ANDERSON, S. 2003. Creeping Protectionism: An Analysis of State and Federal Global Sourcing Legislation. The National Foundation for American Policy, Washington, DC (Dec).

Stuart Anderson is executive director of the National Foundation for American Policy. He formerly worked at the Cato Institute and the Immigration and Nationalization Service. The National Foundation for American Policy, founded in 2003, is a "non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to public policy research on trade, immigration and other issues of national importance." This policy analysis argues that state and federal legislation to restrict outsourcing "stifles innovation, reduces the competitiveness of U.S. firms, and cost American taxpayers money." The most interesting part of the report is the analysis of anti-outsourcing efforts in three states: in Indiana, where the government cancelled a contract awarded to Tata America International Group, the low bidder to install an unemployment insurance claims system; in New Jersey, where the state assembly has introduced legislation based on consumer fraud laws to make it difficult for US companies to maintain call centers in foreign countries; and Michigan, which has introduced legislation to prohibit state agencies from contracting or subcontracting with organizations that employ any people who do not hold US citizenship, legal alien residency, or a valid visa. The paper criticizes the campaign pledges of presidential candidate John Kerry, analyzes some of the federal legislation (especially the Thomas-Voinovich Amendment), and provides an appendix with information about various federal and state legislation on outsourcing.

AREDDY, J., KING, N., KESSEL, M., AND DEAN, J. 2005. Behind Yuan Move. Wall Street Journal( July 25) A1.

Summary from Wall Street Journal . Opponents feared the impact a change would have on China's booming exports. A stronger yuan would tend to make China's exports more expensive relative to other countries' exports. And some were chafing at what was already becoming a drumbeat of American criticism of China's currency policy.

ATKINSON, R. 2004. Meeting the Offshoring Challenge. Progressive Policy Institute (July).

Atkinson is vice president of the PPI and director of its Technology & New Economy Project. The article takes a strong stance against the policies that have been enacted by the Bush administration to respond to job loss in the United States caused by offshoring. The article criticizes protectionist measures by both political parties: these measures raise cost for taxpayers, might have unintended consequences such as harming procurement reform efforts in Pennsylvania, and might start a trade war with other countries. The article encourages a path that enables the United States to adapt and innovate better so that it can take advantage of the economic benefits of outsourcing and manage the risk to American workers. It outlines a number of specific objectives in three areas: helping US companies become more productive, reducing distortions to global trade, and assisting workers displaced by offshoring. A collection of progressive policy initiatives are recommended, including (among a number of others) increasing federal investment in R&D, expanding the R&D tax credit, enhancing federal support for small business start-up companies, improving math and science education, easing the process for foreign science doctorates educated in the United States to become US citizens, reducing currency manipulations that affect trade, enhancing international intellectual property protection, increasing funding for trade enforcement, eliminating tax loopholes that encourage companies to rein in corporations in countries that are offshore tax havens, requiring companies to give three-month notice when eliminating jobs for outsourcing reasons, applying the Trade Adjustment Assistance Act to IT workers, and providing wage insurance to workers in threat of having their jobs outsourced.

AUSTRALIAN COMPUTER SOCIETY. 2004. ACS Policy Statement on Offshoring. (Available at http://www.acs.org.au>http://www.acs.org.au)

From Web site. "The ACS (Australian Computer Society) has released a policy on ICT offshoring, calling for Australian enterprises and Government departments to take a considered approach to the practice. The professional body has developed a template - the ACS Offshoring Cost-Benefit Checklist - which is designed to help organizations assess the potential benefits and risks associated with offshoring before they commit themselves. The ACS Policy document calls for:

1. The Federal Government to develop guidelines for Commonwealth departments and agencies which take into account the ACS Offshoring Cost-Benefit Checklist;
2. The Federal Government to publicly endorse the ACS Offshoring Cost-Benefit Checklist as appropriate for major Australian companies;
3. Federal Government work with the ACS and other bodies to improve and enhance access to existing schemes for re-skilling and re-training of 'displaced' ICT employees;
4. Federal Government work with the local ICT industry to encourage the development of onshoring opportunities and to provide an agency dedicated to marketing Australia's ICT capabilities; and
5. development of industry policies (including R&D) which will enable Australian ICT SMEs to produce new products and services that build Australia's capacity to share in the economic gains of ICT sector growth industry." ( http://www.dcita.gov.au/).

