Circular 60

The University o f Alaska-Fairbanks reindeer program has existed under its current organizational framework since 1981. Program guidance across the three functions o f research, extension, and instruction continues to meet with support both internal and external to the university. The program ’s user group, the Alaska Reindeer Herders Association, is an ideal Land Grant/Sea Grant recipient for such guidance. Several major issues outlined by the Reindeer Herders Association’s first five-year plan have been addressed during the past few years. In most cases the university’s input has helped to resolve the association’s concerns. Currently a new five-year plan is being developed, and the university’s reindeer program is responding by redirecting its efforts toward emerging issues. This report identifies recent accomplishments in the reindeer program , continuing efforts, and projected areas of future effort

Inflation, growth, and financial intermediation - commentary

Inflation (Finance)

Spaceport operations for deep space missions

Space Station Freedom is designed with the capability to cost-effectively evolve into a transportation node which can support manned lunar and Mars missions. To extend a permanent human presence to the outer planets (moon outposts) and to nearby star systems, additional orbiting space infrastructure and great advances in propulsion system and other technologies will be required. To identify primary operations and management requirements for these deep space missions, an interstellar design concept was developed and analyzed. The assembly, test, servicing, logistics resupply, and increment management techniques anticipated for lunar and Mars missions appear to provide a pattern which can be extended in an analogous manner to deep space missions. A long range, space infrastructure development plan (encompassing deep space missions) coupled with energetic, breakthrough level propulsion research should be initiated now to assist in making the best budget and schedule decisions

Should the decline in the personal saving rate be a cause for concern?

The personal saving rate has received particular attention recently because saving was negative in 2005 for the first time since the Great Depression. Although saving declined in other developed countries during this period, the U.S. decline was more pronounced than in most of these countries. ; A major concern is whether U.S. households are providing adequately for long-term needs, such as future retirement and medical expenses. In addition, low personal saving has created short-run concerns that a sudden increase in the saving rate could reduce growth of consumer spending, real output, and employment. ; But there is another, often overlooked side to this story. Two major factors suggest the decline in the personal saving rate may not be as alarming as it is sometimes made out to be. First, various measurement problems with the personal saving rate from the national income and product accounts suggest household saving may not have declined as much as the statistics suggest. Second, economic theory assumes that households rationally anticipate future labor income and asset returns and plan their spending accordingly. If this assumption is correct, the low personal saving rate may not foreshadow wrenching future adjustments in consumer spending. ; Garner provides some perspective on the decline in the personal saving rate over the last two decades. After weighing the issues, he concludes that, although there are some legitimate reasons for concern, the decline in the personal saving rate may not be as alarming as it first appears.Saving and investment

Offshoring in the service sector : economic impact and policy issues

The United States continues to run an international trade surplus in services, but business stories frequently appear about service-sector jobs moving offshore. Many Americans are particularly concerned about the loss of skilled, well-paid jobs in such fields as computer programming and accounting. These jobs seemed relatively secure at a time when many manufacturing jobs were being lost to import competition. Similarly, telephone call centers, once viewed as an economic development opportunity in some areas, increasingly are moving to low-wage countries, such as India and the Philippines. Reflecting this growing concern, some members of Congress and state legislators have focused attention on the offshoring of service jobs and production, even introducing legislation to limit the outsourcing of jobs to other countries. Offshoring raises many questions for policymakers and the general public. For example, which service jobs will be affected most by import competition? What are the most likely effects of service-sector offshoring on U.S. output, employment, and, most important, our standard of living? Is offshoring really a problem that requires restrictive government actions, or are other kinds of policies more appropriate to give Americans the highest possible living standard? ; Garner examines the economic effects of offshoring and possible policy responses. He finds that although the offshoring of service jobs hurts some workers, offshoring should not permanently lower U.S. employment or production. ; Moreover, the average living standard can benefit over the long run if the nation adopts policies to retrain displaced workers and move them into expanding industries.Service industries

The equilibrium to exchange rates

An abstract for this article is not availableForeign exchange rates

The dynamics of patent citations

The use of patent citations as a measure of patent "quality" increased dramatically in recent years. I estimate the hazard of patent citation, and find evidence of unobserved heterogeneity. Hazard estimation provides a means to separate patent quality from citation "inflation."

The equilibrium to exchange rates

An abstract for this article is not availableForeign exchange rates