This week's In the News examines Federal Board of Governors Chairman Alan Greenspan's Monetary Policy Testimony and Report to Congress, issued July 21, 1998. The ten resources discussed give background information on Chairman Greenspan's opinion, the US Congressional budget process, and the relationship between federal regulation and stock market activity. Also provided are links to official FRB...

Founded in 1968, the National Economists Club (NEC) is an educational organization which "aims to encourage and sponsor discussion and an exchange of ideas on economic trends and issues that are relevant for public policy." They sponsor a wide range of activities and one of their most compelling efforts of late can be found on this site. In January 2007, they began recording their luncheon...

As part of its mandate under the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the US Congressional Budget Office issues "a series of reports on the state of the economy and the budget." The latest report, released September 2, 1997 concludes that "the federal budget will come close to balance this year and will move into surplus by 2002... [and] is projected to be in virtual balance through 2007." The report...

In the past several decades, a number of policy institutes and think-tanks have been formed to open a substantial dialogue about issues affecting rural communities. The Rural Policy Research Institute is one of these organizations, and involves scientists and policy analysts from Iowa State University, the University of Missouri, the University of Nebraska and other affiliated institutions. The...

The resources discussed in this week's In The News address saving Social Security. Perhaps the most successful and certainly the most popular of the New Deal social welfare programs, Social Security has made a critical difference in the living standards of many older Americans, especially women. However, the program faces difficulty in the years ahead because of the shifting demographic of the...

The creation of the Social Security program during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt is widely understood to be one of the most important pieces of social welfare legislation in United States history. Drawing on their vast repositories of oral histories, audio recordings, and primary documents, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has established this Web site that will be of great help...

The Economic Security and Recovery Act of 2001 (Bill HR3090) was approved by the House Ways and Means Committee on October 12 and will be brought to the floor for approval soon. On October 16, the Bush Administration stated that the tax cut bill, with its provisions for over $70 billion in tax cuts to companies and nearly $29 billion to individuals, goes too far. All over Washington, critics and...

Once again, the United States Government Printing Office has released its annual electronic version of the Economic Report of the President (last mentioned in the February 12, 1999 Scout Report). This Web page contains the entire 2002 report as well as economic reports from previous years, dating back as far as 1995. Statistical tables in spreadsheet format are also accessible and can be...

The home page of Paul Krugman, Professor of Economics at the Massachussetts Institute of technology, contains links to online articles written by him on various topical issues related to the economy. The largest number of articles at the site hail from Krugman's monthly column "The Dismal Science" in Slate (discussed in the July 12, 1996 Scout Report). Recent articles cover issues such as the...

The USITC is an independent federal agency that provides trade advice to the government and examines instances of unfair trade practices. The web site offers useful information relating to international trade, including a monthly calendar of events, a listing of news releases, and notices of investigations into unfair trade practices. The USITC also publishes the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the...