Search Engines

Windows Live Academic

http://academic.live.com/

A single, easy-to-use tool that gives users relevant, focused results and usable content. Windows Live Academic works with librarians to help their institutions' patrons find the information they need. Windows Live Academic is a new addition to the Windows Live Search family of services that allows users to search through academic information. Currently, users can search content in academic journals in the fields of Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, and Physics.  Academic search beta, as of launch date, has deep content in three fields: Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, and Physics - with more than 6 million records from approximately 4300 journals and 2000 conferences.

PODZINGER
http://www.podzinger.com/

PODZINGER is a podcast search engine that lets you search the full audio of both audio and video podcasts just like you search for any other information on the web. Most podcast search sites provide directories of podcasts by subject, category, or they search only the metadata provided by the creator of the podcast. PODZINGER takes search a step further by searching the spoken words inside the podcast in order to find more specific and relevant results. The text-based search results include snippets from the audio portion to help you figure out if the result is relevant. You can even click on the words to begin playing the podcast from that point. PODZINGER creates a text index of the audio data from audio and video files, using the industry's leading speech-to-text technology from BBN Technologies, to enable search within a podcast, not just within the metadata. PODZINGER will index, search and reference ENGLISH podcasts (language tag in RSS file must begin with "en"),that are formatted for audio as MP3 files or for video that are formatted as mp4, mov, m4v, flv, mpg, or mpeg files. 
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e-Books from the World Bank e-Library

 Information and Communications for Development 2006
The report is essential reading for policy makers, government workers, and academics pursuing the goal of equitable, sustainable development across the world." - N. R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman and Chief Mentor Infosys Technologies Ltd. Information and communication technology (ICT) is rapidly evolving, changing rich and poor societies alike. It has become a powerful tool for participating in the global economy and for offering new opportunities for development efforts. ICT can and should advance economic growth and reduce poverty in developing countries. It has been 20 years since the first telephone operator was privatized, a little over 10 since the World Wide Web emerged, and 5 since the telecommunications bubble burst. How have the ICT sector and its role in development evolved? What have we learned? How can we move forward? Information and Communications for Development 2006: Global Trends and Policies contains lessons from both developed and developing countries. It examines the roles of the public and private sectors, identifying the challenges and the benefits of adopting and expanding ICT use. The report assesses topics essential to building an information society, including investment, access, diffusion, and country policies and strategies. Assessing what has worked, what hasn't, and why, this report is an invaluable guide for understanding how to capture the benefits of ICT around the world.
To view this publication online, please go to http://www.worldbank.catchword.org/rpsv/journal/publication0821363468_home.htm?nv_portal=all

 Equity and Development
The Berlin Workshop Series 2006 presents selected papers from meetings held in September 6,  2004, at the 7th Annual Forum co-hosted by InWEnt and the World Bank in preparation for the Bank's World Development Report. At the 2004 meetings, key researchers and policy makers from Europe, the United States, and developing countries met to identify and brainstorm on equity and development challenges and successes that will be later examined in-depth in the World Development Report 2006. This volume presents papers from the sessions on Equity and Development, covering issues relating to The Role of Governments in the Promotion of Equity, Equity-Enhancing Social Transformations, Building Efficient Welfare States, Reducing Global Inequalities and Integration and Inequality in the New Europe.
To view this publication online, please go to http://www.worldbank.catchword.org/rpsv/journal/publication0821361058_home.htm?nv_portal=all

 e-Books from the World Bank e-Library  

 Legal Aspects of Financial Services Regulation and the Concept of a Unified Regulator
That different types of financial services and products continue to spring up in the financial sector of many countries is indicative of the changing landscape of the financial services industry globally. Equally important, as indicators of the evolving trajectory of financial services regulation, are increases in the number of countries where universal banking is practiced and in numbers of parent and subsidiary companies providing different types of financial services and products. This book is written against that background. A central thesis pursued in the book is that until there is a longer track record of experience with unified regulators, it is difficult to come to firm conclusions about the restructuring process of regulators, and the optimal internal structure of such agencies. In addition, the book examines the concept of an independent regulator, showing how this concept, as a corollary to the concept of a unified regulator, could strengthen the regulatory and institutional framework for financial services supervision if accountability were to be part of such a framework.
To view this publication online, please go to http://www.worldbank.catchword.org/rpsv/journal/publication0821364596_home.htm?nv_portal=all