BAILY, M.N. AND FARRELL, D. 2004. Exploding the Myths About Offshoring. McKinsey Global Institute (April).

The paper argues that the policy issue is not about free trade or globalization but instead about how the United States should allocate the benefits of global trade. The paper analyzes ways in which offshoring benefits the United States: corporate savings, additional exports, repatriated profits, and productivity and new jobs. The authors consider the projected job loss in the context of the job churn in the dynamic US economy. They then discuss such topics as trade surpluses, the significance of large labor markets in India and China, the impact of offshoring on job loss and the jobless economic recovery in the United States, and challenges for policy makers. Baily is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for International Economics and was chair of President Clinton's Council of Economic Advisors. Farrell is the director of the McKinsey Global Institute.

BERNSTEIN, J. 2004. The Changing Nature of the Economy. Economic Policy Institute (March 11).

The presenter is a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, DC. He argues in this testimony to the House Committee on Education and Workforce that 1) the short-term labor problem in the United States is not due to a lack of workers with the right skills but instead to a protracted contraction in jobs; 2) outsourcing is a serious threat to white-collar jobs in the United States and that upgrading the skill set of our workers relative to those of our trading partners will only work to a limited degree, especially in occupations (such as radiologists) that are already highly skilled; 3) contrary to the widespread belief that our schools do not provide workers with skills that are adequate to worker demands, there is little economic evidence this is so (but there is evidence that education is unevenly distributed and notably worse in low-income communities). The testimony suggests several policies for creating new jobs and keeping jobs in the United States such as changing government procurement practices to reduce work being sent overseas, eliminating tax deferral of profits earned abroad, funding government-sponsored infrastructure projects that create jobs, and increasing R&D investment.

BRINK, L. 2004. Job Losses and Trade: A Reality Check. Center for Trade Policy Studies, Cato Institute (March 17).

The author is director of the Cato Institute's Center for Trade Policy Studies. The center's mission is "to increase public understanding of the benefits of free trade and the costs of protectionism." The report is based on statistics from the BLS and the Economic Report of the President (2004). The argument is engaging and decidedly partisan. The author argues that there is currently a temporary, cyclical shortage of jobs but that the long-term forecast is positive, and that there is always a large number of jobs lost even in an economy where the net number of jobs is growing (since an even larger number are being created than are lost). He also argues against calls for new trade restrictions and downplays the influence of foreign sources on job loss. The paper cites BLS forecasts for continued expansion of IT jobs in the future to dispel the loss of jobs overseas and points out that the Forester projection about job loss in IT is modest compared to the size of the labor market. It argues that the trade surplus of the United States in the IT sector is positive, indicating that this industry remains robust. He points to cost savings to US companies from lower-cost foreign labor and the opportunity for US companies to pass these cost savings on to US consumers, spurring further demands for goods and services. He also notes that information technology has been eliminating jobs (bank tellers, receptionists, telephone operators, back-room clerical jobs, and others for many years and the loss to technology is no worse than the loss to foreign competition.

BRODY, W. 2005. The West Has Lost the Will to Fund Basic Research. Finanacial Times (Aug. 19) London, UK.

This editorial, by the president of Johns Hopkins University, argues that the United States and Europe have unprecedented challenges from India and China to their technological leadership but are doing little to meet that challenge. Industrial basic research has failed the short-term return on investment test and industrial funds are now being redirected to development and applied research. University research funding, especially in the physical and information sciences has been drastically reduced. DOD funding for basic research continues to decline. What is needed is "a cadre of talented scientists and engineers and an environment that supports the funding of high-risk ideas." Brody calls for tax incentives for companies to invest in long-term payoff, basic research; support for universities to train more graduates in science and engineering through grants and scholarships; and increase government spending on basic research.

