White House Council Research Articles

Why the United States Needs a National Manufacturing Strategy

A fierce debate has erupted in academic and policymaking circles over whether manufacturing matters distinctively to an economy and, by extension, whether the United States needs a national manufacturing strategy. On one side are the manufacturing skeptics who believe that manufacturing is no more important than any other sector and therefore deserves no special policy emphasis. Such skeptics include Christina Romer, President Obama’s first White House Council of Economic Advisors chair, who has argued that “none of the economic rationales for policy aimed specifically at shoring up manufacturing are completely convincing,” 1 and former National Economic Council (NEC) director Larry Summers, who contends that “America’s role is to feed a global economy that’s increasingly based on knowledge and services rather than on making stuff.” 2 The manufacturing skeptics are countered by a growing chorus of policymakers, academics, and business leaders who understand that the health of U.S. manufacturing remains vitally important to the strength of the U.S. economy, and thus should be supported by a robust national manufacturing strategy. This community includes both President Barack Obama, who spoke extensively about manufacturing in his 2012 State of the Union address, and Gene Sperling, current chair of the NEC, who, in contrast to his predecessors, holds that manufacturing “punches above its weight” and is therefore “worthy of a special emphasis” in U.S. economic strategy. 3 This essay sides with the latter community and makes the case for a comprehensive U.S. national manufacturing strategy. It explains first why manufacturing, and all traded sectors more broadly, matters distinctively to the U.S. economy and then articulates the key elements and goals a national manufacturing strategy should include.

以儒家視角探討生命的本質——以人工合成生命為例

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.面對科學技術給我們帶來的越來越多的倫理學難題的時候，我們不妨從孔子的教導中尋找答案。美國科學家克雷格．文特爾目前宣佈，他們利用了一段人工合成的DNA 創造了人類有史以來的第一個人造生命，並取名其為“辛西婭”。這也使得人們開始重新思考生命的定義，生命的本質等本源問題。本文將從儒家的哲學視角分析辛西婭的生物學地位，並從儒家的“天命觀”的角度分析合成生物技術。希望能對新技術得出儒家獨到的見解。On May 20, 2010, the Craig Venter Institute, a U.S. private research institution, announced that they had successfully synthesized bacterial deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and implanted it in another bacterium. After several attempts, the implanted artificial DNA regained life and began to reproduce in a lab dish. This “artificial life” was named “Synthia” (meaning “man-made children”). The result of this research has attracted broad attention. Even U.S. President Barack Obama expressed concern, and has asked the White House Council on Bioethics to provide a detailed report on synthetic biology within six months, to determine the appropriate ethical boundaries and minimize the potential harm. Indeed, this latest research in synthetic biology requires careful philosophical, ethical and cultural considerations on the essence of life.This essay attempts to analyze the biological status of Synthia and explores the essence of life from the perspective of Confucian philosophy. In particular, it attempts to draw on the Confucian idea of Heaven (tian) or God (shangdi) to disclose unique Confucian insights into new technology in general and artificial life in particular. Indeed, as advanced and pioneering science and technology have brought about more and more ethical difficulties and dilemmas, the Chinese people need to draw on the wisdom of Confucius to work out suitable solutions and guide their actions. Researchers at the Craig Venter Institute recently announced that they could take advantage of man-made DNA to create the first artificial human life. How should Confucians reflect on such actions in terms of their view of the essence and meaning of life?This essay assumes that following the Mandate of Heaven (tianming) is central to Confucian teaching on the essence of life. The Mandate of Heaven is reflected in the natural development and transformation of the myriad things in the universe. However, things like Synthia are outside of this natural process of development and transformation, and cannot be taken as being consistent with the Mandate of Heaven. Just as Confucianism cannot support the creation of human cloning, it cannot support artificial human life such as Synthia, because both violate a fundamental understanding of the essence of life in the Confucian faith. Confucian scholars cannot hold a utilitarian view of maximizing human interests, no matter what those interests are taken to be. Instead, Confucianism must insist that human interests be consistent with the Mandate of Heaven to promote the virtuous essence of human life.DOWNLOAD HISTORY | This article has been downloaded 174 times in Digital Commons before migrating into this platform.

Preparing a People: Climate Change and Public Health

Almost 700 people died from heat-related stress during the catastrophic 1995 heat wave in Chicago, Illinois.1 The three-day weather event saw 24-hour mean average temperatures of 87.2°F; the heat reached triple digits on two days, and there was little relief at night.2 Many people succumbed to heart attack and dehydration, while others collapsed during severe episodes of existing respiratory conditions.3 The death toll in the summer of 1995 gave Chicagoans a clear picture of how a surge in hot weather can affect human health. A decade later, Mayor Richard Daley launched an extensive program that brought together city agencies, academics, and scientists to develop a Climate Change Action Plan to help reduce the city’s contribution to climate change.4 Much of the plan focuses on sustainable mitigation actions such as planting trees and training workers to install renewable energy technologies. Within that plan, however, is a climate change adaptation strategy with a goal of preparing the city and its residents for future unusual weather events associated with climate change.5 Chicago is one of several large cities with climate action plans in place—others include New York City, San Francisco, Sydney, and Mexico City.6 Like Chicago’s, these plans promote mitigation and sustainability. Much of the adaptation portion of these initiatives is aimed at the built environment—buildings, highways, and facilities. But officials in these cities are beginning to talk about the public health cobenefits from their action plans, and public health advocates are speaking up and pushing for programs designed to prepare for or prevent climate-sensitive disease and illness.