Economic Cooperation in the Wider Central Asia Region
This paper explores ways to unlock the potential for regional development and economic cooperation in the wider Central Asia region. It argues that understanding critical clusters of interrelated issues, and explicitly taking into account geopolitical and political economy considerations, are key in this regard. Regional countries and other stakeholders should focus on a few areas where there are real prospects for success in the short run; a combination of modest “win-win” initiatives and in some cases “bold strokes” that augment and change the distribution of benefits and hence make cooperation more likely to deliver progress.
To view this publication online, please go to http://www.worldbank.catchword.org/rpsv/journal/publication0821366017_home.htm?nv_portal=all

Assessing World Bank Support for Trade, 1987-2004
An independent evaluation of the World Bank's extensive support to developing countries on trade issues between 1987 and 2004. The study assesses the development effectiveness of World Bank trade-related advocacy, capacity-building, lending and research. It examines the extent to which the Bank's policies and assistance have met its stated objectives in the area of trade and makes recommendations to strengthen the effectiveness of future Bank trade assistance.
To view this publication online, please go to http://www.worldbank.catchword.org/rpsv/journal/publication0821365916_home.htm?nv_portal=all

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World Bank e-publication

Strategic Alliances to Scale Up Financial Services in Rural Areas
Business firms have employed strategic alliances with other firms to effectively manage costs, overcome resource and technology constraints, and enhance competitive position. The principle and practice of strategic alliances can be applied as well for productive and beneficial institutional collaborations in rural financial markets to expand the array of financial products and to scale up access of rural households and micro-businesses to financial services. Strategic alliances comprise a new theme in rural finance. The institutions in the study used strategic alliances to tap new capital resources, manage transaction costs, access banking technology and infrastructure and acquire new skills to provide an expanding array of financial services to wider markets. The authors carefully examine the experiences of selected rural finance institutions and their strategic allies or development partners in Guatemala, the Philippines, Ghana and India to draw out the main findings and share the lessons that may be gainfully applied in other country settings. The study addressed a number of key questions: “X What motivated the rural finance institution to structure its alliance or partnership with a bank, commercial or development organization? “X How are gains from and costs of alliances and partnerships shared between collaborating institutions? “X What are the key elements that make partnerships or alliances successful, and which conditions lead to unproductive ones? “X Which financial products and services are best introduced through strategic alliances?
To view this publication online, please go to http://www.worldbank.catchword.org/rpsv/journal/publication0821366033_home.htm?nv_portal=all

Economic Papers from the CEPR Discussion Papers

DP5591 Partisan Impacts on the Economy: Evidence from Prediction Markets and Close Elections 
URL: www.cepr.org/DP5591

Authors: Erik Snowberg, Justin Wolfers, Eric Zitzewitz 
Abstract: Political economists interested in discerning the effects of election outcomes on the economy have been hampered by the problem that economic outcomes also influence elections. We sidestep these problems by analyzing movements in economic indicators caused by clearly exogenous changes in expectations about the likely winner during election day. Analyzing high 
frequency financial fluctuations on November 2 and 3 in 2004, we find that markets anticipated higher equity prices, interest rates and oil prices and a stronger dollar under a Bush presidency than under Kerry. A similar Republican-Democrat differential was also observed for the 2000 Bush-Gore contest. Prediction market based analyses of all Presidential elections since 1880 also reveal a 
similar pattern of partisan impacts, suggesting that electing a Republican President raises equity valuations by 2-3 percent, and hat since Reagan, Republican Presidents have tended to raise bond yields. 

Economic Papers  from the CEPR Discussion Papers

DP5595 Explaining the Growth of Part-Time Employment: Factors of Supply and Demand 
URL: www.cepr.org/DP5595

Authors: Rob Euwals, Maurice Hogerbrugge 
Abstract: Using the Dutch Labor Force Survey 1991-2001, the authors investigate the incidence of part-time employment in the country with the highest part-time employment rate of the OECD countries. Women fulfill most part-time jobs, but a considerable fraction of men works part-time as well. Evidence from descriptive statistics and a macro-econometric model at the sectoral level of industry suggests that the growth of part-time employment in the 1990s relates strongly to the growth in female labor force participation. Factors of labor demand, like the shift from manufacturing to services and the increase in the demand for flexible 
labour, turn out to play a significant role as well. 

