Academic literature on the topic 'United States. National Monetary Commission'

Aside from the United Kingdom, which is withdrawing from the European Union, only Denmark has the option of staying outside the single European currency area. All other member states which have not adopted euro as their currency have the right and obligations to do so under the Treaty of Accession. The condition to join the Eurozone is to meet all five nominal Maastricht convergence criteria and to ensure compliance of national legislation with acquis communautaire, or the EU legal order. What poses special difficulties to candidate countries is the fiscal criterion relating to the maximum allowed budget deficit. If it’s not met, the European Commission launches the Excessive Deficit Procedure, EDP. Currently, this procedure is in place for France, Spain and the United Kingdom. In 2015, EDP for Poland was lifted, but there is no certainty it won’t be imposed again at the end of the decade due to the risk of exceeding once more the threshold of public sector deficit, which stands at 3 percent GDP. It is to be expected that in the 2020s the European Monetary Union will be joined by all the countries that are still using their national currencies, including Denmark, and that the EU will be extended to include new member states, enlarging the euro area, too. Although the issue is not absolutely certain, it needs to be assumed that euro will overcome the present difficulties and come out stronger, though the economically unjustified euroskepticism of some countries, especially Poland, is not helping.

To join the Eurozone (EZ), a candidate country has to fulfil five nominal Maastricht convergence criteria and ensure compliance of national legislation with the acquis communautaire. With this regard special difficulties pose the fiscal criterion relating to the maximum allowed budget deficit of 3 per cent of GDP. If it is not met, the European Commission launches the Excessive Deficit Procedure. Currently, such formula applies to France, Spain and the United Kingdom. Although the issue is not absolutely certain, one can assume that euro will weather the present difficulties and will come out stronger, though the economically unjustified Euro scepticism of some countries is not helping. It may be expected that in the 2020s the European Monetary Union will be joined by all countries that are still using their national currencies and that the EU will be extended to include new member states, enlarging the euro area further. In this article authors are discussing the issue whether Poland will join the EZ in the coming years, considering the challenges of meeting all Maastricht criteria, on the one hand, and the reluctance of the government to give up the national currency, on the other. A mixed method combining the results of qualitative and quantitative research has been used to empirically verify the research question presented.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (2016) calls for resources for the implementation of the Action Plan for Accelerated Industrial Development in Africa, and states that: “Industrialization is essential for African countries as a means of increasing income, creating jobs, developing value-added activities and diversifying economies”. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the African Development Bank (AFDB), and the Organization for Cooperation and Economics Development (OCED, 2014, p. 16) explain the benefits to African countries’ participation in Global Value Chains (GVC) to industrialize without having to implement all stages of the chain. They add that the acquisition of new production capacities can allow countries and companies to move upmarket, which is to say to increase their share of value added in a GVC. But the opposite is the case, at least in some countries like Burkina Faso. We are witnessing a “specialization of primary products (cotton and non-monetary gold), to the detriment of manufacturing industry with high potential for multiplier effects on local economies” National Plan for Economic and Social Development of Burkina Faso (PNDES, 2017, p.12). Cusolito and al. (2016) mention that overcoming a series of obstacles (such as bad policies and governance, insufficient technology and skills) is the way to actively participate in GVCs. Yet OPEN it is these same obstacles that have always prevented the industrialization of Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa). The results show that the Global Value Chains (GVC) contribute to the creation of added value in developing countries what has an effect on industrialization

The paper provides a comparative analysis of methodological approaches to poverty measuring in the Russian Federation and in the global perspective in the current situation on the following key aspects: methods of poverty measuring in official statistics, problems in defining and measuring subjective poverty in different countries. Through the empirical qualitative research we analyzed a wide base of official data and reports of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), the Interstate Statistical Committee of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS STAT), the Federal State Statistics Service, and subsequently analytically interpreted them. According to the results of the study, it was concluded that different countries use various methods of measuring the level of poverty and criteria for its assessment. This situation does not relate to the analytical needs of the society, government authorities and scientists. The Guide of UNECE was developed in order to ensure international comparability and accessibility of poverty indicators. The Guide substantiates the indicators and identifies the needs for appropriate baseline data for measuring poverty, and offers methodological recommendations for national statistical services. The multidimensional measurement of poverty is currently relevant. This approach allows to take into account not only monetary indicators, but also other aspects of people’s life, such as health, living conditions, education, involvement in economic and social relations, etc. The study of the methodological features of poverty measuring in Russia revealed the need for a more detailed development of poverty indicators. At present, the Federal State Statistics Service is adopting new measures in order to include the Indices of Material Deprivation and Poverty and Social Exclusion Risk into the national list of indexes of Sustainable Development Goals. In addition, currently the transition to new methodological and practical approaches to Population Income Survey is being carried out.

The article considers the experience of the United States in the management of garbage waste, including biosolids (BO) of animals. It provides an understanding of deposit and waste management processes as a timely example of the integration of science into the environmental and economic process and presents the policy of the US government in the field of spent biological waste management, as well as efforts at recycling through composting, disposal and other methods. A national strategy for converting BW into various types of energy and the cost-effectiveness of environmental measures is considered using the example of the USA, presented by such authors and researchers as Gasanov M. A., Kolotov K. A., Demidenko K. A., Podgornaya E. A., Kadnikova O. V. and others. At the end of 2015, 71 incinerators (MSZs) were operating in 20 US states, more than 20% of which are concentrated in the state of Florida. The installed capacity of power generation systems at such MSZs is 2.3 GW, which corresponds to < 1% of the installed capacity of US energy facilities. Almost all of the country's MSZs were built before 1995, and only one plant was commissioned in 2015 - West Palm Beach-2, with a capacity of 95 MW. According to the consulting and consulting company Frost & Sullivan, by 2020 the volume of the US digital transformation technology market in the field of biosolids management in monetary terms increased to $3.6 billion, compared to $3.3 billion in 2017. At the same time, the average annual growth rate of this market is expected to be 2.74% by 2030.

