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Careful Connections: Keeping the Internet of Things Secure
From the Document: "Market analysts estimate that consumers and businesses around the world will use more than 20 billion Internet-connected devices by 2025. Internet of Things (IoT) companies design, manufacture, market, or support these connected devices - everything from light bulbs to smart TVs to wearable fitness trackers. As the industry has grown, so have the security risks. If a connected device is unsecure, it could give a hacker access not just to the confidential information transmitted by the device, but to everything else the device is connected to. So, how should IoT companies think about security to protect people against these risks? There is no 'one size fits all' approach to securing IoT devices, and what constitutes reasonable security will depend on a number of factors, including: [1] the device functionality and purpose, [2] the type and amount of information collected, [3] the entities with whom the data is shared, and [4] the level and likelihood of potential security risks involved. To make sure your IoT company is taking reasonable steps to protect your customers' devices from hackers, thieves, and other bad actors, consider these recommendations from the FTC [Federal Trade Commission]."
United States. Federal Trade Commission
2020-09
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Memorandum from Majority Staff to Members of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis Regarding Preliminary Analysis of Paycheck Protection Program Data, September 1, 2020
From the Document: "This memorandum provides a preliminary analysis of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan-level data by Select Subcommittee staff as part of the Subcommittee's ongoing investigation of the program. The analysis shows PPP helped millions of small businesses and non-profit organizations stay afloat during the coronavirus crisis, but a lack of oversight and accountability from the Treasury Department and Small Business Administration (SBA) may have led to billions of dollars being diverted to fraud, waste, and abuse, rather than reaching small businesses truly in need. Congress established PPP in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in March 2020 to provide $349 billion in forgivable loans to eligible small businesses and non-profit organizations to cover payroll, rent, and utility payments to help them survive the coronavirus crisis. In April 2020, Congress expanded the program by an additional $321 billion. On June 15, 2020, the Select Subcommittee launched an investigation into the Trump Administration's implementation of the PPP, following reports that the program has favored large, well-funded companies over struggling small businesses in underserved communities. In response, Treasury and SBA have produced to the Subcommittee detailed data on all 5.2 million loans approved by SBA as of August 8, 2020, the last day of the program. Preliminary analysis of this data by Select Subcommittee staff reveals that tens of thousands of loans issued by the Administration could be subject to fraud, waste, or abuse."
United States. Congress. House. Committee on Oversight and Reform. Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis
2020-09-01
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Resilient Energy Systems and Cyber Deterrence and Resilience Strategic Initiatives: Cyber Resilience as a Deterrence Strategy
From the Abstract: "This paper explores how building resiliency in cyberspace can not only serve to strengthen the defender's posture and capabilities in a general sense but also deter adversaries from attacking."
Sandia National Laboratories
Hammer, Ann E.; Miller, Trisha; Uribe, Eva C.
2020-09
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Statistics in the Time of Coronavirus: COVID-19-Related Nonresponse in the CPS Household Survey
From the Abstract: "The COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic has significantly affected data collection for the nation's primary source of household-level labor force data, the Current Population Survey (CPS). In the first four months of the pandemic (March-June 2020) the average month-over-month nonresponse rate increased by 62 percent, while the size of newly entering cohorts declined by 37 percent relative to the prior 18 months. Together, these factors reduced the overall sample size of the CPS by around 17 percent. Both of these changes appear related to the cessation of in-person interviewing, a change which appears to be associated with significant shifts in the demographic composition of the sample. We find some evidence that these changes may affect the accuracy of subgroup unemployment estimates. Our primary aim is to advise researchers that the representativeness of the workhorse survey of labor economics, which has been and will be instrumental in identifying the labor market effects of COVID-19, was itself affected by the pandemic."