Environmental Justice Leaders and White House Staff Meet to Discuss Climate Justice, Green Jobs, and Equity

Abstract On May 13, 2009, the Environmental Justice Leadership Forum on Climate Change (EJLFCC) met with the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), the office which coordinates federal environmental policies and initiatives. The meeting afforded the forum an opportunity to present climate change recommendations from the perspective of the low-income and minority communities. Van Jones, Special Advisor to President Obama for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, convened and facilitated the meeting to build capacity for more effective integration of environmental justice in federal environmental policies and initiatives.

HEALTH DISPARITIES: Climate Change and Health: A Native American Perspective

HEALTH DISPARITIES: Climate Change and Health: A Native American Perspective

Offshoring: The Next Industrial Revolution?

IN FEBRUARY 2004, when N. Gregory Mankiw, a Harvard professor then serving as chairman of White House Council of Economic Advisers, caused a national uproar with a textbook statement about trade, economists rushed to his defense. Mankiw was commenting on phenomenon that has been clumsily dubbed (or offshore outsourcing)-the migration of jobs, but not people who perform them, from rich countries to poor ones. Offshoring, Mankiw said, is only the latest manifestation of gains from trade that economists have talked about at least since Adam Smith. ... More things are tradable than were tradable in past, and that's a good thing. Although Democratic and Republican politicians alike excoriated Mankiw for his callous attitude toward American jobs, economists lined up to support his claim that offshoring is simply international business as usual. Their economics were basically sound: well-known principle of comparative advantage implies that trade in new kinds of products will bring overall improvements in productivity and well-being. But Mankiw and his defenders underestimated both importance of offshoring and its disruptive effect on wealthy countries. Sometimes a quantitative change is so large that it brings about qualitative changes,

Bush administration defends environmental policies

The chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality defended the Bush administration's initiatives on a wide range of environmental issues, including climate change, at a 22 January speech in Washington, D.C.CEQ chair James Connaughton said that economic growth is the solution, rather than the problem, for dealing with a wide range of environmental issues. He said that as a society advances along an affluence curve, it is better able to engage in environmental protection measures.

An Exploration of Dualisms in Female Perceptions of IT Work

Introduction This paper examines the perceptions of in the IT industry as expressed in their discourse about IT work. Giddens' structuration theory is used to illuminate how construct and express their everyday experiences in this very competitive, declining female workforce. In particular, Giddens' notions of dualisms, routinisation and ontological security have provided a different perspective on women's perceptions of their work. The research data was collected primarily through interviews with female IT Professionals, and a small number of male IT Professionals and is part of an ongoing project (WinIT), commenced in 1995, that seeks to understand the declining female participation in IT education and work (von Hellens & Nielsen, 2001). Research work is continuing on the construction of female identities and the question of gender differences in IT work (Anthias, 1999; Nielsen, von Hellens & Beekhuyzen 2004). The declining participation of in the IT industry is a complex issue and there is now a considerable body of research literature; for example, see the review by Ahuja (2002). There has been a small, though noticeable, rise in female participation in the traditionally male-dominated professions of science, engineering and medicine. However, there has not been a corresponding trend in the information technology sector. At the end of 1999 represented just 29 percent of the workforce in the US technology sector, according to a study by the White House Council of Economic Advisers (2000). That is down from 40 percent of the workforce in 1986. By the start of the last decade, the proportion of females in the IT workforce was beginning to decline in most western countries (von Hellens, Pringle, Nielsen, & Greenhill, 2000). This is despite the idea that women may prove to be a key resource of skilled technology workers for International IT markets (Maitland, 2001). The WinIT research carried out to this point has sought to develop an understanding of complexity and social embededness of the problem of IT recruitment. Particularly, the research has focused on the cultural and gender factors affecting female recruitment (von Hellens & Nielsen, 2001). A conceptual model of the identified factors was developed and such an approach was found to be useful in examining the situation with relation to high school students and first year university students (Nielsen, von Hellens, Pringle & Greenhill, 1999). The research considers factors such as media representations of IT, peer, school and parental influences. Both male and female students lacked information about IT work and education and did not demonstrate any understanding about the nature of IT work. Overwhelmingly the students perceived IT as a masculinised domain and the female students mainly saw IT courses as boring and difficult. Our more recent research has focused on working in the IT industry and IT academia, where the significance of informed choice is more evident (Pringle, Nielsen, von Hellens, Greenhill & Parfitt, 2000; Trauth, Nielsen & von Hellens, 2003; von Hellens et al., 2000). These have resisted in some way the influences that discourage young from entering IT and have persisted in developing their IT careers. This paper presents early attempts to reexamine texts of professional women's interviews using some concepts from structuration theory. These concepts were initially established as relevant through a rereading of the interviews. Until 1999, the first and second authors of this paper (the primary researchers of WinIT) had been primarily focusing the WinIT project on university and high school students. In 1999, the WinIT research was extended to cover female IT professionals and initial results were published (Pringle et al. 2000; von Hellens et al., 2000). In collaboration with Professor Eileen Trauth in 2000, the research focus further expanded to include more interviews with professional in IT. …