The World Trade Center Attack or 9/11 tragedy has awakened the international community, particularly the United States (US) to sharpen its foreign policy in facing security threats coming from ‘weak states’. One of the most prominent weak states examples that pose a grave threat to other countries are the Northern Triangle Countries of Central America that referred to Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Hence, this paper will discuss the rationale behind US initiatives in dealing with security threats in El Salvador as one of the Northern Triangle Countries. In analyzing the case, the writers will use the weak state concept and national interest concept. The result of this paper finds that El Salvador corresponds to the elements of a weak state and further poses security threats by giving rise to transnational criminal organizations, drug trafficking, and migrant problems in which overcoming those security threats has become US vital national interest. However, we also find that although decreasing security threats and strengthening El Salvador government capacity is highly correlated, strengthening El Salvador governance through the providence of aid and assistance is actually classified as US important national interest. Keywords: Security threats; Northern Triangle; weak state; El Salvador; national interest REFERENCES Ambrus, Steven. “Guatemala: The Crisis of Rule of Law and a Weak Party System.” Ideas Matter, January 28, 2019. https://blogs.iadb.org/ideas-matter/en/guatemala-the-crisis-of-rule-of-law-and-a-weak-party-system/. Andrade, Laura. Transparency In El Salvador. 1st ed. 1. El Salvador: University Institute for Public Opinion, Asmann, Parker. “El Salvador Citizens Say Gangs, Not Government 'Rule' the Country.” InSight Crime, August 19, 2020. https://insightcrime.org/news/brief/el-salvador-citizens-say-gangs-not- government-rules-country/. Accessed July 11, 2021. Art, Robert J. A. Grand Strategy for America. Ithaca: Century Foundation/Cornell UP, 2004. BBC News Indonesia "Kisah Di Balik MS-13, Salah Satu Geng Jalanan Paling Brutal Di Dunia." BBC News Indonesia. BBC, April 21, 2017.https://www.bbc.com/indonesia/majalah-39663817.Accessed July 11, 2021. Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs “U.S. Relations With El Salvador - United States Department of State.” U.S. Department of State. U.S. Department of State, April 14, 2021.https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-el-salvador/. Accessed July 11, 2021. “Bureau of International Narcotics and Law ENFORCEMENT Affairs: El Salvador Summary -United States Department of State.” U.S. Department of State. U.S. Department of State, February3, 2021. https://www.state.gov/bureau-of-international-narcotics-and-law-enforcement-affairs-work-by-country/el-salvador-summary/. Central Intelligence Agency. Central Intelligence Agency, July 6, 2021. https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/el-salvador/. Accessed July 11, 2021. Dudley, Steven, and Avalos, Silva “MS13 In the Americas: How the World’s Most Notorious Gang Defies Logic, Resists Destruction. National Institute of Justice”, 2018. “El Salvador Homicides Jump 56 Percent as Gang Truce Unravels.” Reuters, December 30,2014.https://www.reuters.com/article/us-el-salvador-violence-idUSKBN0K81HR20141230. Eizenstat, Stuart E., John Edward Porter, and Jeremy M. Weinstein. “Rebuilding Weak States.”Foreign Affairs 84, no. 1 (2005): 134. https://doi.org/10.2307/20034213. FOXBusiness. “How MS-13, One of America's Most Dangerous Gangs, Is Funded.” Fox Business.Fox Business, April 19, 2017.https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/how-ms-13-one-of-americas-most-dangerous-gangs-is-funded. Accessed July 11, 2021. Fukuyama, Francis.Cornell University Press. Ithaca, USA: Cornell University Press, 2004. Galdamez, Eddie. “Water Pollution in El Salvador. Getting Worse Every Year.” El Salvador INFO,June 30, 2021. https://elsalvadorinfo.net/water-pollution-in-el-salvador/. Accessed July 11, 2021. Gies, Heather. “Once Lush, El Salvador Is Dangerously Close to Running out of Water.” Environment. National Geographic, May 4, 2021.https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/el-salvador-water-crisis-drought-climate-change. Accessed July 11, 2021. Giedraityte, Ieva. “Empire, Leadership OR Hegemony: US Strategies towards the Northern Triangle Countries in the 21st Century.” Latin American Yearbook – Political Science and International Relations 7 (2019): 175. https://doi.org/10.17951/al.2019.7.175-192. “Government Revenues.” Government Revenues - Countries - List. Accessed August 4, 2021.https://tradingeconomics.com/country-list/government-revenues. “Guatemala: An Assessment of Poverty.” Poverty Analysis - Guatemala: An Assessment of Poverty. Accessed August 4, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20161225194831/http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/ TOPICS/EXTPOVERTY/EXTPA/0,,contentMDK:20207581~menuPK:443285~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:430367,00.html. Herningtyas, Ratih. "Weak State As A Security Threat: A Case Study Of Colombia." Journal of International Relations 2, no. 2 (2014): 146-156. “Honduras.” World Bank. Accessed August 4, 2021. https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/honduras#:~:text=Honduras%20is%20a%20low%20middle,than%20US%241.90%20per%20day. Iesue, Laura. “The Alliance for Prosperity Plan: A Failed Effort for Stemming Migration,” COHA, November 21, 2019, https://www.coha.org/the-alliance-for-prosperity-plan-a-failed-effort-for-stemming-migration/. Accessed July 11, 2021 Indexmundi. “Countries Ranked by Intentional Homicides (per 100,000 People)." Countries ranked by Intentional homicides (per 100,000 people), n.d.,https://www.indexmundi.com/facts/indicators/VC.IHR.PSRC.P5/rankings. Accessed July 11,2021. Insight Crime. “Central America Regional Security Initiative (CARSI)." InSight Crime, October 18,2011, https://insightcrime.org/uncategorized/central-america-regional-security-initiative/. Accessed July 11, 2021 “Income Held by Top 20 Percent in El Salvador.” Statista, July 5, 2021.https://www.statista.com/statistics/1075313/el-salvador-income-inequality/. International Monetary Fund. “El Salvador: Selected Issues.” IMF Staff Country Reports 16, no. 206 (2016): 1. https://doi.org/10.5089/9781498342346.002. Interpol "El Salvador." El Salvador, n.d.,https://www.interpol.int/en/Who-we-are/Member-countries/Americas/EL-SALVADOR. Accessed July 11, 2021. “Key Issues AFFECTING Youth in El Salvador - OCDE.” Key Issues affecting Youth in El Salvador - OCDE. Accessed August 8, 2021.https://www.oecd.org/fr/pays/elsalvador/youth-issues-in-el-salvador.htm. Lakhani, Nina. “Gang Violence in El Salvador Fuelling Country's Child Migration Crisis.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, November 18, 2014.https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/18/el-salvador-gang-violence-child-migration-crisis. Accessed July 11, 2021. “Life under Gang Rule in El Salvador.” Crisis Group, December 10, 2018. https://www.crisisgroup.org/latin-america-caribbean/central-america/el-salvador/life-under-gang-rule-el-salvador. Löwenheim, Oded. “Transnational Criminal Organizations and Security: The Case against Inflating the Threat.” International Journal 57, no. 4 (2002): 513–36. https://doi.org/10.2307/40203690. “Mano Dura: El Salvador Responds to Gangs.” Taylor & Francis. Accessed August 5, 2021.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09614520701628121?journalCode=cdip20.Menjivar, Cecilia, and Andrea Gomez Cervates. “El Salvador: Civil War, Natural Disasters, and Gang Violence Drive Migration.” migrationpolicy.org, May 11, 2021.https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/el-salvador-civil-war-natural-disasters-and-gang-violence-drive-migration. Accessed July 11, 2021. Meyer, Peter J., and Ribando Clare Seelke. Central America Regional Security Initiative: Background and Policy Issues for Congress. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service, 2014. Michaels, Peter S. Lawless Intervention: United States Foreign Policy in El Salvador and Nicaragua, 6, 7, no. 2 (January 5, 1987). https://doi.org/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/71463263.pdf. OSAC. “El Salvador 2020 Crime & Safety Report,” https://www.osac.gov/Content/Report/b4884604- 977e-49c7-9e4a-1855725d032e. Days on July 9, 2021. “Overview.” World Bank. Accessed August 4, 2021. https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/elsalvador/overview. Patrick, Stewart. “Weak States and Global Threats: Assessing Evidence of Spillovers.” SSRN Electronic Journal, 2006, 1–31. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.984057. Published by Teresa Romero, and Jul 5. “Gini Coefficient: Wealth Inequality in El Salvador.” Statista,July 5, 2021.https://www.statista.com/statistics/983230/income-distribution-gini-coefficient-el-salvador/. “Remarks by President Obama after Meeting with Central American Presidents.” National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives and Records Administration. Accessed August 8, 2021. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/07/25/remarks-president-obama-after-meeting-central-american-presidents. Riney, Lt Col Thomas J. “How Is MS-13 a Threat to US National Security? .” AIR WAR COLLEGE AIR UNIVERSITY , February 12, 2009. https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA540139.pdf. Rivera, Mauricio. “Drugs, Crime, and NONSTATE Actors in Latin America: Latin American Politics and Society.” Cambridge Core. Cambridge University Press, October 12, 2020. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/latin-american-politics-and-society/article/abs/drugs-crime-and-nonstate-actors-in-latin-america/67CF0B66AB8673D0C50F2F99AC93A1B7. Schneider, Mark. “Where Are the Northern Triangle Countries Headed? And What Is U.S. Policy?” Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), July 9, 2021. https://www.csis.org/analysis/where-are-northern-triangle-countries-headed-and-what-us-policy. Seelke, Clare Ribando. “CRS Report for Congress.” El Salvador: Political, Economic, and Social Conditions and U.S. Relations, November 18, 2008. https://doi.org/https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/4951ec75e.pdf. Silva Avalos, Hector. “Corruption in El Salvador: Politicians, Police, and Transportistas.” SSRN, April 2, 2014. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2419174. Sleinan, Julett Pineda. “Salvadoran Court: Ex-President and Wife Guilty of Illicit Enrichment.” OCCRP. Accessed August 5, 2021. https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/13586-salvadoran-court-ex- president-and-wife-guilty-of-illicit-enrichment. The United States Department of Justice. “MS-13's Highest-Ranking Leaders Charged with Terrorism Offenses in the United States.”, January 19, 2021. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/ms-13-s-highest-ranking-leaders-charged-terrorism-offenses-united-states. Retrieved July 9, 2021. Transformation Index. “BTI 2020 El Salvador Country Report.” BTI Blog, 2020. https://www.bti-project.org/en/reports/country-report-SLV.html. Accessed July 11, 2021. “U.S. Strategy for Engagement in Central America Results Architecture – Overall Summary.”State.gov. Accessed August 8, 2021. https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/U.S.-Central-America-Strategy-Objectives.pdf. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. “Death Threats and Gang Violence Forcing More Families to FLEE Northern Central America – UNHCR and Unicef Survey.” UNHCR. Accessed August 5, 2021. https://www.unhcr.org/news/press/2020/12/5fdb14ff4/death-threats-gang-violence-forcing-families-flee-northern-central-america.html. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, “Combating Gangs,” https://www.ice.gov/features/gangs.Diakses pada 9 Juli 2021. USAID, “GENERATING HOPE: USAID IN EL SALVADOR, GUATEMALA, AND HONDURAS,”https://www.usaid.gov/generating-hope-usaid-el-salvador-guatemala-and honduras. Diakses pada 8 Juli 2021. United States General Accounting Office, “EL SALVADOR Military Assistance Has Helped Counter but Not Overcome the Insurgency,” https://www.gao.gov/assets/nsiad-91-166.pdf. Retrieved July 8, 2021. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement “Combating Gangs.”, January 27, 2021. https://www.ice.gov/features/gangs. Accessed July 9, 2021. Valencia, Robert. “MS-13 and Barrio 18 Gangs Allegedly Employ More People in El Salvador than the Country's Largest Employers.” Newsweek. Newsweek, November 2, 2018.https://www.newsweek.com/ms-13-barrio-18-gangs-employ-more-people-el-salvador-largest-employers-1200029. Accessed July 11, 2021 Wang, Shaoguang. "China's Changing of the Guard: The Problem of State Weakness." Journal of Democracy 14, no. 1 (2003): 36-42. doi:10.1353/jod.2003.0022. Weber, Max. “Economy and society: An outline of interpretive sociology. Vol. 1. Univ of California Press, 1978. Welsh, Teresa. “US to Resume Northern Triangle Aid, Pompeo Says.” devex, 2019.https://www.devex.com/news/us-to-resume-northern-triangle-aid-pompeo-says-95846. Whelan, Robbie. “Why Are People Fleeing Central America? A New Breed of Gangs Is Taking Over.” The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, November 2, 2018. https://www.wsj.com/articles/pay-or-die-extortion-economy-drives-latin-americas-murder-crisis-1541167619. Retrieved July 8, 2021. Williams, Phil. "Transnational criminal enterprises, conflict, and instability." Turbulent Peace: The challenges of managing international conflict (2001): 97-112. World Bank. “Overview.” World Bank, October 9, 2020.https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/elsalvador/overview. Retrieved July 8, 2021.