RAND Corporation
Ward, Jason (Jason M.); Edwards, Kathryn Anne
2020-09
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Securing U.S. Elections Against Cyber Threats: Considerations for Supply Chain Risk Management
From the Webpage Description: "Federal partners in the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology are supporting the election community, including election officials and vendors, to improve cybersecurity. More recently, this focus has expanded to concerns about the supply chain of components that are integral to election system equipment. This concern for the cybersecurity of supply chains is found throughout industry as organizations strive to protect their equipment and customers from cyber threats. In this Perspective, RAND Corporation researchers lay out the considerations for securing election system supply chains against cyber threats and how the federal government can partner with state and local officials and the vendor community to understand where risk lies in the supply chain. The Perspective discusses how existing tools and approaches can be adapted and used to facilitate cyber supply chain risk management."
RAND Corporation
Hodgson, Quentin E.; Brauner, Marygail K., 1947-; Chan, Edward Wei-Min, 1970-
2020-09
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How to Engage the Enemy: The Case for National Security Diplomacy with North Korea
From About the Report: "This report examines the benefits and risks to the United States of establishing regular diplomatic engagements with North Korea's national security elites in an effort to improve the prospects of peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. The report was commissioned by the North Korea program at the United States Institute of Peace."
United States Institute of Peace
Jackson, Van
2020-09
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Fentanyl Used in Vape Pens
From the Document: "In September 2019, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) San Diego Division was contacted by local authorities in regards to a suspected fentanyl overdose death. The roommate of the deceased, who admitted to vaping fentanyl on a regular basis, told agents there was fentanyl and possibly carfentanil located in their shared residence, as well as fentanyl-laced 'vape' tanks. While the presence of fentanyl powder (lethal in doses as small as two milligrams) poses a public safety threat, the ingestion of fentanyl via vaping poses a threat of unknown consequences to the user and those nearby."
United States. Drug Enforcement Administration
2020-09
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Rapidly Increasing Postal Service Delivery Delays for Mail-Order Prescription Drugs Pose Health Risks for Millions of Americans
From the Executive Summary: "Louis DeJoy was selected to serve as Postmaster General in May 2020. Almost immediately after being named to the position, Postmaster General DeJoy - with the support of President Donald Trump - began implementing changes that threaten the service and integrity of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). Members of Congress and outside experts have raised concerns that these changes may be causing significant delivery delays for mail-order prescription drugs, putting the health of Americans in danger. To determine the extent of these delays, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren and U.S. Senator Bob Casey opened an investigation, writing to five of the largest pharmacies and pharmacy benefit managers and asking them a series of questions about mail-order prescription deliveries. This report contains the results of that investigation. The findings are new and previously unreleased, and show that, although Postmaster General DeJoy testified that his changes to mail service 'should not have impacted anybody,' there have been significant delays in USPS deliveries of mail-order prescription drugs in recent months, potentially posing serious health risks to millions of Americans and increasing costs for consumers and taxpayers."
United States. Congress. Senate
Warren, Elizabeth; Casey, Bob
2020-09
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Exploring the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Global Emission Projections: Assessment of Green Versus Non-Green Recovery
From the Main Findings: "This report assesses the implications of the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic and associated recovery measures on emissions out to 2030 and global emission pathways towards meeting the Paris climate goals. Due to the high uncertainty surrounding the course of the pandemic and its impact on CO2 [carbon dioxide] emissions, we only present 'what-if' scenarios, based on explorative 'ex-post' calculations (using sources available before June 2020) for several potential emission pathways and factors that could affect their course, including rebound effects. Furthermore, we review and summarise the most recent insights (up to June 2020) published in the literature on post-COVID emissions projections and green recovery trajectories, and provide a framework for analysing the 'greenness' of recovery packages, using Germany as a case study. Finally, we explore how integrated assessment models can be used to explore both the shortterm and long-term effects of the pandemic and associated recovery measures."
NewClimate Institute; PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency
Hans, Frederic; Dafnomilis, Ioannis, 1984-; Elzen, Michel den . . .