CUTTING CARBON EMISSIONS AT A PROFIT (PART I): OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE UNITED STATES

This article identifies and corrects shortcomings in recent modeling studies on the economics of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. The major assessments of the Kyoto Protocol—by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the Clinton White House Council of Economic Advisers, the U.S. Department of Energy Interlaboratory Working Group, and the Stanford Energy Modeling Forum—are found to be seriously incomplete. Each study omits one or several of four major cost‐reducing policy options, resulting in cost estimates that are far too pessimistic.In the present study, these shortcomings are overcome through the integrated evaluation of all major cost‐cutting policy options within a coherent least‐cost framework. Three domestic policies—a national carbon cap and permit trading program, productivity‐enhancing market reforms and technology programs, and recycling of permit auction revenues into economically advantageous tax cuts—are combined with international emissions allowance trading.This analysis shows that an integrated least‐cost strategy for mitigating U.S. greenhouse gas emissions would produce an annual net output gain of roughly 0.4% of GDP in 2010 and about 0.9% of GDP in 2020. On a cumulative net present value basis, the United States would gain $250 billion by 2010 and $600 billion by 2020. International flexibility mechanisms (including emissions trading) are of only secondary significance in realizing these productivity, output, and welfare gains.

Biomedical policy. New chair of bioethics panel wants national debate on issues.

BIOMEDICAL POLICYPresident George W. Bush's decision on embryonic stem cells has given ethicists a new lease on life. The president intends to create a new White House Council on Bioethics, to be chaired by University of Chicago moral philosopher Leon Kass. The new panel will succeed one created by President Bill Clinton that will disappear on 3 October.

Preventing school violence: A time for "hard, solid thinking"

Preventing school violence: A time for "hard, solid thinking"

Animal protection may delay chemical testing

A deal cut by the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and animal protection groups is likely to cause significant changes in a new program to test the toxicity of 2,800 high-production-volume (HPV) chemicals. The agreement follows nearly a year of newspaper ads denouncing the testing program's use of animal experiments and the appearance of an animal-rights protester costumed as an injured 6-foot at Vice President Al Gore's presidential campaign stops. The bunny and the ads are the work of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which led the animal rights groups in the negotiations that started in February. The HPV testing program begins next year and will be finished by 2004. The unique program was put together by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), and the Chemical Manufacturers Association (CMA) under pressure from Gore. Announced a year ago, the toxicity screening program will be paid for by ...

Climate treaty will harm U.S. economy, study finds

A new study concludes that complying with the Kyoto protocol would have major adverse effects on the U.S. economy. Gasoline prices—now below $1.00 per gal in many areas—would rise to between $1.39 and $1.91 per gal by 2010, and electricity prices would climb 20 to 86%, also by 2010, according to the report prepared by the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Energy Department's forecasting arm. The EIA study stands in contrast to a forecast released in July by the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), which predicted that implementing the protocol would cause only minor economic disruption. CEA estimated that reducing greenhouse gases 7% below the 1990 level as stipulated in the climate treaty would raise gasoline prices only 4 to 6 cents per gal. The two reports' predicted effects on the macroeconomy also differ. The EIA analysis finds that implementing the protocol would result in a gross domestic product 0.1 to 4.2% lower ...

White House council raises Democratic ire

White House council raises Democratic ire

LETTERS

Mr. Falcone writes that for too long the water supply industry has allowed others to dictate the path it should follow. It is time that the industry take a stand, especially when USEPA and the White House Council on Environmental Quality suggest that population growth can be controlled by cutting back on water supply. Mr. Falcone believes that growth can be controlled but not stopped and that people opposed to development of new water supplies will leave the next generation without sufficient water to grow and prosper.

Keyworth Appoints One Biologist To White House Council

Keyworth Appoints One Biologist To White House Council BioScience, Volume 32, Issue 4, April 1982, Page 252, https://doi.org/10.1093/bioscience/32.4.252 Published: 01 April 1982