Rescue, recovery, reform

The current financial crisis has been the most challenging for policymakers around the world. This column introduces the 79th Annual Report of the Bank for International Settlements, discusses the risks posed by the massive policy initiatives undertaken in response to the crisis, and offers suggestions for systemic reforms.

Read the column here.

Absent an International Agreement, World Greenhouse Gas Emissions Likely to Grow 30 Percent by 2030

The U.S. Department of Energy's International Energy Outlook (which counts only carbon dioxide) finds low- and middle-income countries accounting for 9 billion of a likely 11 billion tons in annual CO2 emissions growth by 2030.

Read the article from the DLC here.

Why Toxic Assets Are So Hard to Clean Up

Securitization was maddeningly complex. Mandated transparency is the only solution.

Read this WSJ article here.

Productive Parents

Reform (think-tank, UK) proposes necessary changes to the current parental leave provision to make it flatter, fairer and more flexible.

Reform recommends a new approach that rebalances maternity pay towards low income families, makes it available to fathers and gives freedom over parental leave. It advocates a much more flexible approach to the workplace by taking employers out of the various state payment schemes and instead allowing employees to work flexibly during the first year – keeping in touch with the workplace as much as they like. And in a time when public finances are tight, these changes could be undertaken within current levels of expenditure, or even with reduced expenditure, and unnecessary bureaucracy abandoned.

Read the complete Reform Bulletin here.

Read the report "Productive Parents" here.

Largest poll of unemployed Muslim women reveals they want to work

A new Quilliam report contains the largest poll to date of unemployed South Asian Muslim women. The report, Immigrant, Muslim, Female: Triple Paralysis?, shows that contrary to popular stereotypes, most (57%) of the UK’s unemployed Muslim female immigrants want to work but are held back by a lack of support from their families and insufficient practical support from the Government. In so doing, given the high rates of migration through marriage, Britain is under-utilizing a vast resource for boosting integration and national cohesion, and preventing extremism in the next generation.

Read the complete Quilliam's press release here.

Hyperion Power Generation

Hyperion Power Generation, een bedrijf uit de VS heeft de oplossing voor uw energieprobleem: een kerncentrale op dorpsniveau. Naar eigen zeggen kan het ding 25000 gezinnen van stroom voorzien voor een periode van minstens 5 jaar. Het ding is maar even groot als uw tuinhuis, hoeft geen menselijke operator, heeft geen beweeglijke delen en wordt beschouwd als zeer veilig. De module wordt verzegeld in de fabriek en zo afgeleverd in uw achterbuurt. Ze moet pas worden geopend na 5-7 jaar om opnieuw te “vullen” met een “uranium kern” omgeven met waterstof. De module wordt in uw tuin begraven in een laag beton zodat dieven, terroristen of uw buurman ze niet kan “stelen”. De module genereert ongeveer 27 MW aan energie. Kandidaten?
(Econoshock.be, 19/07/09)

Financement des pensions : un choix politique !

Retrouvez ici la Carte Blanche (Le Soir, 20/07/09) de Bertrand Montulet Docteur en sociologie, chercheur qualifié aux Facultés Saint-Louis, chargé de cours invité à l’ULB.

La pollution réduit le QI des enfants

Cette étude suggère que la pollution ne concerne pas que les voisins des usines crachant des fumées. L'atmosphère urbaine recèle donc des dangers qu'on ignore.

Pour lire l'article complet, cliquez ici.