2020-09
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COVID-19 & Achieving Health Equity: 'Congressional Action is Necessary to Address Racism and Inequality in the U.S. Health Care System'
From the Introduction: "This Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee Democratic staff report examines the intersection of the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic, inequality in infection rates and health outcomes, and structural racism within the health care system. It describes the impact of COVID-19 on the health of communities of color and discusses a few of the factors that have contributed to inequality in health outcomes, including exploitation of communities of color, segregation, discrimination, and bias within the health care system, lack of access to high-quality care, and social determinants of health. Throughout, the report conveys the impact COVID-19 has had on communities of color using data and individual storytelling. This review is meant to be illustrative rather than complete; the factors that contribute to systemic racism and inequality in health outcomes are complex and are not all included in this document. The report concludes with initial steps Congress can take to begin to address inequality and systemic racism within the health care system."
United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
2020-09
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Is the Cure Worse Than the Disease? County-Level Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States
From the Abstract: "Using county-level data on COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] mortality and infections, along with county-level information on the adoption of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) in the United States, we examine how the speed of NPI adoption affected COVID-19 mortality. Our estimates suggest that advancing the date of NPI adoption by one day lowers the COVID-19 death rate by 2.4 percent. This finding proves robust to alternative measures of NPI adoption speed, model specifications that control for testing and mobility, and across various samples: national, restricted to the Northeast region, excluding New York, and excluding the Northeast region. We also find that the adoption speed of NPIs is associated with lower infections, as well as lower non-COVID mortality, suggesting that these measures slowed contagion and the pace at which the healthcare system might have been overburdened by the pandemic. Finally, NPI adoption speed appears to have been less relevant in Republican counties, suggesting that political ideology might have compromised their efficiency."
IZA Institute of Labor Economics
Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina; Kaushal, Neeraj; Muchow. Ashley N.
2020-09
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Impact of COVID-19 on Small Business Owners: The First Three Months After Social-Distancing Restrictions
From the Abstract: "This paper provides the first analysis of impacts of the pandemic on the number of active small businesses in the United States using nationally representative data from the April 2020 CPS [Current Population Survey] - the first month fully capturing early effects. The number of active business owners in the United States plummeted by 3.3 million or 22 percent over the crucial two-month window from February to April 2020. The drop in active business owners was the largest on record, and losses to business activity were felt across nearly all industries. African-American businesses were hit especially hard experiencing a 41 percent drop in business activity. Latinx business owner activity fell by 32 percent, and Asian business owner activity dropped by 26 percent. Simulations indicate that industry compositions partly placed these groups at a higher risk of business activity losses. Immigrant business owners experienced substantial losses in business activity of 36 percent. Female business owners were also disproportionately affected (25 percent drop in business activity). Continuing the analysis in May and June, the number of active business owners remained low - down by 15 percent and 8 percent, respectively. The continued losses in May and June, and partial rebounds from April were felt across all demographic groups and most industries. These findings of early-stage losses to small business activity have important implications for policy, income losses, and future economic inequality."
IZA Institute of Labor Economics
Fairlie, Robert W.
2020-09
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Impact of COVID-19 on Subjective Well-Being: Evidence from Singapore
From the Abstract: "We provide novel evidence on how the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] global health and economic crisis is affecting overall life satisfaction and domain-specific satisfaction using data from a monthly longitudinal survey of middle-aged and older Singaporeans. Using a difference-indifferences framework, we document large declines in overall life satisfaction and domain-specific satisfaction during the COVID-19 outbreak, except satisfaction with health. These declines coincide with the introduction of a nationwide lockdown, with life satisfaction remaining below its pre-pandemic levels even after the lockdown is lifted. We also find that individuals who report a drop in household income during the COVID-19 outbreak experience a decline in overall life satisfaction almost twice as large as those who do not report any income loss."
IZA Institute of Labor Economics
Cheng, Terence C.; Kim, Seonghoon; Koh, Kanghyock
2020-09
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Dutch Labour Market Early on in the COVID-19 Outbreak: Regional Coronavirus Hotspots and the National Lockdown
From the Abstract: "We explore the impact of COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] hotspots and regional lockdowns on the Dutch labour market. Using weekly administrative panel microdata for 50 per cent of Dutch employees until the end of March 2020, we study whether individual labour market outcomes, as measured by employment, working hours and hourly wages, were more strongly affected in provinces where COVID-19 confirmed cases, hospitalizations and mortality were relatively high. We do not observe a region-specific impact of COVID-19 on labour market outcomes. The results suggest individual characteristics are more important, including the employee's age, type of contract and type of job. The evidence suggests that the decline of the labour market was all due to the impacts from the government-enforced lockdown and higher virus case numbers did not reinforce this decline. This suggests that preventive health measures should be at the regional level, isolating hotspots from low-risk areas."
