The Role of Monopoly in America’s Prescription Drug Crisis

December 10, 2019

The Trump administration, members of Congress from both parties, and many states have introduced proposals to combat high drug prices. Too often missing from these reform efforts, however, is a clear understanding of a root cause of the crisis: the suppression of fair market competition through various forms of monopoly. This white paper examines and proposes solutions for the two main ways that monopoly drives up the costs and lowers the quality of prescription drugs: increasing corporate concentration in the pharmaceutical industry, and the monopoly markets for individual drugs created by a deeply flawed and increasingly abused patent and regulatory system.

Spotlight

City of Bloomington, MN

The City of Bloomington is a council-manager form of government with full-time staff of more than 500. Fiscally, the City maintains the highest triple A bond ratings from three ratings agencies: Standard & Poor's, Moody's, and Fitch. The main campus is located at the corner of 98th Street and West Old Shakopee Road.

OTHER WHITEPAPERS
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Security Clearances for Contractors and Government Employees

whitePaper | January 29, 2020

Individual government contractors face more rigorous scrutiny, as private companies can monitor employee’s social media as part of their continuous vetting and insider threat protocols. However, despite the existence of a directive permitting them to do so, government agencies do not monitor their employees’ social media. Our interviews found this is due to a lack of clear guidance on how to implement the existing directives and security policies. This shortcoming can be remedied by government agencies agreeing upon a single common standard regarding the use of publicly available electronic information, specifically social media, for personnel security and insider threat purposes. The DNI, as Security Executive Agent for the government, must then develop guidelines for the implementation of this standard throughout the sector.

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The Impact of the Trump Labor Market on Historically Disadvantaged Americans

whitePaper | December 19, 2019

The U.S. labor market is the strongest it has been in the last half century, as shown by economic data across various metrics. This is partly attributable to President Trump’s progrowth economic policies, the results of which are disproportionately benefiting Americans who were previously left behind. The Administration’s policies are boosting labor demand and lowering structural barriers to entering the labor market. This report provides evidence that this labor market has contributed to reduced inequality through an economic boom that is greatly benefiting historically disadvantaged groups. These groups are becoming more and more self-reliant through their economic activity, rather than remaining inactive in the labor market to qualify for means-tested government programs.

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WHITE PAPER ON NATIONAL TRANSPORT POLICY

whitePaper | May 27, 2022

Public policy-making processes are by their nature cumbersome, and not just because of the issues to be addressed. They also have to be inclusive and a myriad of competinginterests need to be addressed and to an extent satisfied.

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The Ultimate Guide to Government CX

whitePaper | December 26, 2019

Transforming the way governments serve the public is about more than choosing the right technologies. This level of change requires agencies to rethink how they engage their customers — from citizens and external partners to the frontline employees assisting the public.

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Identity Modernization for Government Service Excellence

whitePaper | January 17, 2023

Raising the Bar for Digital Government Services Americans rely on technology to run our everyday lives. Powerful mobile devices, ubiquitous internet access, and modern apps enable today’s remote work, distance learning, e-commerce, online banking, eHealth, streaming entertainment, and so much more. We’ve come to expect great online experiences in practically everything we do

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How Do Sovereign Wealth Funds Invest? With Strategic Diversification

whitePaper | April 30, 2022

Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs) remain a prominent and diverse group of global asset owners. They represent unencumbered fiscal resources of the host governments, invested under a range of different mandates. In this study, we considered 34 of the largest SWFs, located in 26 different jurisdictions, which as of year-end 2020, have total assets of almost $8.5 trillion, representing 5% of total global markets.2 Between 2018 and 2020, total SWF assets under management (AUM) grew by an annualized 11.3%, as compared to 5.5% over the previous time period (Figure 1). We find that the acceleration in AUM growth is largely a function of market gains due to the post-2018 drawdown in equities. However, we estimate that organic inflows into global SWF holdings are roughly in line with the mid-single digits during the 2014–2018 time period.

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Spotlight

City of Bloomington, MN

The City of Bloomington is a council-manager form of government with full-time staff of more than 500. Fiscally, the City maintains the highest triple A bond ratings from three ratings agencies: Standard & Poor's, Moody's, and Fitch. The main campus is located at the corner of 98th Street and West Old Shakopee Road.

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