In the process of active globalization, an important task of the economic agenda of any country is to ensure mutual comparability of statistical indicators. This can be achieved through the implementation of internationally approved methodologies and modern standards. The System of National Accounts is at the top of the economic pyramid. The implementation of SNA 2008 was envisaged by the Association Agreement with the European Union. In 2008, the United Nations, European Commission, International Monetary Fund, World Bank and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development jointly released The System of National Accounts, 2008 (2008 SNA). This update better reflects the changing economic landscape and the advances in methodological research, data sources and compilation methods and provides clarification on a number of issues not clearly stated in the 1993 SNA. Timely, relevant and comprehensive national account information is a significant intellectual asset for any country, and serves important functions. Like any asset the national accounts depreciate with time. Therefore, periodic new investments are crucial, to ensure that they continue to provide high quality services to their users. Implementing 2008 SNA improved the relevance of a country’s national accounts information. In the new version of SNA, changes were introduced in various directions: updates in calculation methods, improvement of data sources, introduction of an international approach to the coverage of the economy and other methodological changes, which include the introduction of new classifications, the use of the accrual method for taxes, a change in the base period (instead of 2010, the base period 2015 is used instead of the period) and many others. Updated calculation methods were introduced in the following direction: Changes in the Financial Intermediation Services Indirectly Measured (FISIM); Improving the calculation of Imputed Rent of Own Occupied Dwellings; Capitalization of costs related to Research and Development (R&D) and others. The factor of improving the data source should also be emphasized. In this regard, it is worth noting: updating the structure of intermediate consumption on the basis of a special surveys; Special survey conducted in various sectors of economy, such as agriculture, construction, hotels and restaurants and ect. Other methodological changes include also the use of new classifications, change of the base year (2015 instead of 2010). During the implementation of new standards and methodologies, many countries face a number of challenges. In many ways, national accounts data represent an important part of a country's economic history. Of course, it is more acceptable for users to have a continuous and consistent time series, which simplifies its use in economic modeling. However, as already mentioned, this process is associated with certain difficulties, among which access to historical rows of updated data sources is noteworthy. In such cases, they need to develop models that put new concepts and methodologies into historical perspective. In order to harmonize with the indicators of the previous period, Georgia has recalculated the historical data series since 2010. The introduction of the new methodology and the above-mentioned updates caused changes in the total volume of GDP. During the implementation of new methodologies and standards, and therefore the recalculation of historical dynamic series, another important challenge is to inform users about all changes and how each change affected the main macroeconomic indicators. At the same time, users should understand that the change of methodologies and their implementation in practice is an ongoing process by which the country strives to comply with international standards. This is vitally necessary to ensure continuity of the country's integration into the world economic system and future sustainable development. Keywords: The System of National Accounts 2008, Financial Intermediate Service Indirectly Measured (FISIM), Non-observed economy, Research and Development (R&D).

The International Boundary Commission (IBC) is a permanent organization established by bilateral treaty to maintain an effective land and water boundary between Canada and the United States. It exercises regulatory powers under treaty and statute relating to boundary vista protection and transboundary construction. There have been boundary anomalies and ambiguous boundary descriptions. The peaceful resolution of several boundary disputes and uncertainties by the Commission has contributed to the preservation of national sovereignty. Its activities can be likened to those of an insurance underwriter.

As reflected in the April 2006 issue of the Financial History Review, monetary historians remain divided over the central features of the US monetary union and their contribution to US economic development. In that issue – which focused on the monetary union formed by the Constitution and early federal monetary legislation – Ronald Michener and Robert E. Wright focused on the creation of a uniform unit of account defined in terms of specie. The establishment of a uniform unit of account ‘simplified domestic and international transactions’ compared with the colonial period when ‘[e]conomic calculations across regions were complicated by the fact that people had to reckon with different units of account, without the aid of electronic calculators’. By contrast, Richard Sylla emphasised the role the Bank of the United States played in reducing the costs and risks of clearing and settling interregional payments. An institution, like the Bank, that operated on a national scale was particularly important in the United States because of the limited geographical scope of state bank operations. The Bank's notes and deposits became a truly national monetary standard, and the Bank helped to maintain the value of state bank notes, the principal means of cash payment in the antebellum economy, by enforcing par redemption.

This paper seeks to identify the problems, challenges, and the implications of introducing a common currency 'ECO' in West Africa on the economies within the sub region. Specifically, the study focuses on the mandates of trade, the Customs, Immigration and Monetary and Payment Commission under the institution of the economic order of West Africa States. The augmented gravity model of Rose (1999), Alesina (2000), and Barro and Tenreyro (2002) was used to estimate the effects of monetary union on trade. The result shows that the performance so far of member countries as at the end of 2002 in meeting the convergence criteria revealed that it was inadequate to support the launching of the monetary union in 2004. The study concludes that though the introduction of a single currency will foster trade within the West-African sub-region, most countries have difficulty meeting the convergence criteria that will foster smooth take off of the project. It therefore recommends that the implementation of the single currency and common monetary policy in West Africa should be a gradual process as most countries within the sub-region are not politically mature, let alone to meet the convergence criteria.

This thesis analyses major U.S. military bases closed by the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission since 1988. The study focuses on geographic patterns of pre-existing versus BRAC bases, statistical attributes, environmental restoration, and reuse of bases. Comparative case studies supplement the analysis, highlighting rural versus urban location, success versus failure, politics, conflict, and local versus national goals. Thesis findings are that: 92 bases closed versus 97 commonly published; a fairly even national closure pattern occurred, indicating Commission efforts to achieve equity, except for three closure clusters indicating efforts to consolidate functions in some regions and leave others; base reuse, while commonly perceived negatively, has been positive in most cases; the BRAC process is becoming more efficient, such that allowed years between BRAC closure decisions and base closures should be reduced from six to three years to benefit both communities and the Defense Department.

Thesis (M.S. in Joint Campaign Planning and Strategy)--Joint Forces Staff College, Joint Advanced Warfighting School, 2006.
"April 14, 2006." Electronic version of original print document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 66-70).

This dissertation is broadly concerned with the relationship between democracy and race in the United States federal government. To analyze this problem, I rely on archival research from the 1967-8 National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (commonly known as the Kerner Commission, after chairperson Governor Otto Kerner) to examine how the discussion and management of hundreds of so-called "race riots" in the summer of 1967 both challenges civil disobedience and embodies structural racism. Employing a content analysis of the final 425-page Kerner Commission government report, I assess the categorization, labeling, and language used to describe and document the hundreds of "race riots" and related state violence through acts of police misconduct that engulfed the country in the summer of 1967. I rely heavily on the report and background research itself, as well as major books related to race riots and presidential commissions, such as Anthony Platt's 1971 The Politics of Riot Commissions and Steven Gillon's 2018 Separate and Unequal. I incorporate theories of exit and the entitlement to rights advanced in literature by scholars like Jennet Kirkpatrick, James C. Scott, and Hannah Arendt. This dissertation is concerned with the relationship between morality and civic participation in democratic politics. I analyze Christopher Kutz's book Complicity: Ethics and Law for a Collective Age to delve into the ramifications of democracy and US citizenship being considered a kind of "collective project" and further contemplate what obligations and implications exist for citizens in US democracy against racial injustice. Since the Kerner Commission coincided with the rise of "law and order" politics in the nation's political vernacular, it represents a unique opportunity to witness an ideological shift toward a Garrison state and neoliberal ethos, both of which undermine the country's espoused democratic values, resting on the grammar of equality and justice for all. The Kerner Commission can provide valuable lessons in studies of political domination that remain pertinent to overcoming oppression and injustice today.
Doctor of Philosophy
This dissertation is broadly concerned with the relationship between democracy and race in the United States federal government. American democracy espouses moral virtues related to freedom and justice for all, and yet structural racism remains pervasive in how the government operates. To analyze this problem, I rely on archival research from the 1967-8 National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (commonly known as the Kerner Commission, after chairperson Governor Otto Kerner) to examine how the discussion and management of hundreds of so-called “race riots” in the summer of 1967 both challenges civil disobedience and embodies structural racism. I rely heavily on the report and background research itself to do a content analysis. I also use major books related to race riots and presidential commissions, such as Anthony Platt’s 1971 The Politics of Riot Commissions and Steven Gillon’s 2018 Separate and Unequal. Given that this dissertation is concerned with how morality shapes civic participation in democratic politics, I analyze Christopher Kutz’s book Complicity: Ethics and Law for a Collective Age. Since the Kerner Commission coincided with the rise of “law and order” politics in the nation’s political vernacular, it represents a unique opportunity to witness an ideological shift toward a Garrison state and neoliberal ethos, both of which undermine the country’s espoused democratic values, resting on the grammar of equality and justice for all. Individual advocates as well as scholars can learn valuable lessons from the Kerner Commission about oppression and injustice in today’s society.

The problem of this study was the perceptions of Texas public school teachers and principals regarding recommendations for educational reform made in April, 1983, by the National Commission on Excellence in Education. Purposes included determining those perceptions and investigating differences between them, differences among teachers1 perceptions, and differences among principals' perceptions relative to specific categories of recommendations and specific biographic variables. A random sample of 460 teachers and 180 principals, stratified equally among the state's twenty education regions, was selected from the population of public school teachers and principals on computer at the Texas Education Agency, Austin, Texas. The actual number of respondents included 224 teachers and 91 principals, or 49 percent and 51 percent respectively. The instrument used was an attitude scale developed by the investigator. The thirty-nine original recommendations made by the Commission were converted into 118 specific recommendations, more precise and easier to read according to a jury of experts. An. analysis of variance was calculated for hypotheses one, two, five, and six, and t values were calculated for hypotheses three and four. The study was organized into five chapters including the "Introduction," "Review of the Related Literature," "Procedures for Collection and Analysis of Data," "Analysis of Data," and "Summary, Conclusions, and Recommendations." The Appendix includes a sample of the instrument used, the overall mean scores on each individual item for teachers, principals, and all respondents combined, and the total mean scores.

This research project seeks to explore aspects of the post-reporting phase of the public inquiry process. Central to the public inquiry process is the concept of legitimacy and the idea that a public inquiry provides and opportunity to re-legitimate the credibility of failed public institutions. The current literature asserts that public inquiries re-legitimise through the production of authoritative narratives. As such, most of this scholarship has focused on the production of inquiry reports and, more recently, the reports themselves. However, in an era of accountability, and in the aftermath of such a poignant attack upon society, the production of a report may represent an apogee, but by no means an end, of the re-legitimation process. Appropriately, this thesis examines the post-reporting phase of the 9/11 Commission’s public inquiry process. The 9/11 Commission provides a useful research vehicle due to the bounded, and relatively linear, implementation process of the Commission’s recommendations. In little more than four months a majority of the Commission’s recommendations were passed into law. Within this implementation phase the dominant discursive process took place in the United States Congress. It is the legislative reform debates in the House of Representatives and the Senate that is the focus of this research project. The central research question is: what rhetorical legitimation strategies were employed in the legislative reform debates of the post-reporting phase of the 9/11 Commission’s public inquiry process? This study uses a grounded theory approach to the analysis of the legislative transcripts of the Congressional reform debates. This analysis revealed that proponents employed rhetorical strategies to legitimise a legislative ‘Call to Action’ narrative. Also, they employed rhetorical legitimation strategies that emphasised themes of bipartisanship, hard work and expertise in order to strengthen the standing of the legislation. Opponents of the legislation focused rhetorical de-legitimation strategies on the theme of ‘flawed process’. Finally, nearly all legislators, regardless of their view of the legislation, sought to appropriate the authoritative legitimacy of the Commission, by employing rhetorical strategies that presented their interests and motives as in line with the actions and wishes of the Commission.