CARAFANO, J.J., KANE, T., MITCHELL, D., AND NGUYEN, H. 2004. Protectionism Compromises America's Homeland Security. Backgrounder, No. 1777. Heritage Foundation Washington, DC. (July) (Available at http://www.heritage.org/research/homelanddefense/bg1777.cfm).

This position paper by the Heritage Foundation, which is relevant to but not directly about software offshoring, was written in response to the criticisms by protectionists of the Department of Homeland Security contract to the Bermuda-based company Accenture. The paper argues that protectionism stifles innovation and increases costs; free trade enables the United States to have the best technologies for homeland security; Congress should fix US tax laws rather than discriminate against companies that are based in countries with better tax laws; the Department of Homeland Security should be free to award contracts to the company best prepared to do the job without consideration of location in most cases; and the Department of Homeland Security should be required to show due diligence to security in awarding these contracts. Some specific legislative action is recommended.

CERF, V. AND H. N. MILLER 2005. America Gasps for Breath in the R&D Marathon. Wall Street Journal (July 27) A12.

This commentary by one of the inventors of the Internet and the President of the Information Technology Association of America argues that the US strength in international commerce will be harmed if the United States does not increase federal support for R&D. Some statistics: the federal budget for the National Science Foundation will decline for the first time since 1996 if the president's budget is passed as submitted; DARPA has moved away from open-ended, long-range research, dropping computing research from $214M in 2001 to $123M in 2004; national spending on R&D places the United States sixth in the world; the federal portion of the national budget for R&D has fallen to 25% today from 64% in 1964; the United States graduates 60,000 engineers each year, compared to 184,000 in India and more than 200,000 in China; in 1989 China, India, and Japan comprised 5% of US patent applications, while it is 19% today.

COMMITTEE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 2005. Making Trade Work: Straight Talk on Jobs, Trade, and Adjustment. The Research and Policy Committee, Washington, DC. (March).

The Committee for Economic Development is a non-profit, non-partisan, non-political organization of some 250 business leaders and educators in the United States. This report argues strongly in favor of free trade and against protectionism in light of offshoring. It also argues for major reforms in US trade assistance programs that will provide a safety net for workers who have lost their jobs. "It is easy to count the jobs lost through outsourcing, but difficult to count the many jobs created through the cost savings created by outsourcing, the productivity growth it allows, and direct foreign investment in the United States - they are 'hidden in plain sight.'" (p. 2) The report cites some of the relevant economic analysis and data bolstering their position. It also provides a bibliography of articles, with summaries, on current state of domestic jobs, foreign outsourcing, trade policy, adjustment assistance/unemployment insurance reform, and education/training for displaced workers.

COMPUTER SYSTEMS POLICY PROJECT 2004. Choose to Compete: How Innovation, Investment, and Productivity can Grow U.S. Jobs and Ensure American Competitiveness. Computer Systems Policy Project, Washington , DC.

This is a policy document from CSPP, which is an organization representing the CEOs of eight IT industry firms: Dell, EMC, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Motorola, NCR, and Unisys. The basic position is that we need to take decisive action to be able to compete in the international setting by strengthening our ability to innovate and that we should not retreat into protectionism. Perhaps the most interesting point of this document is the policy positions advocated by CSPP:

• Promote innovation as a means to maintain American leadership
• Pass a permanent R&D tax credit
• Increase federal investment in university-based research in the physical sciences
• Implement new policies that support the chain of innovation
• Encourage investment in the innovation infrastructure and maintain a business climate that rewards risk and encourages entrepreneurship
• Enact an infrastructure investment act supporting improved asset depreciation tables, a permanent tax moratorium on Internet access, and reform international tax rules
• Adopt national broadband goals and implement a strategy to reach them
• Continue e-government initiatives to make government more efficient
• Improve education and training of US workers
• Fund federal and state education priorities
• Enact a mathematics and science improvement act to improve teaching and learning in these areas
• Support greater access to and use of technology for interactive learning
• Improve teacher preparedness and performance
• Create an incentive for human capital investment among employers
• Mitigate the temporary effects of workforce dislocations through training programs

COONEY, M. 2005. States Target Offshoring - Again. Computer World (Network World) (Feb. 28).

