"Examines trend toward digital means of consumer payments, asking several questions: How will digital money evolve? What impacts will technologies such as wireless devices have on payment for goods and services? What other technologies await consumers? And what will the consumer payments...

Updates and expands the assessment of the long-term budgetary outlook, addressing such issues as the collapse of the congressional budgetary process and the threat posed by the termination of discretionary spending caps. Concludes with a look at how the nation's deficit will affect America now...

"Presents research from experts in academia and the financial industry on financial instruments and new financial institutions, contrasting developments in the United States and Japan. Highlights innovative ways in which Japanese financiers and government officials have learned from the United...

"Highlights costs of inadequate education, attaching hard numbers to the relationship between educational attainment and critical indicators as income, health, crime, dependence on public assistance, and political participation. Explores policy interventions to boost the education system's...

Explores what caused the housing and mortgage crisis and provides remedies to repair the damage to ensure fairness, protect consumers, and guarantee soundness of the financial system without stifling innovation and overly restricting access to credit and consumer choice - Provided by publisher

Examines what Cuba must do to ensure energy sustainability and self-sufficiency in order to secure its future, including advancing relationships with its neighbors, and discusses ways the island nation might seek greater cooperation with the United States in these endeavors - Provided by publisher

Analyzes the history and motivations of U.S.-China-Latin America relationship. Focuses on China's growing economic ties to the region, including Latin America's role in China's search for energy resources. Highlights the geopolitical implications of Chinese hemispheric policy and sets recent...