IZA Institute of Labor Economics
Hassink, Wolter H. J.; Kalb, Guyonne; Meekes, Jordy
2020-09
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COVID-19 Action Agenda: Leaders on the Front Line: Why Social Entrepreneurs Are Needed Now More Than Ever
From the Executive Summary: "While some countries are already addressing the aftermath of their COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] outbreak, the World Health Organization projects that the worst is yet to come in many developing and emerging countries, with the global pandemic expected to last at least another year. As of August 2020, over 20 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported, of which one-third are in Africa, Brazil and India. Marginalized communities worldwide are being hit the hardest by the health and economic effects of this crisis and will thus continue to struggle. The pandemic has a much greater impact on these communities: an additional 100 million people could slip into extreme poverty - a number that could easily climb higher. Decades of work to tackle impoverishment are being erased as the world witnesses a rise in global poverty for the first time since 1998."
World Economic Forum
2020-09
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Defense Real Property: DOD-Wide Strategy Needed to Address Control Issues and Improve Reliability of Records, Report to Congressional Committees
From the Highlights: "DOD manages one of the federal government's largest portfolios of real property. This engagement was initiated in connection with the statutory requirement for GAO [Government Accountability Office] to audit the U.S. government's consolidated financial statements. DOD's uncorrected deficiencies, including those affecting real property, prevent DOD from having auditable financial statements, one of the three major impediments preventing GAO from expressing an opinion on the accrual-based consolidated financial statements of the U.S. government. This report (1) identifies the real property control issues that independent public accountants reported that may affect the ability of the military services to establish and maintain accurate and complete real property records, (2) examines the extent to which DOD had a strategy to address the control issues, and (3) assesses the extent to which DOD provided guidance for the required E&C [existence and completeness] verifications during fiscal year 2019 and how each military service implemented the directive."
United States. Government Accountability Office
2020-09
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Conflict Minerals: Actions Needed to Assess Progress Addressing Armed Groups' Exploitation of Minerals, Report to Congressional Committees
From the Document: "Armed groups in eastern DRC [Democratic Republic of the Congo] continue to commit severe human rights abuses and to profit from the exploitation of 'conflict minerals,' according to State. Provisions in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act required, among other things, that State, USAID [U.S. Agency for International Development] , and the SEC [Securities and Exchange Commission] take certain actions to promote peace and security. In 2011, State created the U.S. conflict minerals strategy in consultation with USAID to address armed groups' exploitation of conflict minerals. In 2012, the SEC also promulgated regulations containing disclosure and reporting requirements for companies that use conflict minerals from covered countries. The act also included a provision for GAO [Government Accountability Office] to annually assess, among other things, the SEC regulations' effectiveness in promoting peace and security. In this report, GAO examines, among other things, how companies responded to the SEC conflict minerals disclosure rule when filing in 2019 and the extent to which State and USAID assessed progress toward the U.S. conflict minerals strategy's objectives and goal. GAO analyzed a generalizable sample of SEC filings, reviewed documents, and interviewed U.S. officials."