Les États ouest-africains ont fait de l’intégration économique la voie privilégiée pour relever le défi du développement économique dans un contexte international de plus en plus concurrentiel. Ainsi, par le biais d’organisations régionale et sous régionale, la protection du libre jeu de la concurrence est devenue un enjeu communautaire. L’intégration économique régionale ouest-africaine a donc été saisie par le droit de la concurrence. De ce fait, on assiste à l’émergence de droits régionaux de la concurrence au sein de l’Union économique et monétaire ouest africaine (UEMOA) et de la Communauté économique des États de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (CEDEAO). Chacune de ces organisations a donc mis en place un droit de la concurrence dans son espace économique. Il en résulte, vu la composition de l’UEMOA et de la CEDEAO, que ces droits communautaires ont vocation à s’appliquer aux États membres de l’Union qui font également partie de la Communauté. Cette particularité de la coexistence de ces règles communautaires de la concurrence en Afrique de l’Ouest méritait qu’on s’y attarde afin d’évaluer leur application, d’analyser l’effectivité et l’efficacité de ces droits. Cette étude comparative s’est attachée à mettre en exergue ce que renferment ces droits, à relever leurs spécificités, tout en mettant en lumière leurs insuffisances. Il apparaît nécessaire de repenser, voire de réformer certains aspects de ces droits afin d’améliorer leurs applications, gage d’une meilleure protection de la libre concurrence en Afrique de l’Ouest
West African states have made economic integration the preferred way to deal with the challenge of economic development in an increasingly competitive international context. Thus, through regional and subregional organizations, the protection of the free movement of competition has become a community issue.West African regional economic integration has therefore been seized by competition law. From this, we note emerging competition rights in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Each of these organizations has therefore put in place a competition law in its economic area. As a result, given the composition of UEMOA and ECOWAS, these Community rights are intended to be applied to the Member States of the Union which are also part of the Community. The features of the coexistence of these Community competition law in West Africa deserved to be examined in order to evaluate their application, to analyze the effectiveness and efficiency of these rights. This comparative study intends to highlight the contain of these rights, reveal their specificities, while showing their lacks. It’s necessary to rethink or even reform some aspects of these rights to improve their applications, basis for a better protection of free competition in West Africa

AbstractChapter VII of the Insurance Distribution Directive delineates the sanctions and other pecuniary measures which the Commission of the European Union now requires as a portion of the minimum harmonization of the Directive. As Member States adopt and apply the articles of Chapter VII, which are unprecedented in their scope and specificity, they may find guidance through a comparison of the enforcement mechanisms already in place in other jurisdictions.The United States is well known as the largest insurance market in the world, and possesses an extensive body of insurance regulation. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners, an advisory organization comprised of the insurance commissioners from each of the 50 U.S. states, drafted the Producer Licensing Model Act—the closest American corollary to the IDD. Unfortunately, despite widespread adoption of the PLMA, the effectiveness of U.S. state enforcement mechanisms on the actions of intermediaries is, overall, weak and inconsistent. We will analyze why this is the case, and offer concrete examples of the failures of specific state enforcement regimes.

AbstractSupra-national thematic Land Use Cover (LUC) datasets are not very common. While there are several general datasets mapping all the land uses or covers in different supra-national areas across the world, LUC datasets with a similar extent that focus on the mapping of specific land covers in greater thematic detail are scarce. In this chapter, we review six different supra-national thematic LUC datasets. Three others were also found in the literature, but are not fully available for download, namely the TREES Vegetation Map of Tropical South America, the Central Africa—Vegetation map and FACET. The Circumpolar Arctic Region Vegetation dataset was also excluded from this review because of its specificity and coarse scale (1:7,500,000). Europe is the continent with the most relevant, most updated and most detailed LUC thematic datasets at supra-national scales. This is due to the work being done by the European Commission through its Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the Copernicus Land Monitoring Programme. The High-Resolution Layers (HRL) provide very detailed information, both thematically and spatially (from 10 m), for five different themes: imperviousness, tree cover, grasslands, water and wet covers, and small woody features. The European Settlement Map also provides information on built-up areas at very detailed scales (from 2.5 m). HRL and ESM are recently launched datasets which, therefore, do not provide a long series of historical data. In addition, ESM is an experimental dataset produced within the framework of a research project funded by the European Commission and no updates are expected. The datasets reviewed in this chapter for other parts of the world focus on vegetation covers of tropical forests and other relevant areas in terms of biodiversity and environmental studies. These datasets were produced within projects funded by the European Commission and the United States Agency for International Development. Unlike the previous datasets for Europe, they are already outdated and are usually produced at coarser spatial resolutions: Insular Southeast Asia—Forest Cover Map (1 km, 1998/00); Continental Southeast Asia—Forest Cover Map (1 km, 1998/02). For its part, the Congo Basin Monitoring dataset, although outdated, provides information at a higher resolution (57 m) for two different dates: 1990, 2000. The Joint Research Centre of the European Commission also produced an African cropland mask as a source of information for policy-makers. Of all the datasets reviewed in this chapter, it is the only one to focus on agricultural covers. It was obtained from data fusion at 250 m. Consequently, it does not show the cropland areas of Africa for a specific date across the whole continent.

AbstractThis chapter examines the implementation of the whole school approach (WSA) to education for sustainable development in the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) region through 34 national reports submitted by its member states. The reports were analyzed under six axes: schools’ vision, ethos, leadership, and coordination; curriculum; pedagogy and didactics; school management and operations; professional development; and school environment. Despite a clear orientation toward a whole school approach, the analysis showed that within the UNECE region, the six axes were unevenly addressed and some were poorly reported, leading to a partial view of the state (e.g., school infrastructure). The results are discussed in the framework of the whole school approach literature providing insights on ways to strengthen the approach and eliminate gaps and challenges through the new implementation framework of the UNECE Strategy on ESD 2021–2030.

This chapter examines the impact of the Federal Reserve System on money and banking in the United States. The Federal Reserve System was created in 1913 by virtue of the Federal Reserve Act passed by Congress and signed by President Woodrow Wilson. The Federal Reserve Act (1913) provided not for one but for as many as twelve central banks. It was conceived as an answer to the great panics, but in this respect the System was notably defective. Nor was the System better as an antidote for an alarming epidemic of bank failures. Furthermore, the most severe inflation ever in peacetime occurred under its watch. The chapter considers the successes and failures of the Federal Reserve System and looks at another body established to study the management of money in the United States: the National Monetary Commission.

‘Another Legal Monster?’ That was the question asked by the Law Department of the European University Institute on 16 February 2012 in a debate about the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union (TSCG), also known as the Fiscal Compact Treaty. On 2 March 2012, twenty-five Member States of the European Union minus the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic signed the TSCG. A month before, on 2 February 2012, the euro area Member States signed the Treaty Establishing the European Stability Mechanism (ESM Treaty), another legal monster. In both cases, the monstrosity lies in the fact that Member States have preferred to conclude an international treaty, rather than to use the European Union (EU) institutional system. Why did the European Commission not propose a legislative act to establish a financial assistance mechanism in the Eurozone and strengthen the fiscal discipline in the EU? Does this mean the end of community method and a victory for the intergovernmental method? As Herman Van Rompuy commented about the crisis; ‘often the choice is not between the community method and the intergovernmental method, but between a co-ordinated European position and nothing at all’. In 2010, Angela Merkel defended her vision of a new ‘Union Method’ in a speech held at the College of Europe. This approach can be defined by the following description: ‘co-ordinated action in a spirit of solidarity–each of us in the area for which we are responsible but all working towards the same goal’. Each of us means the European institutions and Member States. The new ‘Euro-international’ treaties (or inter se treaties) raise a number of questions regarding their compatibility with EU law, implications for the Union legal system, institutional balance, national sovereignty and democratic accountability. These questions are all the more important because international treaties raise a number of questions on their compatibility with EU law, implications for the Union legal system and institutional balance.

Abstract Must a court, when enforcing a contract which by its terms is performable in a cur-23.01 rency other than the currency of the forum, give effect to the monetary laws of the country in which that currency is legal tender? For example, a plaintiff in a 1934 action before a US court had purchased prior to 1918 a life insurance policy payable in rubles. Is the insurer excused from paying on the policy because Russia has in the meantime issued a new currency without providing for a rate of exchange between the old and the new currency, thus making the old currency valueless? Recently, this issue has been much discussed in connection with the introduction of the Euro as a single currency for the Member States of the European Union that joined the third stage of the European Economic and Monetary Union and the establishment of fixed conversion rates between the replaced national currencies and the Euro.

Abstract The Belmont Report is a short document on moral principles that was published in 1978 by the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research (National Commission). Since that time it has provided a basic framework for analyzing ethical issues that arise during medical research in the United States and in many other countries.

owned enterprises (SOEs) have an essential role in national economies worldwide, but regardless of their acknowledged contribution to the global markets, divergent opinions and approaches can be observed when defining and characterizing these entities. On the other hand, international organizations such as OECD, International Monetary Fund, European Commission, United Nations, World Trade Organizations, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and professional organizations such as IPSASB and Chartered Institute of Management Accountants have an essential role in SOEs' activity. One of the biggest challenges that professional bodies have nowadays is to find a unique definition to match the need of practitioners and capture the complexity of SOEs. Even if there can be identified some common approaches between academicians, international, and professional organizations, there are some delicate areas that require substantial efforts for clarifications. The paper addresses this topic, aiming to clarify the main aspects concerning the definition of SOEs from international and professional organizations' points of view based on qualitative research methods.

