Can Finance Change the World?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Jones
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Solar Energy ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
The United States ◽  
Chinese Government ◽  
Role Of Government ◽  
Global Center ◽  
The World

The chapter examines the role of government in green industries from 1980 to the present, using the examples of waste management and wind and solar energy. In waste, privatization and more stringent regulation encouraged the growth of global waste management companies, with huge differences in outcomes. The United States remained a laggard in recycling compared to Germany. In energy, the state of California virtually created the modern wind and solar industries in the 1980s; European governments, especially Denmark and Germany, made Europe the global center for renewable energy in the 1990s; the Chinese government made China and Chinese companies dominant in renewable energy from the 2000s. In all three cases there were significant inefficiencies in outcomes.

scholarly journals Do Callable Convertibles Support The Investment Process Of A Company? An Analysis Of The World Market Of Hybrid Debt

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-19
Author(s):  
Damian Kaźmierczak
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Market ◽  
Convertible Bonds ◽  
Investment Projects ◽  
Service Companies ◽  
The World ◽  
Investment Process ◽  
A Company

Using a sample of 1,705 convertible bonds issued by manufacturing and service companies from the United States (1,138 issues); Europe (270); and Asia (297) between 2004 and 2014 this paper investigates the role of callable convertibles in the corporate investment process. This research shows first that callable convertibles are used to finance investment projects particularly by American firms which may exercise new investment options to improve poor financial performance. Secondly, the same strategy may be followed by European companies, but they seem not to carry out investments on as large a scale as American firms. Thirdly, the research results do not provide evidence that Asian enterprises use callable convertibles for investment purposes: they likely use these instruments for different reasons.

scholarly journals Ukraine in the Focus of US Foreign Policy Priorities

2020 ◽  
pp. 66-79
Author(s):  
N. Gegelashvili ◽  
◽  
I. Modnikova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
The United States ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
Radical Transformation

The article analyzes the US policy towards Ukraine dating back from the time before the reunification of Crimea with Russia and up to Donald Trump coming to power. The spectrum of Washington’s interests towards this country being of particular strategic interest to the United States are disclosed. It should be noted that since the disintegration of the Soviet Union Washington’s interest in this country on the whole has not been very much different from its stand on all post-Soviet states whose significance was defined by the U,S depending on their location on the world map as well as on the value of their natural resources. However, after the reunification of Crimea with Russia Washington’s stand on this country underwent significant changes, causing a radical transformation of the U,S attitude in their Ukrainian policy. During the presidency of Barack Obama the American policy towards Ukraine was carried out rather sluggishly being basically declarative in its nature. When President D. Trump took his office Washington’s policy towards Ukraine became increasingly more offensive and was characterized by a rather proactive stance not only because Ukraine became the principal arena of confrontation between the United States and the Russian Federation, but also because it became a part of the US domestic political context. Therefore, an outcome of the “battle” for Ukraine is currently very important for the United States in order to prove to the world its role of the main helmsman in the context of a diminishing US capability of maintaining their global superiority.

Alternative energy capital of the world? Fix, risk, and solar energy in Los Angeles’ urban periphery

2021 ◽  
pp. 251484862110543
Author(s):  
Sean F Kennedy ◽  
Ryan Stock
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Solar Energy ◽  
Alternative Energy ◽  
Financial Risk ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Policy Framework ◽  
Energy Infrastructure ◽  
The World

California is one of the most climate-challenged regions of North America and is considered the vanguard of climate action in the United States. California's climate policy framework has strongly promoted the expansion of renewable energy infrastructure, and the state generates more solar energy than any other in the nation. Using the case of Lancaster, a city of 170,000 residents in northern Los Angeles County seeking to position itself as the “alternative energy capital of the world,” this article examines private investments in solar energy infrastructure as a response to California's entwined economic and ecological crises. Drawing on recent scholarship on socioecological fix, we argue that private accumulation through renewable energy infrastructures in California has required both the presence of crisis conditions and innovations in financial risk mitigation that manage tensions between mobility and fixity inherent in the formation of fixed capital. However, a narrow focus on short-term financial risk obviates other forms of risk, including future impacts of extreme weather on grid infrastructure and electricity supply. While this does not foreclose opportunities for solar energy infrastructure to support positive social and ecological transformation, we argue that such opportunities may be constrained under a mode of energy transition predicated on private accumulation.

Development of the Medical Interpreting Profession in the US

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Holly M. Mikkelson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
The United States ◽  
Role Of Government ◽  
The Us ◽  
Medical Interpreters ◽  
Medical Interpreting ◽  
Further Development

This chapter traces the development of the medical interpreting profession in the United States as a case study. It begins with the conception of interpreters as volunteer helpers or dual-role medical professionals who happened to have some knowledge of languages other than English. Then it examines the emergence of training programs for medical interpreters, incipient efforts to impose standards by means of certification tests, the role of government in providing language access in health care, and the beginning of a labor market for paid medical interpreters. The chapter concludes with a description of the current situation of professional medical interpreting in the United States, in terms of training, certification and the labor market, and makes recommendations for further development.

