fed will raise interest rates in November. "July Trade Gap Grew to Record Level as Imports Again Surged," from DowJones.com (2) insists that the deficit has grown because the American economy is "healthy and residents are consuming imported goods at a high rate." Policy.com's news brief, "US Trade Deficit Hits New Record," (3) gives an overview of causes and effects of the trade deficit and links to several government agencies including the US Census Bureau and the Department of Commerce. Policy.com also polls readers on the question, "Does the trade deficit harm the U.S.?" National Public Radio's Jim Zarroli reports that the dollar is falling against the yen in "US Stocks," (4) available on RealAudio. The US Census Bureau's "Goods and Services Deficit Increases in July 1999" (5) contains an easy-to-read chart that maps the steady increase in imports and is supplemented by statistics. "Trade Dynamics 101" (6) offers the Dismal Scientist's clear, concise explanation of the US deficit, its causes, and effects. The Center for Trade Policy Studies has posted the August 19, 1999 testimony of Daniel T. Griswold, Associate Director, Center for Trade Policy Studies, before the Trade Deficit Review Commission (7); Griswold believes that the trade deficit is a symptom of a healthy economy. [EM]
[Back to Contents]


Scout Report for Business & Economics Subscription Instructions

To receive the electronic mail version of the Scout Report for Business & Economics every other Thursday, join the SRBUSECON mailing list. This is the only mail you will receive from this list.

Internet Scout team member information

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
--
--
--
--
--
Director
Managing Editor
Editor
Production Editor
Webmaster

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.


Internet Scout
A Publication of the Internet Scout Project

Comments, Suggestions, Feedback
Use our feedback form or send email to scout@cs.wisc.edu.

© 1999 Internet Scout Project
Information on reproducing any publication is available on our copyright page.