A number of initiatives have been underway in the United States in the past several years in the area of clearance of solid materials both at the federal level and at the industry and professional society level. Clearance of solid materials is an issue that has significant economic consequences for decommissioning projects where large quantities of such materials are generated. The cost of treating these materials as low-level radioactive waste (LLW) is prohibitive. A regulatory mechanism could remove economic burdens on such projects while maintaining the public health and safety standards. At the federal level major initiatives are being undertaken by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has also taken some steps in this area under their Clean Materials Program. In the private sector, the nuclear industry is active through the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI). The Health Physics Society (HPS) prepared the ANSI/HPS N13.12 standard about four years ago, which has been approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The American Nuclear Society (ANS) has recently released a Position Statement on the clearance of licensed materials from nuclear sites and the Society has been active in the national deliberations on this subject. The National Academies (NA) conducted a study for the NRC on alternatives for controlling the release of solid materials and their report was issued in 2002. The steel and concrete industries have also participated in the NRC rulemaking process and are opposed to any release standards for materials that may have residual radioactivity on them. This was clear from industry representatives at the stakeholder workshops conducted by the NRC as a part of the enhanced rulemaking effort. A review of all these initiatives shows the intensity of the debate but it also highlights the need for one national standard, preferably dose based, thus allowing site-specific application through derived radioactivity limits. Thus, interagency cooperation and agreement are necessary at the federal level. Consensus is necessary with standard writing organizations, professional societies, public and other stakeholders. This paper provides an overview of the developments in the United States in the area of clearance of solid materials, a brief comparison to international activities, and a discussion of key points for consensus building that is necessary for any initiative to succeed.

The need to provide standardized guidance for the use of air cleaning systems in nuclear facilities was recognized in the 1960’s when plans for nuclear facilities were at their peak. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) asked a group of experts to generate documents for boiling-water-reactor standby gas treatment systems for accident mitigation. These experts immediately recognized that their scope needed expansion to include all air cleaning safety systems at all types of nuclear facilities. Their efforts resulted in the issuance of documents that provided guidance for the components in air cleaning systems (ANSI N509), and guidance for the testing of these systems (ANSI N510). Subsequently, it was recognized that this guidance needed to be formalized and implemented in a code format, with requirements instead of recommendations. Various other organizations were also providing guidance in different forms. The US government (the Nuclear Regulatory Commission) issued regulatory guides, and the American Society for Testing of Materials (ASTM) issued many documents providing specifications for activated carbon used in air cleaning systems for radioiodine removal. Acknowledging the need to consolidate all of these documents in a single source, the American Society for Mechanical Engineers (ASME) requested the air cleaning experts to work on publishing a code section under ASME auspices. This code section, designated AG-1, was assigned to a newly formed committee, the ASME Committee on Nuclear Air and Gas Treatment (CONAGT). This Committee started work in the mid 1970’s, and has issued various sections of the code since then, and the document now totals 600 pages. This code section covers the design, construction, installation, operation and testing of air cleaning systems in nuclear facilities. Work continues on updates to these sections of the AG-1 Code, as well as new sections specifically addressing gas processing systems. ASME code section AG-1 is the main international document for nuclear air cleaning systems for safe operation of nuclear power facilities, to ensure the safety of workers, and to protect public health and safety and the environment. The Code has four divisions, and a membership of over 100 of the premier air cleaning experts from 11 different countries.

Title 10 of the United States Code of Federal Regulations Part 71 for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (10 CFR Part 71.73[1]) requires that Type B radioactive material (RAM) packages satisfy certain Hypothetical Accident Conditions (HAC) thermal design requirements to ensure package safety during accidental fire conditions. Compliance with thermal design requirements can be met by prototype tests, analyses only or a combination of tests and analyses. Normally, it is impractical to meet all the HAC using tests only and the analytical methods are too complex due to the multi-physics non-linear nature of the fire event. Therefore, a combination of tests and thermal analyses methods using commercial heat transfer software are used to meet the necessary design requirements. The authors, along with his other colleagues at Savannah River National Laboratory in Aiken, SC, USA, have successfully used this ‘tests and analyses’ approach in the design and certification of several United States’ DOE/NNSA certified packages, e.g. 9975, 9977, 9978, 9979, H1700, and Bulk Tritium Shipping Package (BTSP). This paper will describe these methods and it is hoped that the RAM Type B package designers and analysts can use them for their applications.

Abstract The Deepwater Horizon accident is one of the major environmental disasters in the history of the United States. This accident occurred in 2010, when the Deepwater Horizon mobile offshore drilling unit exploded, while the rig's crew was conducting the drilling work of the exploratory well Macondo deep under the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Environmental damages included more than four million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico, and economic losses total tens of billions of dollars. The accident brought into question the effectiveness of the regulatory regime for preventing accidents, and protecting the marine environment from oil and gas operations, and prompted regulatory reforms. Ten years after the Deepwater Horizon accident, this article analyzes the implementation of Safety and Environmental Management Systems (SEMS) as one of the main regulatory reforms introduced in the United States after the accident. The analysis uses the theory of regulation which takes into account both state and non-state actors involved in regulation, and therefore, the shift from regulation to governance. The study includes regulations issued after the Deepwater Horizon accident, particularly, SEMS rules I and II, and reports conducted by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Commission on the BP Oil Spill, the Center for Offshore Safety, the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE). The article reveals that though offshore oil and gas operators in the U.S. federal waters have adopted SEMS, as a mechanism of self-regulation, there is not clarity on how SEMS have been implemented in practice towards achieving its goal of reducing risks. The BSEE, as the public regulator has the task of providing a complete analysis on the results of the three audits to SEMS conducted by the operators and third parties from 2013 to 2019. This article argues that the assessment of SEMS audits should be complemented with leading and lagging indicators in the industry in order to identify how SEMS have influenced safety behavior beyond regulatory compliance. BSEE has the challenge of providing this assessment and making transparency a cornerstone of SEMS regulations. In this way, the lessons of the DHW accident may be internalized by all actors in the offshore oil and gas industry.

This paper and its companion (Consonni et al., 2004) summarize the results of a major study (Larson, et al., 2003) that assessed performances, emissions, costs and overall benefits of black liquor gasification combined cycle (BLGCC) technology for the U.S. kraft pulp and paper industry. This paper presents analysis and estimates of the potential mill-level air emissions and financial performance of future commercial BLGCC systems described in technical detail in the companion paper. Also, potential regional and national impacts on energy consumption and emissions are estimated under different future BLGCC market penetration scenarios. Emission estimates for SO2, NOx, CO, volatile organic carbon (VOCs), particulate matter, total reduced sulfur (TRS) and CO2 are developed based on detailed quantitative data for Tomlinson furnaces and on extrapolation of gas turbine emissions and other relevant data for BLGCC systems. Prospective economics for a hypothetical representative mill in the Southeastern U.S. are assessed by assuming that an investment would be made in a new power/recovery system to replace an existing Tomlinson system that has reached the end of its working life. Key inputs to the financial analysis include the mass/energy balances shown in the companion paper and engineering cost estimates for each power/recovery system that were developed by two outside engineering firms. Because the overall objective of the study was to examine the long-term commercial potential for BLGCC, the capital cost estimates were based on assumed “Nth plant” levels of technology maturity and operational reliability. Widespread commercial implementation of BLGCC systems in the United States would enable significant energy savings for the country as a whole. Significant reductions in emissions of criteria pollutants and greenhouse gases could also be achieved, especially in the Southeastern United States, where two-thirds of U.S. kraft pulp mills are located. Relative to state-of-the-art Tomlinson systems, financial returns on investment are attractive without explicit valuation of environmental benefits. With monetary valuation of such benefits, the financial returns are very attractive.

Decommissioning of nuclear facilities requires management of bulk materials on a large scale. Clearance (also called “free release”) is an essential part of material management and is necessary to reduce the amount of radioactive waste generated. Cleared materials can either be recycled for other use or disposed of as conventional waste. While guidance for decommissioning of reactors in the United States is well established by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and License Termination criteria as codified in 10 CFR 20 Subpart E are applied, there is no specific criteria or detailed guidance for the clearance of solid materials. The issue has been around for over three decades. The approach taken by the NRC is still on a case by case basis. In contrast, the guidance at the international scene is more detailed and clearance of solid materials (for recycling or disposition) from the decommissioning of nuclear facilities is regularly practiced in European countries (such as, Sweden, Belgium and Germany). The cost of disposal of bulk materials from decommissioning, such as demolition debris that may or may not be contaminated, as radioactive waste is prohibitive. A path to free release under some criteria is necessary. It is not a question of radiological safety since there is consensus on extremely low dose criteria and these are accepted at the international level. It is rather, an issue of regulatory void in the United States where clarity and explicit guidance at the national level is pending. This paper provides an overview of national and international guidance and regulatory developments for the clearance of solid materials from nuclear decommissioning projects including dose risk based methodologies. It will summarize the cost dimension of the issue and the field experience gained from the Big Rock Point decommissioning project.