DP5600 Youth Unemployment and Crime in France 
URL: www.cepr.org/DP5600

Authors: Denis Fougere, Francis Kramarz, Julien Pouget 
Abstract: In this paper we examine the influence of unemployment on property crimes and on violent crimes in France for the period 1990 to 2000. This analysis is the first extensive study for this country. We construct a regional-level data set (for the 95 departments of metropolitan France) with measures of crimes as reported to the Ministry of Interior. To assess social conditions prevailing in the department in that year, we construct measures of the unemployment rate as well as other social, economic and demographic variables using multiple waves of the French Labor Survey. We estimate a classic Becker type model in which unemployment is a measure of how potential criminals fare in the legitimate job market. First, our estimates show that in the cross-section dimension, crime and unemployment are positively associated. Second, we find that increases in youth unemployment induce increases in crime. Using the predicted industrial structure to instrument unemployment, we show that this effect is causal for burglaries, thefts, and drug offences. To combat crime, it appears thus that all strategies designed to combat 
youth unemployment should be examined. 

Economic Papers from the CEPR Discussion Papers

DP5606 Political Conflict and Power-Sharing in the Origins of Modern Colombia 
URL: www.cepr.org/DP5606

 Author(s): Sebastian L Mazzuca, James A Robinson 
Date of Publication: April 2006 
Abstract: In this paper we present historical evidence and a theoretical analysis of the origins of political stability and instability in Colombia for the period 1850-1950, and their relationship to political, particularly electoral, institutions. We show that the driving force behind institutional change over this period, specifically the move to proportional representation (PR), was the desire of the Conservative and Liberal parties to come up with a way of credibly dividing power to avoid civil war and conflict, a force intensified by the brutal conflict of the War of a Thousand days between 1899 and 1902. The problem with majoritarian electoral institutions was that they did not allocate power in a way which matched the support of the parties in the population, thus encouraging conflict. The strategic advantage of PR was that it avoided such under - representation. The parties however could not initially move to PR because it was not `fraud proof' so instead, in 1905, adopted the `incomplete vote' which simply allocated 2/3 of the 
legislative seats to the winning party and 1/3 to the loser. This formula brought peace. The switch to PR arose when the Liberals became confident that they could solve problems of fraud. But it only happened because they were able to exploit a division within the Conservatives. The switch also possibly reflected a concern with the rising support for socialism and the desire to divide power more broadly. Our findings shed new light on the origins of electoral systems and the nature of political conflict and its resolution. 

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Economic Papers from the CEPR Discussion Papers

DP5607 Racial Identity and Education 
URL: www.cepr.org/DP5607

Author(s): Eleonora Patacchini, Yves Zenou 
Abstract: We investigate the sources of differences in school performance between students of different races by focusing on identity issues. We find that having a higher percentage of same-race friends has a positive effect of white teenagers' test score while having a negative effect on blacks' test scores. However, the higher the education level of a black teenager's parent, the lower this negative effect, while for whites, it is the reverse. It is thus the combination of the choice of friends (which is a measure of own identity) and the parent's education that are responsible for the difference in education attainment between students of different races but also between students of the same race. One interesting aspects of this paper is to provide a theoretical model that grounds the instrumental variable approach used in the empirical analysis to deal with endogenously issues. 

Economic Papers  from the CEPR Discussion Papers

DP5608 UK Inflation Persistence: Policy or Nature? 
URL: www.cepr.org/DP5608

Author(s): Patrick Minford, Eric Nowell, Prakriti Sofat, Naveen Srinivasan 
Date of Publication: April 2006 
Abstract: A large econometric literature has found that post-war US inflation exhibits very high persistence, approaching that of a random walk process. Given similar evidence for other OECD countries, many macroeconomists have concluded that high inflation persistence is a 'stylized fact'. The objective of this paper is to show that degree of inflation persistence is not an inherent 
structural characteristic of an economy, but in fact a function of the stability and transparency of monetary policy regime in place. We begin by estimating univariate processes for inflation across different periods, allowing for structural breaks based on a priori knowledge of the UK economy. Then we examine whether, a rather straightforward model, easily micro-founded in a standard 
classical set-up can generate the facts such as we find them. We calibrate our structural model for each of the regimes and solve it analytically for the implied persistence in the inflation process. We compare this theoretical prediction with the estimated persistence for each regime. Finally we bootstrap our model to generate pseudo inflation series and check whether the actual persistence coefficients lie within the 95 percent confidence limits implied by the bootstraps. As a robustness exercise we do the same for the Liverpool model. 

DP5609 Monetary Regimes: Is There a Trade-Off Between Consumption and Employment Variability? 
URL: www.cepr.org/DP5609

Authors: Kent Matthews, David Meenagh, Patrick Minford, Bruce Webb 
Date of Publication: April 2006 
Abstract: Macro models generally assume away heterogeneous welfare in assessing policies. We investigate here within two aggregative models - one with a representative agent, the other a long-used forecasting model of the UK - whether allowing for differences in welfare functions (specifically between those in continuous employment and those with frequent unemployment 
spells) alters the rankings of monetary policies. We find that it does but that a set of policies (money supply targeting implemented by money supply control) can be found that are robust in the sense of avoiding very poor outcomes for either of the two groups. 

