Publications
Aspen Institute Publications
Aspen Institute publications are listed below. Many are available for purchase through Google Checkout, a secure system for handling credit card transaction online. For assistance with ordering publications, please contact our Publications office by email or by phone at (410) 820.5433. Please note: Orders are shipped two times a week from our warehouse in Queenstown, MD, on the Eastern Shore.
Back to Basics: A Savings Approach to Homeownership
Homeownership is a core American value. It epitomizes the American Dream and the opportunity to build better lives for our children. Home equity, as a financial asset, can be a springboard to the acquisition of other important assets like a college education, a small business, and a secure retirement. The Aspen Institute Initiative on Financial Security (Aspen IFS) proposes transforming U.S. housing policy through a dedicated down payment savings vehicle with government incentives available to low- and middle-income Americans. In its previous report, Savings for Life, Aspen IFS recommended Home Accounts as a way to prepare more Americans to become homeowners. This brief details how Home Accounts are a pragmatic vehicle to give low- and middle-income Americans a safer and more secure path to homeownership.
Catalyzing Support for Small Growing Businesses in Developing Countries: Mapping the Policies of International Development Donors & Investors
This report depicts the landscape of development organizations that fund and support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries: 1) multilateral development banks, 2) bilateral government donor agencies, and 3) development finance institutions (DFIs). The report is a new contribution to both the development community, as well as the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE). Advocacy and policy work is a strategic priority for ANDE, and the report's findings will enable the Network to understand the international development community and to be more strategic in its approach as it seeks to influence and shape the international development SME agenda. Download the full report.
Innovations in Cooperation: A Guidebook on Bilateral Agreements to Address Health Worker Migration
The Health Worker Migration Initiative, a program of Realizing Rights/Global Health & Development at The Aspen Institute, provides concrete guidance on using bilateral agreements to better manage health worker migration.
Of the Press: Models for Transforming American Journalism
Of the Press: Models for Transforming American Journalism details the insights and forward-thinking frameworks resulting from the 2009 Forum on Communications and Society (FOCAS) in which over 40 leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs addressed the crisis facing journalism, highlighted by recent closings and bankruptcies of numerous traditional news outlets. The Report, written by the former executive editor of The Seattle Times Michael R. Fancher, describes the innovations, experimental business models, and evolving philosophies that could be harnessed to preserve journalism as a critical instrument in American society.
Aspen IFS's Comment to the Department of Labor on Lifetime Income Options
Framing the nation’s first private annuity policy that supplements Social Security – the universal, baseline annuity for all Americans – will be a difficult and complex task and should be undertaken only with extreme caution. What the government blesses as policy will affect millions of Americans and billions of investment dollars. It could alter the structure of our private savings system significantly and dramatically affect the operation and organization of the financial services industry. Aspen IFS believes that critical work of analysis and debate must be undertaken before the nation embarks upon a broad-based, expansive policy on lifelong security.
Aspen IFS's Comment to the Department of Labor on the Proposed Rule on Investment Advisors
Many believe that the best way to improve 401(k) performance is to "fix the people," that is, to educate participants to make better investment decisions or, failing that, to offer them, at their own, substantial expense, personal advisors to assist them in making better decisions. Aspen IFS recognizes that there are behavioral challenges to turning people into savers and savers into investors. It believes, however, that the better, and cheaper, alternative to "fixing the people" is "fixing the product", that is, offering plan participants an investment option that mitigates the need for complex decision-making and professional advice yet is capable of delivering superior returns at a low cost.
A Growing Tradition? Examining the African American Family Foundation
African American family foundations have grown in number and in popularity, at least in part due to the fact that African Americans expressly prefer giving to organizations that are close to them and that aid their community. Little is known about these organizations. What are the overarching goals of these foundations, and in what areas are their donations concentrated? Download the executive summary of this report, and download the complete report at the link below.
Core Principles for New Accountability in Education
This publication is the product of a workshop on accountability policy held in Aspen, Colorado in July 2009. This paper recommends a set of six core accountability principles to help frame future conversations about the next generation of accountability policies in education.
Strategic Staffing for Successful Schools: Breaking the Cycle of Failure in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
As the federal Race to the Top initiative and current Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization discussions focus on the importance of turning around low-performing schools, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District provides an instructive example for how effective turnaround can be accomplished on the district level. CMS is combining the use of effectiveness data and strategic staffing to create a coherent, systemic approach to school turnarounds – and getting gains in student achievement as a result. Strategic Staffing for Successful Schools: Breaking the Cycle of Failure in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, is a case study released by the Aspen Institute and Education Resource Strategies, Inc. (ERS). The study focuses on how CMS uses principal and teacher effectiveness data in its school turnaround efforts.