1.1 Macroeconomic summary Economic recovery has consistently outperformed the technical staff’s expectations following a steep decline in activity in the second quarter of 2020. At the same time, total and core inflation rates have fallen and remain at low levels, suggesting that a significant element of the reactivation of Colombia’s economy has been related to recovery in potential GDP. This would support the technical staff’s diagnosis of weak aggregate demand and ample excess capacity. The most recently available data on 2020 growth suggests a contraction in economic activity of 6.8%, lower than estimates from January’s Monetary Policy Report (-7.2%). High-frequency indicators suggest that economic performance was significantly more dynamic than expected in January, despite mobility restrictions and quarantine measures. This has also come amid declines in total and core inflation, the latter of which was below January projections if controlling for certain relative price changes. This suggests that the unexpected strength of recent growth contains elements of demand, and that excess capacity, while significant, could be lower than previously estimated. Nevertheless, uncertainty over the measurement of excess capacity continues to be unusually high and marked both by variations in the way different economic sectors and spending components have been affected by the pandemic, and by uneven price behavior. The size of excess capacity, and in particular the evolution of the pandemic in forthcoming quarters, constitute substantial risks to the macroeconomic forecast presented in this report. Despite the unexpected strength of the recovery, the technical staff continues to project ample excess capacity that is expected to remain on the forecast horizon, alongside core inflation that will likely remain below the target. Domestic demand remains below 2019 levels amid unusually significant uncertainty over the size of excess capacity in the economy. High national unemployment (14.6% for February 2021) reflects a loose labor market, while observed total and core inflation continue to be below 2%. Inflationary pressures from the exchange rate are expected to continue to be low, with relatively little pass-through on inflation. This would be compatible with a negative output gap. Excess productive capacity and the expectation of core inflation below the 3% target on the forecast horizon provide a basis for an expansive monetary policy posture. The technical staff’s assessment of certain shocks and their expected effects on the economy, as well as the presence of several sources of uncertainty and related assumptions about their potential macroeconomic impacts, remain a feature of this report. The coronavirus pandemic, in particular, continues to affect the public health environment, and the reopening of Colombia’s economy remains incomplete. The technical staff’s assessment is that the COVID-19 shock has affected both aggregate demand and supply, but that the impact on demand has been deeper and more persistent. Given this persistence, the central forecast accounts for a gradual tightening of the output gap in the absence of new waves of contagion, and as vaccination campaigns progress. The central forecast continues to include an expected increase of total and core inflation rates in the second quarter of 2021, alongside the lapse of the temporary price relief measures put in place in 2020. Additional COVID-19 outbreaks (of uncertain duration and intensity) represent a significant risk factor that could affect these projections. Additionally, the forecast continues to include an upward trend in sovereign risk premiums, reflected by higher levels of public debt that in the wake of the pandemic are likely to persist on the forecast horizon, even in the context of a fiscal adjustment. At the same time, the projection accounts for the shortterm effects on private domestic demand from a fiscal adjustment along the lines of the one currently being proposed by the national government. This would be compatible with a gradual recovery of private domestic demand in 2022. The size and characteristics of the fiscal adjustment that is ultimately implemented, as well as the corresponding market response, represent another source of forecast uncertainty. Newly available information offers evidence of the potential for significant changes to the macroeconomic scenario, though without altering the general diagnosis described above. The most recent data on inflation, growth, fiscal policy, and international financial conditions suggests a more dynamic economy than previously expected. However, a third wave of the pandemic has delayed the re-opening of Colombia’s economy and brought with it a deceleration in economic activity. Detailed descriptions of these considerations and subsequent changes to the macroeconomic forecast are presented below. The expected annual decline in GDP (-0.3%) in the first quarter of 2021 appears to have been less pronounced than projected in January (-4.8%). Partial closures in January to address a second wave of COVID-19 appear to have had a less significant negative impact on the economy than previously estimated. This is reflected in figures related to mobility, energy demand, industry and retail sales, foreign trade, commercial transactions from selected banks, and the national statistics agency’s (DANE) economic tracking indicator (ISE). Output is now expected to have declined annually in the first quarter by 0.3%. Private consumption likely continued to recover, registering levels somewhat above those from the previous year, while public consumption likely increased significantly. While a recovery in investment in both housing and in other buildings and structures is expected, overall investment levels in this case likely continued to be low, and gross fixed capital formation is expected to continue to show significant annual declines. Imports likely recovered to again outpace exports, though both are expected to register significant annual declines. Economic activity that outpaced projections, an increase in oil prices and other export products, and an expected increase in public spending this year account for the upward revision to the 2021 growth forecast (from 4.6% with a range between 2% and 6% in January, to 6.0% with a range between 3% and 7% in April). As a result, the output gap is expected to be smaller and to tighten more rapidly than projected in the previous report, though it is still expected to remain in negative territory on the forecast horizon. Wide forecast intervals reflect the fact that the future evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic remains a significant source of uncertainty on these projections. The delay in the recovery of economic activity as a result of the resurgence of COVID-19 in the first quarter appears to have been less significant than projected in the January report. The central forecast scenario expects this improved performance to continue in 2021 alongside increased consumer and business confidence. Low real interest rates and an active credit supply would also support this dynamic, and the overall conditions would be expected to spur a recovery in consumption and investment. Increased growth in public spending and public works based on the national government’s spending plan (Plan Financiero del Gobierno) are other factors to consider. Additionally, an expected recovery in global demand and higher projected prices for oil and coffee would further contribute to improved external revenues and would favor investment, in particular in the oil sector. Given the above, the technical staff’s 2021 growth forecast has been revised upward from 4.6% in January (range from 2% to 6%) to 6.0% in April (range from 3% to 7%). These projections account for the potential for the third wave of COVID-19 to have a larger and more persistent effect on the economy than the previous wave, while also supposing that there will not be any additional significant waves of the pandemic and that mobility restrictions will be relaxed as a result. Economic growth in 2022 is expected to be 3%, with a range between 1% and 5%. This figure would be lower than projected in the January report (3.6% with a range between 2% and 6%), due to a higher base of comparison given the upward revision to expected GDP in 2021. This forecast also takes into account the likely effects on private demand of a fiscal adjustment of the size currently being proposed by the national government, and which would come into effect in 2022. Excess in productive capacity is now expected to be lower than estimated in January but continues to be significant and affected by high levels of uncertainty, as reflected in the wide forecast intervals. The possibility of new waves of the virus (of uncertain intensity and duration) represents a significant downward risk to projected GDP growth, and is signaled by the lower limits of the ranges provided in this report. Inflation (1.51%) and inflation excluding food and regulated items (0.94%) declined in March compared to December, continuing below the 3% target. The decline in inflation in this period was below projections, explained in large part by unanticipated increases in the costs of certain foods (3.92%) and regulated items (1.52%). An increase in international food and shipping prices, increased foreign demand for beef, and specific upward pressures on perishable food supplies appear to explain a lower-than-expected deceleration in the consumer price index (CPI) for foods. An unexpected increase in regulated items prices came amid unanticipated increases in international fuel prices, on some utilities rates, and for regulated education prices. The decline in annual inflation excluding food and regulated items between December and March was in line with projections from January, though this included downward pressure from a significant reduction in telecommunications rates due to the imminent entry of a new operator. When controlling for the effects of this relative price change, inflation excluding food and regulated items exceeds levels forecast in the previous report. Within this indicator of core inflation, the CPI for goods (1.05%) accelerated due to a reversion of the effects of the VAT-free day in November, which was largely accounted for in February, and possibly by the transmission of a recent depreciation of the peso on domestic prices for certain items (electric and household appliances). For their part, services prices decelerated and showed the lowest rate of annual growth (0.89%) among the large consumer baskets in the CPI. Within the services basket, the annual change in rental prices continued to decline, while those services that continue to experience the most significant restrictions on returning to normal operations (tourism, cinemas, nightlife, etc.) continued to register significant price declines. As previously mentioned, telephone rates also fell significantly due to increased competition in the market. Total inflation is expected to continue to be affected by ample excesses in productive capacity for the remainder of 2021 and 2022, though less so than projected in January. As a result, convergence to the inflation target is now expected to be somewhat faster than estimated in the previous report, assuming the absence of significant additional outbreaks of COVID-19. The technical staff’s year-end inflation projections for 2021 and 2022 have increased, suggesting figures around 3% due largely to variation in food and regulated items prices. The projection for inflation excluding food and regulated items also increased, but remains below 3%. Price relief measures on indirect taxes implemented in 2020 are expected to lapse in the second quarter of 2021, generating a one-off effect on prices and temporarily affecting inflation excluding food and regulated items. However, indexation to low levels of past inflation, weak demand, and ample excess productive capacity are expected to keep core inflation below the target, near 2.3% at the end of 2021 (previously 2.1%). The reversion in 2021 of the effects of some price relief measures on utility rates from 2020 should lead to an increase in the CPI for regulated items in the second half of this year. Annual price changes are now expected to be higher than estimated in the January report due to an increased expected path for fuel prices and unanticipated increases in regulated education prices. The projection for the CPI for foods has increased compared to the previous report, taking into account certain factors that were not anticipated in January (a less favorable agricultural cycle, increased pressure from international prices, and transport costs). Given the above, year-end annual inflation for 2021 and 2022 is now expected to be 3% and 2.8%, respectively, which would be above projections from January (2.3% and 2,7%). For its part, expected inflation based on analyst surveys suggests year-end inflation in 2021 and 2022 of 2.8% and 3.1%, respectively. There remains significant uncertainty surrounding the inflation forecasts included in this report due to several factors: 1) the evolution of the pandemic; 2) the difficulty in evaluating the size and persistence of excess productive capacity; 3) the timing and manner in which price relief measures will lapse; and 4) the future behavior of food prices. Projected 2021 growth in foreign demand (4.4% to 5.2%) and the supposed average oil price (USD 53 to USD 61 per Brent benchmark barrel) were both revised upward. An increase in long-term international interest rates has been reflected in a depreciation of the peso and could result in relatively tighter external financial conditions for emerging market economies, including Colombia. Average growth among Colombia’s trade partners was greater than expected in the fourth quarter of 2020. This, together with a sizable fiscal stimulus approved in the United States and the onset of a massive global vaccination campaign, largely explains the projected increase in foreign demand growth in 2021. The resilience of the goods market in the face of global crisis and an expected normalization in international trade are additional factors. These considerations and the expected continuation of a gradual reduction of mobility restrictions abroad suggest that Colombia’s trade partners could grow on average by 5.2% in 2021 and around 3.4% in 2022. The improved prospects for global economic growth have led to an increase in current and expected oil prices. Production interruptions due to a heavy winter, reduced inventories, and increased supply restrictions instituted by producing countries have also contributed to the increase. Meanwhile, market forecasts and recent Federal Reserve pronouncements suggest that the benchmark interest rate in the U.S. will remain stable for the next two years. Nevertheless, a significant increase in public spending in the country has fostered expectations for greater growth and inflation, as well as increased uncertainty over the moment in which a normalization of monetary policy might begin. This has been reflected in an increase in long-term interest rates. In this context, emerging market economies in the region, including Colombia, have registered increases in sovereign risk premiums and long-term domestic interest rates, and a depreciation of local currencies against the dollar. Recent outbreaks of COVID-19 in several of these economies; limits on vaccine supply and the slow pace of immunization campaigns in some countries; a significant increase in public debt; and tensions between the United States and China, among other factors, all add to a high level of uncertainty surrounding interest rate spreads, external financing conditions, and the future performance of risk premiums. The impact that this environment could have on the exchange rate and on domestic financing conditions represent risks to the macroeconomic and monetary policy forecasts. Domestic financial conditions continue to favor recovery in economic activity. The transmission of reductions to the policy interest rate on credit rates has been significant. The banking portfolio continues to recover amid circumstances that have affected both the supply and demand for loans, and in which some credit risks have materialized. Preferential and ordinary commercial interest rates have fallen to a similar degree as the benchmark interest rate. As is generally the case, this transmission has come at a slower pace for consumer credit rates, and has been further delayed in the case of mortgage rates. Commercial credit levels stabilized above pre-pandemic levels in March, following an increase resulting from significant liquidity requirements for businesses in the second quarter of 2020. The consumer credit portfolio continued to recover and has now surpassed February 2020 levels, though overall growth in the portfolio remains low. At the same time, portfolio projections and default indicators have increased, and credit establishment earnings have come down. Despite this, credit disbursements continue to recover and solvency indicators remain well above regulatory minimums. 1.2 Monetary policy decision In its meetings in March and April the BDBR left the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 1.75%.