DP5611 On the Equality of Real Interest Rates Across Borders in Integrated Capital Markets 
URL:www.cepr.org/DP5611

Authors: Patrick Minford, David Peel 
Abstract: The purpose in this letter is first to review briefly the empirical results on the relationship between real interest rates and real exchange rates; this empirical literature provides little support for the hypothesis of Roll that expected real interest rates are equal in general. Our second aim is to discuss the theoretical conditions that have to be met for his hypothesis to hold. 

Economic Papers from the CEPR Discussion Papers

DP5613 Equilibrium Allele Distribution in Trading Populations 
URL:www.cepr.org/DP5613

Author: Gilles Saint-Paul 
Abstract: This paper derives the conditions under which fitness-reducing alleles can survive in a long-run stationary equilibrium for a trading population, extending the results in Saint-Paul (2002) for arbitrary systems of sexual reproduction. 

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DP5614 Simulating Stock Returns Under Switching Regimes - A New Test of Market Efficiency 
URL: www.cepr.org/DP5614

Authors: David Meenagh, Patrick Minford, David Peel 
Abstract: A model of profits switches between four regimes with fixed probabilities; the rationally expected profits stream implies the stock market value. This efficient market model is not rejected by UK post-war time-series behaviour of either profits or the FTSE index. 

DP5615 Joining the European Monetary Union - Comparing First and Second Generation Open Economy Models 
URL:www.cepr.org/DP5615

Authors: Vo Phuong Mai Le, Patrick Minford 
Abstract: We log-linearise the Dellas and Tavlas (DT) model of monetary union and solve it analytically. We find that the intuition of optimal currency analysis of DT's second generation open economy model is essentially the same as that of first generation models. Monetary union results in no welfare loss if its member states are symmetric. However, asymmetry causes loss in welfare 
both due to the failure of the union policy to deal suitably with a country's asymmetric shocks and due to an active monetary policy by union in pursuit of its distinct objectives. The asymmetry in DT is largely due to the differing wage rigidities across countries. 

DP5616 Calvo Contracts - Optimal Indexation in General Equilibrium 
URL: www.cepr.org/DP5616

Authors: Vo Phuong Mai Le, Patrick Minford 
Abstract: Calvo contracts, which are the basis of the current generation of New Keynesian models, widely include indexation to general inflation. We argue that the indexing formula should be expected inflation rather than lagged inflation. This optimizes the welfare of the representative agent in a general equilibrium model of the New Keynesian type. This is shown analytically for a simplified model and by numerical simulation for a full model with price and wage contracts as well as capital. The consequence of such indexation is that monetary policy no longer has any effect on welfare. 

DP5617 Off-Shoring of Business Services and Deindustrialization: Threat or Opportunity - and for Whom? 
URL:www.cepr.org/DP5617

Author: Frederic Robert-Nicoud 
Abstract: This paper takes a new look at the issue of overseas sourcing of services. In framework in which comparative advantage is endogenous to agglomeration economies and factor mobility, the fragmentation of production made possible by the new communication technologies and low transportation costs allow global firms (multinational corporations or individual firms active in global networks) to simultaneously reap the benefit of agglomeration economies in OECD countries and of low wages prevailing in countries with an ever better educated labor force like India. Thus, the reduction of employment in some routine tasks in rich countries in a general equilibrium helps sustain and reinforces employment in the core competencies in such countries. That is, the loss of some jobs permits to retain the 'core competencies' in the 'core countries'. The welfare implications of this analysis are shown to be not as straightforward as in a neoclassical world. 

DP5619 Was There a British House Price Bubble? Evidence from a Regional Panel 
URL:www.cepr.org/DP5619

Authors: Gavin Cameron, John Muellbauer, Anthony Murphy 
Abstract: This paper investigates the bubbles hypothesis with a dynamic panel data model of British regional house prices between 1972 and 2003. The model consists of a system of inverted housing demand equations, incorporating spatial interactions and lags and relevant spatial parameter heterogeneity. The results are data consistent, with plausible long-run solutions and effects influencing the speed of adjustment, and interaction effects between an index of credit availability and real and nominal interest rates. No evidence for a recent bubble is found. 

