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.
Making E-Governance Work for India
Making E-Governance Work for India touches on ways the Indian Government can provide services and information and include them in the governing process while transcending the country's vast cultural, linguistic and geographic differences. The report suggests public-private partnerships, policy reform, and infrastructural changes as ways to deliver more efficient and effective e-governance across India.
Oil and Gas in a Changing World
The 2009 Aspen Forum on Global Energy, Economy and Security explored “Oil and Gas in a Changing World,” reflecting the turmoil in the industry caused by the severe economic recession and highly volatile oil and gas prices. Topics included the dramatic increase in U.S. gas reserves as a result of production of gas from shale, the potential for improved efficiency to reduce demand for oil, and the prospects for various alternative fuels and automotive technologies. The Forum co-chairs were Luis Giusti, Senior Advisor to CSIS and former CEO of PDVSA, and Joseph A. Stanislaw, independent senior advisor to Deloitte LLP and CEO of The JAStanislaw Group.
Time is of the Essence: Foundations and the Policies of Limited Life and Endowment Spend-Down
The latest publication from the Aspen Institute's Program on Philanthropy and Social Innovation, Time is of the Essence: Foundations and the Policies of Limited Life and Endowment Spend-Down combines detailed analysis of two famous historic foundations (Rosenwald Fund and General Education Board) with case studies of selected contemporary foundations (Lucille P. Markey Charitable Trust, Corella and Bertram F. Bonner Foundation, and Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust) that decided to spend down their assets within a set period of time instead of existing in perpetuity. Written by John R. Thelin (University of Kentucky) and Richard Trollinger (Centre College), this publication provides donors and foundations with models for consideration in their own policies and planning in the 21st century.
Informing Communities: Sustaining Democracy in the Digital Age
Examines the information needs of the 21st century American citizen and proposes 15 public policy recommendations for sustaining democracy in the Digital Age. The download is free, but hard copies of the report can be purchased for $12.This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
Read and discuss this report at our website www.knightcomm.org
Overcoming Short-termism: A Call for a More Responsible Approach to Investment and Business Management
Twenty-eight leaders representing business, investment, government, academia, and labor joined the Aspen Institute Business & Society Program’s Corporate Values Strategy Group (CVSG) to endorse a bold call to end the focus on value-destroying short-termism in our financial markets and create public policies that reward long-term value creation for investors and the public good.
The statement, “Overcoming Short-termism: A Call for a More Responsible Approach to Investment and Business Management,” identifies three leverage points for encouraging a renewed focus on long-term value creation and for addressing one part of market short-termism, shareholder short-termism:
- Market incentives: encourage more patient capital through tax policy
- Alignment: better align the interests of financial intermediaries and their ultimate investors
- Transparency: strengthen investor disclosures
The Emerging Fourth Sector
Throughout the past several decades, the boundaries between the public, private, and social sectors have become less defined as there has been a significant emergence of practices and new organizations that are blending social and environmental missions with business practices. This paper examines the forces at work causing this emergence and the implications it has for each individual sector and society as a whole. Furthermore, it makes the case that new organizations sprouting from the blurring of sectoral boundaries constitute what is referred to as a “Fourth Sector” – organizations that are driven by a social mission and employ business policies and practices. It also suggests a pathway for accelerating the development of this new sector through the creation of a new class of “For-Benefit” organizations and the formation of a supportive ecosystem that is optimized to their needs. Written by Heerad Sabeti, co-founder of the Fourth Sector Network, this paper is supported by the Aspen Institute’s Program on Social Innovation and the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. The executive summary is currently available as a free download.
Cities' Preparedness for Terrorism Series: Los Angeles' Preparedness for Terrorism
Given that Los Angeles is the nation’s second largest city; the largest city in California, a state that would rank among the world’s tenth largest economies if it were a country1; a global melting pot teeming with a rich stew of races and ethnicities speaking a wide variety of languages and dialects; a trendsetter as to popular attitudes and social mores; and the capital of America’s iconic film and television industry, it stands to reason that it ranks at or near the very top of the terror target list.
Construction Pre-Apprenticeship Programs: Results from a National Survey
This publication shares findings from a WSI-conducted survey of pre-apprenticeship programs in the construction trades. Based on responses from 260 programs nationwide, the report presents information about program size, services offered, populations served, funding sources, and successes and challenges in placing trainees in apprenticeships or jobs. Funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the impetus for the project was a desire to explore the capacity of the workforce system to prepare individuals – particularly low-income and minority jobseekers – for jobs in the construction industry. It is hoped that the report will contribute to discussions about the need for investment in skills training and about ways to ensure that apprenticeships and construction-related jobs are open to more low-income, minority and women candidates.
Two Cheers for School-Based Financial Education
"Two Cheers for School Based Financial Education," provides an in-depth look at the history of financial literacy initiatives in America, past successes, shortcomings, and lessons learned. The white paper goes on to offer policy considerations and best ways forward in the effort to increase financial literacy in America. Dr. Lewis Mandell is the Senior Fellow of the Aspen Institute’s Initiative on Financial Security and a preeminent scholar of finance and researcher of financial literacy.
Child Accounts: The Appropriate Role for the Private Sector
The Initiative on Financial Security (Aspen IFS) at the Aspen Institute has conducted four years of research into the potential for a delivery system based on a retail model for Child Accounts. This report begins with a discussion of the inherent advantages of a retail model as well as some of the perceived obstacles.
