Urban Institute: International Issues
Urban Institute reports on: International Issues - The Urban Institute is a nonprofit nonpartisan policy research and educational organization established to examine the social, economic, and governance problems facing the nation.

• Stabilizing Future Fiscal Policy : It's Time to Pull the Trigger
  Fiscal policy is out of control. Programs, such as Social Security and Medicare, have design features that push up spending faster than the growth of revenues. It is time to change the course of the automatic pilot driving these programs. To do so, policymakers can develop triggers that automatically curb spending. Triggers will level the playing field between programs that have large automatic growth and those where growth or even maintenance of effort cannot be obtained without new legislation. The paper examines triggers employed to reform Social Security in other advanced democracies and explores design options for an optimal trigger.
• Replacement Rates and UC Benefit Generosity
  This report presents an actuarial framework for examining the costs of unemployment compensation (UC) programs. The framework, derived in Section 1, emphasizes three factors: (1) the unemployment rate, (2) the recipiency rate (the share of the unemployed who collect UC benefits) and (3) the replacement rate (weekly benefits relative to weekly wages). Sections 2 and 3 examine replacement rates in 20 high income countries from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Section 2 examines empirical replacement rates while Section 3 compares the empirical estimates from Section 2 with estimates published by the OECD. The two estimates differ substantially, and analysis of the cause(s) of the differences is recommended.
• Comprehensive Services for Survivors of Human Trafficking : Findings from Clients in Three Communities
  Many humans are trafficked across international borders for the purposes of labor or sexual exploitation. The Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) developed the Services for Trafficking Victims Discretionary Grant Program - Comprehensive Services Sites. The program provides direct services, such as legal and crisis counseling to assist victims once they are identified until they are certified to receive other federal benefits. Urban Institute researchers conducted face-to-face interviews with survivors and with key service providers in three evaluation sites. The in-depth interviews document victims service needs, their experiences using OVC-funded services, and barriers to services. They also provide a unique opportunity to listen directly to the voices of the victims.
• Univ. of Maryland's Charles Cadwell Is Appointed Director of Urban Institute's International Activities Center
  Charles Cadwell, a University of Maryland expert on the political economy of reform in developing nations, the relationship of institutions to economic development, and the implementation of legal and judicial reforms, has joined the Urban Institute as the director of its International Activities Center.
• Real Estate 101 for Government
  This Baltimore Examiner commentary explains how government agencies and elected officials can make informed decisions about when or whether to sell property and how to set a fair price.
• The International Charitable Nonprofit Subsector : Scope, Size, and Revenue
  This brief provides an overview of the report, The International Charitable Nonprofit Subsector in the United States. It provides a snapshot of the international subsector through an analysis of trends in their size, resources, and scope from FY 2001 to FY 2003 in three major areas of operation: international development and assistance, international understanding, and international affairs. The brief confirms the central role of private support and financing for foreign aid and provides a window into the financial health of these organizations. It also gives an overview of the geographic concentrations and the depth of U.S. international nonprofit activities and enumerates the importance of small organizations.
• 40 Percent of U.S.-Based International Nonprofits Ran Deficits in 2003
  A new report from the Urban Institute shows that despite widespread public concern in recent years about the plight of people in foreign lands, 40 percent of U.S.-based international nonprofits ran deficits in 2003.
• The Right Way to Sell Off Public Assets
  With more cities and states looking to reap new funds from the sale or lease of assets, two experts discuss strategies governments can use to get the most out of each deal.
• U.S. Government Funding of International Nongovernmental Organizations
  Since the 1970s, U.S. government funding of international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) has risen dramatically, however, there is little research examining this trend. This analysis of U.S.-based INGOs uses the Urban Institutes National Center for Charitable Statistics/GuideStar National Nonprofit Database to provide new insight into the government funding of these organizations. Analysis finds that despite a steady increase, government funding is still limited to a relatively small percentage of INGOs and federal dollars only contribute about a fifth of the overall revenue for the sector. Also, government funding varies across different types of INGO activities and regions. Findings additionally show that changes in foreign policy after 2001 affected foreign assistance funding for INGOs.
• Assessing the Impact of Devolution of Healthcare and Education in Pakistan
  The conceptual and legal framework for the development of an effective system of local governance in Pakistan was created in July 2001, and a review of the Local Government Ordinance of 2001 reveals that the rules and procedures to govern the process have been set in place. Yet, four and a half years into devolution, political decentralization has not been followed by adequate administrative and fiscal decentralization to ensure quality service delivery to the public. This report assesses the progress and challenges of effective and efficient service delivery in the health, education, and water sectors, local fiscal roles and responsibilities, and local government accountability and citizen participation under devolution. Conclusions presented in the report focus on "governance" issues impeding successful devolution. Many of the recommendations are aimed at donor organizations and several are already being addressed by ongoing USAID projects.
• New Book Surveys International Experiences in Managing Public Property Assets
  National, regional, and local governments are by far the largest owners of real property; even Western governments may control a third or more of all property assets. A new book from the Urban Institute Press -- Managing Government Property Assets: International Experiences, edited by Olga Kaganova of the Urban Institute and James McKellar of the Schulich School of Business at Toronto's York University -- comprehensively examines the management of these assets from an international perspective.
• An International Conference on Social Security Reform in Selected OECD Countries
  The conference examines Social Security reforms in a number of OECD countries that have moved far ahead of the United States in dealing with the budget pressures associated with the aging of their populations.
• The International Charitable Nonprofit Subsector in the United States : International Understanding, International Development and Assistance, and International Affairs
  This report describes the capacity of U.S. nonprofits to mobilize in international development and assistance, promotion of international understanding, and international affairs. It is the first systematic national study of international nonprofits using descriptive statistics and data on charitable nonprofits obtained from the National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS) at the Urban Institute. Findings confirm the central role of international nonprofits in supporting foreign causes and distributing aid around the world. Government's increasing reliance on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to carry out foreign aid programs is also detailed.
• Collaborative Advantage
  As the U.S. loses its monopoly in high technology, policymakers are calling for increases in the number of science and technology graduates and in R&D investment. We believe these proposals fail to recognize what is distinctive about the emerging global economy. Our studies of engineering in multinational home countries and in emerging economies suggest that the U.S. cannot match the numbers of engineers being trained in India and China, and it is not clear how muc