UNIDIR defines WAM in a comprehensive manner covering the oversight, accountability and governance of conventional arms and ammunition throughout their management cycle, including the establishment of relevant national frameworks, processes and practices for the safe and secure production and acquisition of materiel, stockpiling, transfers, end use control, tracing and disposal. This holistic approach is essential in ensuring that efforts to better regulate arms and ammunition are undertaken in alignment with broader security sector, rule of law, armed violence reduction, counter-terrorism, and peacebuilding processes, and not in isolation. This country insight presents key findings of the national WAM baseline follow-up assessment conducted in April 2022 by the Government of the Central African Republic (CAR), via the designated national lead entity, the Commission nationale de Lutte contre la Prolifération des Armes Légères et de Petit Calibre (ComNat-ALPC) in cooperation with and with technical assistance from the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), with the organisational and logistical support of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in the CAR (MINUSCA). The publication draws from the comprehensive baseline follow-up assessment report transmitted by UNIDIR to the Government of CAR in August 2022 and sheds light on the progress made in WAM since the first baseline assessment in 2017, the existing institutional and operational capacities, challenges faced by the Central African authorities at the strategic and operational levels and options for further strengthening the national framework governing the life-cycle management of weapons and ammunition in CAR. The Country Insight covers the period up to April 2022 and does not reflect or take into account more recent changes and developments including with regards to WAM in CAR since April 2022. Nevertheless, most of the main findings as well as the identified options to further strengthening WAM in CAR remain relevant and valid. UNIDIR encourages the community of states, regional and sub-regional organisations and relevant international partners to consult this CAR WAM Country Insight, as well as its Country Insight and Annual WAM Update series, as a basis for strengthening WAM policies and practices at different levels as well as planning, implementing and evaluating future programmes and projects related to WAM, and related areas, in CAR and other respective African States.

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) is promoting the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) for America Act, introduced in Congress in June 2020. An SIA press release describes the bill as “bipartisan legislation that would invest tens of billions of dollars in semiconductor manufacturing incentives and research initiatives over the next 5-10 years to strengthen and sustain American leadership in chip technology, which is essential to our country’s economy and national security.” On June 8, 2021, the Senate approved $52 billion for the CHIPS for America Act, dedicated to supporting the U.S. semiconductor industry over the next decade. As of this writing, the Act awaits approval in the House of Representatives. This paper highlights a curious paradox: Most of the SIA corporate members now lobbying for the CHIPS for America Act have squandered past support that the U.S. semiconductor industry has received from the U.S. government for decades by using their corporate cash to do buybacks to boost their own companies’ stock prices. Among the SIA corporate signatories of the letter to President Biden, the five largest stock repurchasers—Intel, IBM, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, and Broadcom—did a combined $249 billion in buybacks over the decade 2011-2020, equal to 71 percent of their profits and almost five times the subsidies over the next decade for which the SIA is lobbying. In addition, among the members of the Semiconductors in America Coalition (SIAC), formed specifically in May 2021 to lobby Congress for the passage of the CHIPS for America Act, are Apple, Microsoft, Cisco, and Google. These firms spent a combined $633 billion on buybacks during 2011-2020. That is about 12 times the government subsidies provided under the CHIPS for America Act to support semiconductor fabrication in the United States in the upcoming decade. If the Congress wants to achieve the legislation’s stated purpose of promoting major new investments in semiconductors, it needs to deal with this paradox. It could, for example, require the SIA and SIAC to extract pledges from its member corporations that they will cease doing stock buybacks as open-market repurchases over the next ten years. Such regulation could be a first step in rescinding Securities and Exchange Commission Rule 10b-18, which has since 1982 been a major cause of extreme income inequality and loss of global industrial competitiveness in the United States.

Macroeconomic summary Several factors contributed to an increase in projected inflation on the forecast horizon, keeping it above the target rate. These included inflation in December that surpassed expectations (5.62%), indexation to higher inflation rates for various baskets in the consumer price index (CPI), a significant real increase in the legal minimum wage, persistent external and domestic inflationary supply shocks, and heightened exchange rate pressures. The CPI for foods was affected by the persistence of external and domestic supply shocks and was the most significant contributor to unexpectedly high inflation in the fourth quarter. Price adjustments for fuels and certain utilities can explain the acceleration in inflation for regulated items, which was more significant than anticipated. Prices in the CPI for goods excluding food and regulated items also rose more than expected. This was partly due to a smaller effect on prices from the national government’s VAT-free day than anticipated by the technical staff and more persistent external pressures, including via peso depreciation. By contrast, the CPI for services excluding food and regulated items accelerated less than expected, partly reflecting strong competition in the communications sector. This was the only major CPI basket for which prices increased below the target inflation rate. The technical staff revised its inflation forecast upward in response to certain external shocks (prices, costs, and depreciation) and domestic shocks (e.g., on meat products) that were stronger and more persistent than anticipated in the previous report. Observed inflation and a real increase in the legal minimum wage also exceeded expectations, which would boost inflation by affecting price indexation, labor costs, and inflation expectations. The technical staff now expects year-end headline inflation of 4.3% in 2022 and 3.4% in 2023; core inflation is projected to be 4.5% and 3.6%, respectively. These forecasts consider the lapse of certain price relief measures associated with the COVID-19 health emergency, which would contribute to temporarily keeping inflation above the target on the forecast horizon. It is important to note that these estimates continue to contain a significant degree of uncertainty, mainly related to the development of external and domestic supply shocks and their ultimate effects on prices. Other contributing factors include high price volatility and measurement uncertainty related to the extension of Colombia’s health emergency and tax relief measures (such as the VAT-free days) associated with the Social Investment Law (Ley de Inversión Social). The as-yet uncertain magnitude of the effects of a recent real increase in the legal minimum wage (that was high by historical standards) and high observed and expected inflation, are additional factors weighing on the overall uncertainty of the estimates in this report. The size of excess productive capacity remaining in the economy and the degree to which it is closing are also uncertain, as the evolution of the pandemic continues to represent a significant forecast risk. margin, could be less dynamic than expected. And the normalization of monetary policy in the United States could come more quickly than projected in this report, which could negatively affect international financing costs. Finally, there remains a significant degree of uncertainty related to the duration of supply chocks and the degree to which macroeconomic and political conditions could negatively affect the recovery in investment. The technical staff revised its GDP growth projection for 2022 from 4.7% to 4.3% (Graph 1.3). This revision accounts for the likelihood that a larger portion of the recent positive dynamic in private consumption would be transitory than previously expected. This estimate also contemplates less dynamic investment behavior than forecast in the previous report amid less favorable financial conditions and a highly uncertain investment environment. Third-quarter GDP growth (12.9%), which was similar to projections from the October report, and the fourth-quarter growth forecast (8.7%) reflect a positive consumption trend, which has been revised upward. This dynamic has been driven by both public and private spending. Investment growth, meanwhile, has been weaker than forecast. Available fourth-quarter data suggest that consumption spending for the period would have exceeded estimates from October, thanks to three consecutive months that included VAT-free days, a relatively low COVID-19 caseload, and mobility indicators similar to their pre-pandemic levels. By contrast, the most recently available figures on new housing developments and machinery and equipment imports suggest that investment, while continuing to rise, is growing at a slower rate than anticipated in the previous report. The trade deficit is expected to have widened, as imports would have grown at a high level and outpaced exports. Given the above, the technical staff now expects fourth-quarter economic growth of 8.7%, with overall growth for 2021 of 9.9%. Several factors should continue to contribute to output recovery in 2022, though some of these may be less significant than previously forecast. International financial conditions are expected to be less favorable, though external demand should continue to recover and terms of trade continue to increase amid higher projected oil prices. Lower unemployment rates and subsequent positive effects on household income, despite increased inflation, would also boost output recovery, as would progress in the national vaccination campaign. The technical staff expects that the conditions that have favored recent high levels of consumption would be, in large part, transitory. Consumption spending is expected to grow at a slower rate in 2022. Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) would continue to recover, approaching its pre-pandemic level, though at a slower rate than anticipated in the previous report. This would be due to lower observed GFCF levels and the potential impact of political and fiscal uncertainty. Meanwhile, the policy interest rate would be less expansionary as the process of monetary policy normalization continues. Given the above, growth in 2022 is forecast to decelerate to 4.3% (previously 4.7%). In 2023, that figure (3.1%) is projected to converge to levels closer to the potential growth rate. In this case, excess productive capacity would be expected to tighten at a similar rate as projected in the previous report. The trade deficit would tighten more than previously projected on the forecast horizon, due to expectations of an improved export dynamic and moderation in imports. The growth forecast for 2022 considers a low basis of comparison from the first half of 2021. However, there remain significant downside risks to this forecast. The current projection does not, for example, account for any additional effects on economic activity resulting from further waves of COVID-19. High private consumption levels, which have already surpassed pre-pandemic levels by a large margin, could be less dynamic than expected. And the normalization of monetary policy in the United States could come more quickly than projected in this report, which could negatively affect international financing costs. Finally, there remains a significant degree of uncertainty related to the duration of supply chocks and the degree to which macroeconomic and political conditions could negatively affect the recovery in investment. External demand for Colombian goods and services should continue to recover amid significant global inflation pressures, high oil prices, and less favorable international financial conditions than those estimated in October. Economic activity among Colombia’s major trade partners recovered in 2021 amid countries reopening and ample international liquidity. However, that growth has been somewhat restricted by global supply chain disruptions and new outbreaks of COVID-19. The technical staff has revised its growth forecast for Colombia’s main trade partners from 6.3% to 6.9% for 2021, and from 3.4% to 3.3% for 2022; trade partner economies are expected to grow 2.6% in 2023. Colombia’s annual terms of trade increased in 2021, largely on higher oil, coffee, and coal prices. This improvement came despite increased prices for goods and services imports. The expected oil price trajectory has been revised upward, partly to supply restrictions and lagging investment in the sector that would offset reduced growth forecasts in some major economies. Elevated freight and raw materials costs and supply chain disruptions continue to affect global goods production, and have led to increases in global prices. Coupled with the recovery in global demand, this has put upward pressure on external inflation. Several emerging market economies have continued to normalize monetary policy in this context. Meanwhile, in the United States, the Federal Reserve has anticipated an end to its asset buying program. U.S. inflation in December (7.0%) was again surprisingly high and market average inflation forecasts for 2022 have increased. The Fed is expected to increase its policy rate during the first quarter of 2022, with quarterly increases anticipated over the rest of the year. For its part, Colombia’s sovereign risk premium has increased and is forecast to remain on a higher path, to levels above the 15-year-average, on the forecast horizon. This would be partly due to the effects of a less expansionary monetary policy in the United States and the accumulation of macroeconomic imbalances in Colombia. Given the above, international financial conditions are projected to be less favorable than anticipated in the October report. The increase in Colombia’s external financing costs could be more significant if upward pressures on inflation in the United States persist and monetary policy is normalized more quickly than contemplated in this report. As detailed in Section 2.3, uncertainty surrounding international financial conditions continues to be unusually high. Along with other considerations, recent concerns over the potential effects of new COVID-19 variants, the persistence of global supply chain disruptions, energy crises in certain countries, growing geopolitical tensions, and a more significant deceleration in China are all factors underlying this uncertainty. The changing macroeconomic environment toward greater inflation and unanchoring risks on inflation expectations imply a reduction in the space available for monetary policy stimulus. Recovery in domestic demand and a reduction in excess productive capacity have come in line with the technical staff’s expectations from the October report. Some upside risks to inflation have materialized, while medium-term inflation expectations have increased and are above the 3% target. Monetary policy remains expansionary. Significant global inflationary pressures and the unexpected increase in the CPI in December point to more persistent effects from recent supply shocks. Core inflation is trending upward, but remains below the 3% target. Headline and core inflation projections have increased on the forecast horizon and are above the target rate through the end of 2023. Meanwhile, the expected dynamism of domestic demand would be in line with low levels of excess productive capacity. An accumulation of macroeconomic imbalances in Colombia and the increased likelihood of a faster normalization of monetary policy in the United States would put upward pressure on sovereign risk perceptions in a more persistent manner, with implications for the exchange rate and the natural rate of interest. Persistent disruptions to international supply chains, a high real increase in the legal minimum wage, and the indexation of various baskets in the CPI to higher inflation rates could affect price expectations and push inflation above the target more persistently. These factors suggest that the space to maintain monetary stimulus has continued to diminish, though monetary policy remains expansionary. 1.2 Monetary policy decision Banco de la República’s board of directors (BDBR) in its meetings in December 2021 and January 2022 voted to continue normalizing monetary policy. The BDBR voted by a majority in these two meetings to increase the benchmark interest rate by 50 and 100 basis points, respectively, bringing the policy rate to 4.0%.