United States. Government Accountability Office
2020-09
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After COVID-19: Australia, the Region and Multilateralism (Volume 2)
From the Introduction: "The global Covid-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] crisis continues to dominate the international strategic environment, fuelling uncertainty about the future. The only thing that's certain is that this pandemic will be with us for some time yet, meaning that Australia, like other nations, needs to be prepared to manage its response to the pandemic while simultaneously focusing on the future. Since we approached the contributing authors to write for this second volume in May, there's been a second wave in Victoria, New Zealand has gone back into a temporary lockdown in parts of the country, and the US has experienced a resurgence in different states and a death toll now over 191,000 as it approaches a presidential election. Those developments remind us that the pandemic will continue to be with us for months, if not years, until a vaccine is discovered and globally administered. Covid-19 and the responses to it will also continue to have a disproportionate impact on different segments of the population--such as women, youth, and racial and ethnic minorities--well beyond the crisis phase. This volume of 'After Covid-19' has built on volume 1 and continued to take a longer term view by looking at some policy settings and identifying likely challenges and opportunities, particularly as they relate to Australia's role in the region and the multilateral system."
Australian Strategic Policy Institute
Shoebridge, Michael; Sharland, Lisa
2020-09
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Nuclear Weapons: NNSA Should Further Develop Cost, Schedule, and Risk Information for the W87-1 Warhead Program, Report to Congressional Requesters
From the Highlights: "The Department of Defense (DOD) and NNSA [National Nuclear Security Administration] restarted a program in fiscal year 2019 to replace the capabilities of the aging W78 nuclear warhead with the W87-1. NNSA made key design decisions for this weapon from 2010 until the program was paused in 2014. NNSA estimated in December 2018 that the W87-1 would cost $8.6 billion to $14.8 billion, which could make it the most expensive warhead modernization program to date. NNSA plans to newly manufacture the entire warhead, including the two major nuclear components, called the primary and secondary, using facilities it is modernizing or repurposing. You asked us to examine plans for the W87-1 warhead. This report examines, among other things, the extent to which NNSA (1) considered cost estimates in prior design decisions for the W87-1 and the potential effects of remaining design decisions on program cost, and (2) will be able to produce sufficient numbers of key nuclear components to meet W87-1 production needs."
United States. Government Accountability Office
2020-09
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Federal Property: Formal Policies Could Enhance FDA's Property Management Efforts, Report to Congressional Committees
From the Highlights: "Three FDA [Food and Drug Administration] regulatory centers have primary responsibility for ensuring human medical products' safety, security, and effectiveness. FDA uses personal property and real property (e.g., buildings) to help achieve this oversight mission. Congress included a provision in statute for GAO [Government Accountability Office] to examine FDA's expenses related to property at the three centers and evaluate FDA's ability to further its mission through management of those assets. Among other things, this report: (1) identifies the funds FDA obligated for these centers, and (2) assesses FDA's use of quality information to manage the centers' personal property."
United States. Government Accountability Office
2020-09
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Gas Transmission Pipelines: Interstate Transportation of Natural Gas is Generally Reliable, but FERC Should Better Identify and Assess Emerging Risks, Report to Congressional Requesters
From the Highlights: "The interstate transmission pipeline system transports natural gas from production areas to large-volume customers, such as gas distribution companies, which provide natural gas to millions of residential and commercial consumers. Interruptions in the service provided by transmission pipelines can have serious effects, such as when about 7,000 homes and businesses in Rhode Island went without heat for a week in January 2019. GAO [Government Accountability Office] was asked to review federal oversight of service interruptions involving interstate natural gas transmission pipelines. This report examines: (1) service interruptions on these pipelines and (2) emerging risks and the extent to which FERC [Federal Energy Regulatory Commission] identifies and assesses these risks."
United States. Government Accountability Office
2020-09
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Information Security and Privacy: HUD Needs a Major Effort to Protect Data Shared with External Entities, Report to Congressional Committees
From the Highlights: "To administer housing, community investment, and mortgage loan programs, HUD [Department of Housing and Urban Development] collects a vast amount of sensitive personal information and shares it with external entities, including federal agencies, contractors, and state, local, and tribal organizations. In 2016, HUD reported two incidents that compromised sensitive information. House Report 115-237, referenced by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, included a provision for GAO [Government Accountability Office] to evaluate HUD's information security framework for protecting information within these programs. The objectives were to (1) assess the effectiveness of HUD's policies and procedures for overseeing the security and privacy of sensitive information exchanged with external entities; and (2) determine the extent to which HUD was able to identify external entities that process, store, and share sensitive information with applicable systems."