Sustainable Agriculture The United States versus the European Union

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 26-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carson H. Varner ◽  
Katrin C. Varner
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
European Union ◽  
Genetically Modified Crops ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Population ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Sustainability Issue ◽  
The World ◽  
Two Sides

This paper examines developing issues and attitudes that unite and divide the United States and the European Union as the discussion and regulation of agriculture evolves. While some terms, such as “organic,” are defined in law in both the United States and European Union, the increasingly used “sustainability” is an evolving concept. The main sustainability issue is how to provide food and fiber for a rapidly growing world population. In this context, the role of biotechnology is questioned. Americans tend to favor what are sometimes called genetically modified crops, while Europeans remain cautious. Europeans lean more toward organic farming, while Americans assert that much of the world will starve if organic methods are required. This paper reviews the directions that the discussion of these issues is taking and will show areas of agreement and where the two sides diverge.

Community Services: Contrasts Between Resident and Nonresident Landowners in the Adirondack Region of New York

1975 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 132-142
Author(s):  
Robert G. Craig ◽  
Harry P. Mapp
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
The United States ◽  
Community Services ◽  
World War ◽  
Revolutionary Change ◽  
Role Of Government ◽  
The Public

“There is more than enough evidence to show that the states and localities, far from being weak sisters, have actually been carrying the brunt of domestic governmental progress in the United States ever since the end of World War II … Moreover, they have been largely responsible for undertaking the truly revolutionary change in the role of government in the United States that has occurred over the past decade.”–Daniel J. Elazar, The Public Interest

Spaces of Intentionality: Race, Class, and Horizontality at the United States Social Forum

2008 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 353-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Juris
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Open Space ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Social Forum ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Democratic Practice ◽  
The World ◽  
High Level

The World Social Forum process has sought to provide an "open space" for diverse movements to exchange ideas, interact, and coordinate as they build another world. Despite this inclusive impulse, many of the forums have been disproportionately white and middle class. Through an ethnographic account of the 2007 United States Social Forum (USSF) in Atlanta, I examine one high-profile attempt to overcome this lack of diversity by establishing what I refer to as an "intentional" space. I argue that the intentional strategy pursued by USSF organizers achieved a high level of diversity in racial and class terms, but de-emphasized the role of the forum as a "contact zone" for translation, sharing, and exchange among diverse movement sectors. However, given the strong desire to overcome past exclusions among participants, the privileging of intentionality over openness and horizontality was widely viewed as legitimate, which has important implications for democratic practice.

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Site: An International Center of Excellence

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Matthews
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Radioactive Waste ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Waste Disposal ◽  
Scientific Information ◽  
The United States ◽  
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant ◽  
Disposal Area ◽  
The World ◽  
Waste Repository

The United States Department of Energy’s Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO) is responsible for the successful management of transuranic radioactive waste (TRUW) in the United States. TRUW is a long-lived radioactive waste/material. CBFO’s responsibilities includes the operation of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), which is a deep geologic repository for the safe disposal of U.S. defense-related TRUW and is located 42 kilometers (km) east of Carlsbad, New Mexico. WIPP is the only deep-geological disposal site for long-lived radioactive waste that is operating in the world today. CBFO also manages the National Transuranic Waste Program (NTP), which oversees TRU waste management from generation to disposal. As of August 1, 2003, approximately 1890 shipments of waste have been safely transported to the WIPP, which has been operating since March 1999. Surface and subsurface facilities designed to facilitate the safe handling and disposal of TRU waste are located within the WIPP site. The underground waste disposal area is in a bedded salt formation at a depth of 650 meters (m). Approximately 176,000 m3 of TRU waste containing up to 17 kilograms of plutonium will be emplaced in disposal rooms 4 m high, 10 m wide and 91 m long. Magnesium oxide (MgO) backfill will be emplaced with the waste to control the actinide solubility and mobility in the disposal areas. Properties of the repository horizon have been investigated in an underground test facility excavated north of the waste disposal area, and in which seals, rock mechanics, hydrology, and simulated waste emplacement tests were conducted. Thus, in some areas of broad international interest, the CBFO has developed a leading expertise through its 25-years WIPP repository and TRU waste characterization activities. The CBFO’s main programmatic responsibilities during the disposal phase are to operate a safe and efficient TRU waste repository at the WIPP, to operate an effective system for management of TRU waste from generation to disposal, and to comply with applicable laws, regulations, and permits. This responsibility requires maintenance and upgrades to the current technologies for TRU waste operations, monitoring, and transportation. This responsibility also requires the maintenance of scientific capabilities for evaluating the performance of the WIPP repository. Every 5 years, WIPP must be recertified for operations by the regulator, the EPA. Currently, the CBFO is preparing for the 2004 recertification. The CBFO/WIPP has been designated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as an International Center of Excellence. The IAEA is working with CBFO, other designated centers of excellence, and other member states in the IAEA to foster collaborative training activities and experiments in order to address major radioactive waste disposal issues. As the only operating deep radioactive waste repository in the world today, CBFO/WIPP is an important participant in this IAEA initiative. In addition to participating in relevant and beneficial experiments, the CBFO is providing the international community convenient access to information by sponsoring and hosting symposia and workshops on relevant topics and by participation in international waste management organizations and topical meetings. The CBFO has agreed to exchange scientific information with foreign radioactive waste management organizations. These activities result in the cost-effective acquisition of scientific information in support of increased WIPP facility operational and post-closure assurance and reliability. It also demonstrates the CBFO’s intent and resolve to honor international commitments and obligations.

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