A strong mandate and need for socioeconomic monitoring are expressed in the NPS strategic goals for science, in statements by the NPS leadership, and the report of the Second Century Commission. This mandate resulted in a pilot socioeconomic monitoring study in 2015/2016 at a sample of park units across the U.S; the current study uses outcomes from the first stage of the pilot program and progresses into a second stage of the pilot process at 24 NPS units across the United States. General Grant National Memorial was selected as one of these units. This report informs core issues of visitor use management and develops a deeper, contemporary understanding of who visits General Grant National Memorial and what they do during their visit. It uses a two-phased survey methodology to capture a representative sample of visitor information, characteristics, and behavior: (1) an on-site intercept survey conducted via tablet, and (2) a follow up (mail-back and/or online survey) for full trip details. The results are organized by these two phases and are aimed to assist park managers in understanding current utilization and perception of park resources, operations and potential issues, as well as facilitating communication and decision-making processes within the park and between the park and its local partners and stakeholders.

A strong mandate and need for socioeconomic monitoring are expressed in the NPS strategic goals for science, in statements by the NPS leadership, and the report of the Second Century Commission. This mandate resulted in a pilot socioeconomic monitoring study in 2015/2016 at a sample of park units across the U.S; the current study uses outcomes from the first stage of the pilot program and progresses into a second stage of the pilot process at 24 NPS units across the United States. Isle Royale National Park (Isle Royale) was selected as one of these units. This report informs core issues of visitor use management and develops a deeper, contemporary understanding of who visits Isle Royale and what they do during their visit. It uses a two-phased survey methodology to capture a representative sample of visitor information, characteristics, and behavior: (1) an on-site intercept survey conducted via tablet, and (2) a follow up (mail-back and/or online survey) for full trip details. The results are organized by these two phases and are aimed to assist park managers in understanding current utilization and perception of park resources, operations and potential issues, as well as facilitating communication and decision-making processes within the park and between the park and its local partners and stakeholders.

A strong mandate and need for socioeconomic monitoring are expressed in the NPS strategic goals for science, in statements by the NPS leadership, and the report of the Second Century Commission. This mandate resulted in a pilot socioeconomic monitoring study in 2015/2016 at a sample of park units across the U.S; the current study uses outcomes from the first stage of the pilot program and progresses into a second stage of the pilot process at 24 NPS units across the United States. Morristown National Historical Park (Morristown) was selected as one of these units. This report informs core issues of visitor use management and develops a deeper, contemporary understanding of who visits Morristown and what they do during their visit. It uses a two-phased survey methodology to capture a representative sample of visitor information, characteristics, and behavior: (1) an on-site intercept survey conducted via tablet, and (2) a follow up (mail-back and/or online survey) for full trip details. The results are organized by these two phases and are aimed to assist park managers in understanding current utilization and perception of park resources, operations and potential issues, as well as facilitating communication and decision-making processes within the park and between the park and its local partners and stakeholders.

A strong mandate and need for socioeconomic monitoring are expressed in the NPS strategic goals for science, in statements by the NPS leadership, and the report of the Second Century Commission. This mandate resulted in a pilot socioeconomic monitoring study in 2015/2016 at a sample of park units across the U.S; the current study uses outcomes from the first stage of the pilot program and progresses into a second stage of the pilot process at 24 NPS units across the United States. National Capital Parks - Central was selected as one of these units. This report informs core issues of visitor use management and develops a deeper, contemporary understanding of who visits National Capital Parks - Central and what they do during their visit. It uses a two-phased survey methodology to capture a representative sample of visitor information, characteristics, and behavior: (1) an on-site intercept survey conducted via tablet, and (2) a follow up (mail-back and/or online survey) for full trip details. The results are organized by these two phases and are aimed to assist park managers in understanding current utilization and perception of park resources, operations and potential issues, as well as facilitating communication and decision-making processes within the park and between the park and its local partners and stakeholders.

A strong mandate and need for socioeconomic monitoring are expressed in the NPS strategic goals for science, in statements by the NPS leadership, and the report of the Second Century Commission. This mandate resulted in a pilot socioeconomic monitoring study in 2015/2016 at a sample of park units across the U.S; the current study uses outcomes from the first stage of the pilot program and progresses into a second stage of the pilot process at 24 NPS units across the United States. Niobrara National Scenic River (Niobrara NSR) was selected as one of these units. This report informs core issues of visitor use management and develops a deeper, contemporary understanding of who visits Niobrara NSR and what they do during their visit. It uses a two-phased survey methodology to capture a representative sample of visitor information, characteristics, and behavior: (1) an on-site intercept survey conducted via tablet, and (2) a follow up (mail-back and/or online survey) for full trip details. The results are organized by these two phases and are aimed to assist park managers in understanding current utilization and perception of park resources, operations and potential issues, as well as facilitating communication and decision-making processes within the park and between the park and its local partners and stakeholders.

A strong mandate and need for socioeconomic monitoring are expressed in the NPS strategic goals for science, in statements by the NPS leadership, and the report of the Second Century Commission. This mandate resulted in a pilot socioeconomic monitoring study in 2015/2016 at a sample of park units across the U.S; the current study uses outcomes from the first stage of the pilot program and progresses into a second stage of the pilot process at 24 NPS units across the United States. Gateway Arch National Park (Gateway Arch) was selected as one of these units. This report informs core issues of visitor use management and develops a deeper, contemporary understanding of who visits Gateway Arch and what they do during their visit. It uses a two-phased survey methodology to capture a representative sample of visitor information, characteristics, and behavior: (1) an on-site intercept survey conducted via tablet, and (2) a follow up (mail-back and/or online survey) for full trip details. The results are organized by these two phases and are aimed to assist park managers in understanding current utilization and perception of park resources, operations and potential issues, as well as facilitating communication and decision-making processes within the park and between the park and its local partners and stakeholders.