DP5609 Monetary Regimes: Is There a Trade-Off Between Consumption and Employment Variability? 
URL: www.cepr.org/DP5609

Authors: Kent Matthews, David Meenagh, Patrick Minford, Bruce Webb 
Abstract: Macro models generally assume away heterogeneous welfare in assessing policies. We investigate here within two aggregative models - one with a representative agent, the other a long -used forecasting model of the UK - whether allowing for differences in welfare functions (specifically between those in continuous employment and those with frequent unemployment spells) alters the rankings of monetary policies. We find that it does but that a set of policies (money supply targeting implemented by money supply control) can be found that are robust in the sense of avoiding very poor outcomes for either of the two groups. 

DP5612 Openness and the Case for Flexible Exchange Rates 
URL: www.cepr.org/DP5612

Author: Giancarlo Corsetti 
Abstract: Models of stabilization in open economy traditionally emphasize the role of exchange rates as a substitute for nominal price flexibility in fostering relative price adjustment. This view has been recently criticized on the ground that, to the extent that prices are sticky in local currency, the exchange rate does not play the stabilizing role envisioned by the received wisdom. An important question is whether, for this very reason, stabilization policies should limit exchange rate movements, or even eliminate them altogether. In this paper, I re-assess this issue by extending the Corsetti and Pesenti (2001) model to allow for home bias in consumption | so that I can exploit the advantages of closed-form solutions. While this extension leaves most properties of the model unaffected, home bias implies that the real exchange rate in an efficient equilibrium is not constant, but fluctuates with the terms of trade. The weight that monetary authorities optimally place on stabilizing domestic marginal costs is increasing in Home bias: with asymmetric shocks, fixed exchange rates are incompatible with efficient monetary rules. Yet, the adverse welfare consequences of exchange rate movements constrain the optimal intensity of monetary responses to domestic shocks. Openness 
matters: in our specification each country produces an equal share of the world value added; the lower the import content of consumption, the higher the exchange rate volatility implied by optimal stabilization rules. In relatively closed economy, optimal monetary rules tend to converge, regardless of the nature of nominal rigidities in the exports market. 

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International Journal for Educational Integrity
http://www.ojs.unisa.edu.au/journals/index.php/IJEI

The journal provides a platform for educators across all sectors to research issues in the multi- disciplinary field of educational integrity. In addition, IJEI provides an opportunity for researchers and practitioners to take a leadership role in the relatively new field of educational integrity. The IJEI is an international refereed journal where research on educational integrity is disseminated in an accessible and cost-effective format. The journal challenges readers to consider the changing nature of education in a globalised environment, and the impact that conceptions of educational integrity have on issues of pedagogy, academic standards, intercultural understanding and equity. Articles of interest to the IJEI readership may include but are not limited to the following areas as they relate to educational integrity: plagiarism, cheating, academic integrity, honor codes, teaching and learning, university governance and student motivation. Submissions may include original research (including practitioner research), theoretical discussions and review papers.

Selected Internet Resources 

Left Wing Politics-United States-Emphera
http://images.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/i/image/image-idx?c=americanleft
"The collection of American Left ephemera on this website reflects the personal collection of Richard J. Oestreicher, Associate Professor within the History department at the University of Pittsburgh. The material primarily documents three of the largest and most influential left-wing organizations in the twentieth century in the U.S.: Socialist Party of America (SPUSA), Communist Party of the USA (CPUSA), and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). Digitized items include flyers, leaflets, pamphlets, posters, postcards, illustrations, photographs, pins, ribbons, and miscellaneous objects."
A good place to start browsing here at Oestreicher's overview of the collection. It talks about left and right "political designations," which first came about during the French Revolution "when the Jacobins sat on the left in the National Assembly and the Girodins on the right." (Who knew?) He describes major left wing organizations in 20th century America, and some background on the collection itself. The collection comprises 125 objects; you can search by keyword or browse thumbnails. Alternately, you can browse by organization: 
+ Communist Party USA
+ Social Democratic Party
+ Socialist Labor Party
+ Socialist Party USA
+ Students for a Democratic Society
You can also browse by topic:
+ African-Americans and the Left
+ Ethnic Radicalism
+ The New Left
+ Spanish Civil War
+ Vietnam War
Each image record includes its title, creator, description, format, date, rights and other information. You can view images in several sizes and/or zoom in and out on selected parts by using on-screen button options. You'll also find annotated links to related collections.

Source: Richard Oestreicher, Associate Professor, Department of History, University of Pittsburgh (hosted by the University of Pittsburgh's Digital Research Library)

Selected Internet Resources 

Court Rules, USA
http://www.llrx.com/courtrules/
This site includes links to over 1,400 sources for state and federal court rules, forms and dockets. You can browse to find the resource you need, or search by keyword. This database is updated by Margaret Berkland, Data Vision Design, Inc.