United States. Government Accountability Office
2020-09
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U.S. Department of Homeland Security Strategic Framework for Countering Terrorism and Targeted Violence: Public Action Plan
From the Introduction: "The United States faces increasingly complex threats from terrorism and targeted violence. Both continue to pose a grave threat in ways that have evolved dramatically in the nearly two decades since the 9/11 attacks. Although foreign terrorist organizations remain intent on striking our Homeland, we also face a growing threat from domestic actors. Our enemies seek to spur violence in our communities and divide our society. Combating terrorism and targeted violence requires the combined efforts of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS or Department), our Federal and state, local, tribal and territorial (SLTT) government partners and civil society. To address these threats, in September 2019, the Department adopted the 'Strategic Framework for Countering Terrorism and Targeted Violence' (CTTV Framework) and has now finalized this corresponding Public Action Plan and an extensive internal Implementation Plan. Collectively, these three documents describe specific actions and milestones to achieve the CTTV Framework's goals. These documents will help guide our activities as we adapt to and confront the complex and ever-evolving challenges our Nation faces."
United States. Department of Homeland Security
2020-09
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Cybersecurity: Clarity of Leadership Urgently Needed to Fully Implement the National Strategy, Report to Congressional Requesters
From the Highlights: "Increasingly sophisticated cyber threats have underscored the need to manage and bolster the cybersecurity of key government systems and the nation's cybersecurity. The risks to these systems are increasing as security threats evolve and become more sophisticated. GAO [Government Accountability Office] first designated information security as a government-wide high-risk area in 1997. This was expanded to include protecting cyber critical infrastructure in 2003 and protecting the privacy of personally identifiable information in 2015. In 2018, GAO noted that the need to establish a national cybersecurity strategy with effective oversight was a major challenge facing the federal government. GAO was requested to review efforts to protect the nation's cyber critical infrastructure. The objectives of this report were to (1) describe roles and responsibilities of federal entities tasked with supporting national cybersecurity, and (2) determine the extent to which the executive branch has developed a national strategy and a plan to manage its implementation."
United States. Government Accountability Office
2020-09
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Nation's Fiscal Health: Effective Use of Fiscal Rules and Targets, Report to Congressional Requesters
From the GAO (Government Accountability Office) Highlights: "Our nation faces serious challenges at a time when the federal government is highly leveraged in debt by historical norms. The imbalance between revenue and spending built into current law and policy have placed the nation on an unsustainable long-term fiscal path. Fiscal rules and targets can be used to help frame and control the overall results of spending and revenue decisions that affect the debt. GAO was asked to review fiscal rules and targets. This report (1) assesses the extent to which the federal government has taken action to contribute to long-term fiscal sustainability through fiscal rules and targets, and (2) identifies key considerations for designing, implementing, and enforcing fiscal rules and targets in the U.S. GAO compared current and former U.S. fiscal rules to literature on the effective use of rules and targets; reviewed CBO [Congressional Budget Office] reports and relevant laws; and interviewed experts. GAO conducted case studies of national fiscal rules in Australia, Germany, and the Netherlands."
United States. Government Accountability Office
2020-09
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Exponential Growth Bias in the Prediction of COVID-19 Spread and Economic Expectation
From the Abstract: "Exponential growth bias (EGB) is the pervasive tendency of people to perceive a growth process as linear when, in fact, it is exponential. In this paper, we document that people exhibit EGB when asked to predict the number of COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] positive cases in the future. The bias is positively correlated with optimistic expectations about the future macroeconomic conditions and personal economic circumstances, and investment in a risky asset. We design four interventions to correct EGB and evaluate them through a randomized experiment. In the first treatment ('Step'), participants make predictions in several short steps; in the second and third treatments ('Feedback-N' and 'Feedback-G') participants are given feedback about their prediction errors either in the form of numbers or graphs; and in the fourth treatment ('Forecast'), participants are offered a forecast range of the future number of cases, based on a statistical model. Our results show that a) Step helps mitigate EGB relative to 'Baseline', b) 'Feedback-N', 'Feedback-G', and 'Forecast' significantly reduce bias relative to both 'Baseline' and 'Step', c) the interventions decrease risky investment and help moderate future economic expectations through the reduction in EGB. The results suggest that nudges, such as behaviorally informed communication strategies, which correct EGB can also help rationalize economic expectations."
