Employment

Because of the reforms that strengthened our financial system, and with support from monetary and other policies, credit is available on good terms, and lending has advanced broadly in line with economic activity in recent years, contributing to today's strong economy. At the same time, reforms have boosted the resilience of the financial system. Banks are safer. The risk of runs owing to maturity transformation is reduced. Efforts to enhance the resolvability of systemic firms have promoted market discipline and reduced the problem of too-big-to-fail. And a system is in place to more effectively monitor and address risks that arise outside the regulatory perimeter. Nonetheless, the scope and complexity of financial regulatory reforms demand that policymakers and researchers remain alert to both areas for improvement and unexpected side effects. more »

Jo Freeman writes: Unlike the other social sciences, psychology is thriving. While the supply of trained psychologists in the labor force has remained constant since 2005, the demand has grown. Quite a few employers purchased booths in the exhibit area just to advertising that they were hiring and interview potential recruits. They ranged from clinics in Hattiesburg, MS to New Zealand. more »

Internet Scout's Research Group's weekly marvelous discoveries: In February 1623, a group of Dutch officials accused a team of English merchants and Japanese mercenaries of conspiring to capture a castle on Amboyna, a small island in what is now part of Indonesia. The island was central to the booming spice trade, which had fueled an increasingly acrimonious rivalry between the British and the Dutch. "Folk art is a reflection of society as seen through the eyes of artists whose perceptions are sometimes traditional and conventional - sometimes unruly, and even wild." So writes the Canadian Museum of History, host of a online exhibit that highlights Quebec folk art from the eighteenth century through today. Michael Twitty explains how enslaved African-Americans created contemporary American southern cuisine. more »

In the report "Generations of War: The Rise of the Warrior Caste and the All-Volunteer Force," the Center for a New American Security" Research Associate Amy Schafer writes that the trend of military service being passed from generation to generation has created a warrior caste in which a small section of the population bears the burden of America's wars. The report examines the risks and benefits associated with a warrior caste, but advocates against returning to conscription. more »