IZA Institute of Labor Economics
Banerjee, Ritwik; Majumdar, Priyama
2020-09
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Are COVID Fatalities in the US Higher Than in the EU, and If So, Why?
From the Abstract: "The COVID [coronavirus disease 2019] crisis has severely hit both the United States and the European Union. Even though they are the wealthiest regions in the world, they differ substantially in economic performance, demographic characteristics, type of government, health systems, and measures undertaken to counteract COVID. We construct comparable measures of the incidence of the COVID crisis and find that US states had more COVID-related deaths than EU countries. When taking account of demographic, economic, and political factors (but not health-policy related factors) we find that fatalities at 100 days since onset are 1.3 % higher in a US state than in an EU country. The US/EU gap disappears when we take account of health-policy related factors. Differences in number of beds per capita, number of tests, and early lockdown measures help explain the higher impact of COVID on US fatalities measured either 50 or 100 days after the epidemic started in a nation/state."
IZA Institute of Labor Economics
Aparicio, Ainoa; Grossbard, Shoshana
2020-09
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National Decision Point: Effective Testing and Screening for Covid-19
From the Executive Summary: "The best tools for shifting back to some form of normalcy are effective masking and distancing measures to mitigate spread, coupled with sufficient Covid-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] tests paired with sophisticated strategies for their effective use. This report describes how to offer the latter in ways that can be tailored to local circumstances and risk tolerances. The goal is to give schools, businesses, and other critical institutions a pathway toward operating safely even for higher-risk populations and with continuing community spread. There are four basic elements to a testing strategy that can contain outbreaks, inform public health decision-making, and respond to local Covid-19 prevalence rates: [1] Assessments of the risks of infection and death depending on local spread and population characteristics. [2] Meaningful and measurable goals for acceptable infection reduction through screening and surveillance. [3] Calculation of budgetary and administrative constraints. [4] Adequate supplies of sufficiently reliable tests."
Rockefeller Foundation; Duke University
Silcox, Christina; Anderson, David; Zavodszky, Anna . . .
2020-09?
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'One World, Two Systems' Takes Shape During the Pandemic
From the Document: "The COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic has caused calamitous public health and economic crises that will leave deep marks on social and economic behavior and activity in the years to come. It has also exacerbated preexisting conditions, both domestic (social and economic inequality) and international (fragmentation of the postwar world order). The latter has been manifested in an intensifying competition between the United States and China for political and strategic influence. So far, this competition has unfolded mainly through the Sino-US trade war, which has undermined the multilateral rules-based trading system built around the World Trade Organization (WTO). It has, however, also spread to geopolitical and strategic arenas, quickly escalating during the pandemic."
Atlantic Council of the United States
Tran, Hung
2020-09
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Critical Infrastructure Protection: Treasury Needs to Improve Tracking of Financial Sector Cybersecurity Risk Mitigation Efforts, Report to Congressional Addressees
From the Highlights: "For decades, the federal government has taken steps to protect the nation's critical infrastructures. The financial services sector's reliance on information technology makes it a leading target for cyber-based attacks. Recent high-profile breaches at commercial entities have heightened concerns that data are not being adequately protected. Under the Comptroller General's authority, GAO [Government Accountability Office] initiated this review to (1) describe the key cyber-related risks facing the financial sector; (2) describe steps the financial services industry is taking to share information on and address risks to its sector; and (3) assess steps federal agencies are taking to enhance the security and resilience of the sector. GAO analyzed relevant reports and information to determine risks and mitigation efforts and compared agency efforts against federal policies and guidance. GAO also interviewed officials at 16 private sector entities, two self-regulatory organizations, and eight federal agencies, including the Department of the Treasury."
United States. Government Accountability Office
2020-09