From the article. Colorado this week became yet another state to see a bill before its legislature that would cut tax breaks and other incentives to companies in Colorado that offshore workers. According to an Associated Press report, 36 states considered legislation aimed at limiting offshoring last year. Laws, however, were only passed in two of them: Tennessee and Illinois. So far this year, 15 states besides Colorado are considering such bills.

THE EDUCATION FOR INNOVATION INITIATIVE 2005. Tapping America's Potential. Distributed by the Business Roundtable Washington, DC. (July).0

Fifteen major business organizations are concerned about the ability of the United States to sustain its scientific and technical superiority. The report cites various statistics about foreign competition from Asia, lack of US student interest in engineering, declining US student achievement in math problem-solving skills, and declining federal investment in R&D. The coalition recommends building public support for making improvements in math and science performance a national priority, motivating students and adults through incentives to enter science and technology careers, upgrading K-12 math and science teaching, reforming visa and immigration policy to attract and retain bright science and engineering students from around the world, and boosting funding for basic research especially in the physical sciences and engineering.

ELECTRONIC INDUSTRIES ALLIANCE. 2004. The Technology Industry at an Innovative Crossroads: A Policy Playbook Addressing the Future of the U.S. High-Tech Innovation Economy .

This study is not specifically about offshoring, but instead about "structural changes taking place in the world economy and in the high-tech industry in particular." However, the cover letter by Dave McCurdy (president) and Ronald Turner (chairman) mentions offshoring particularly: "Our biggest concern is not offshore outsourcing, but that demagoguery and political overreaction to this business practice - which, by the way, is not new - will lead to protectionist policies. The lack of an overarching vision, combined with inadequate investment in innovation, contributes to short-term and false choices that could potentially lead to the critics' prophecies of inevitable Chinese or Indian economic dominance." This study takes "a broad look at the benefits of open markets and the trends in high-tech manufacturing, design, engineering, and research & development." Information was gained through forums, surveys, and executive interviews. The report makes about 50 recommendations, falling into six areas:

• working with US trading partners to ensure open markets and fair and secure trading environments,
• visa and immigration policy reform,
• improving the US business landscape, including tax and regulatory reforms,
• encouraging continual skills training and worker education,
• improving the K-12 system,
• making basic research a funding priority.

FLORIDA, R. 2004. Creative Class War: How the GOP's Ant-Elitism Could Ruin America's Economy. Washington Month (Jan./Feb.).

The United States has had two decades of economic success building on the creative economy, ranging from high tech to Hollywood, but now other countries are beginning to catch up. The author traces the indicators of this slippage such as the drop in immigration and foreign student graduate admission in the United States. The main reason cited is the change in the political and policy landscape since the late 1990s with greater attention now to older sections of the economy including tariff protection and subsidies, allowing politics to interfere with certain kinds of scientific research, and the response of the US to 9/11. The author notes how the United States is becoming more geographically polarized with Republicans representing the rural, small town, and exurban regions, while the Democrats represent the urban and suburban areas. The attitudes of these latter regions fit well with the creative economies. The author argues that strengthening the creative economy rather than protectionism is the way to fight job loss through offshoring.

FREEMAN, P. AND ASPRAY, W. 1999. The Supply of Informatic Technology Workers in the United States. Computing Research Association, Washington, DC.

This report, on behalf of six computing-related professional societies, describes the state of the IT workforce in the United States. Topics include the political context, the definition of IT and IT-enabled workers, demands and constraints on the supply system, traditional and nontraditional suppliers of IT workers, quality of data, special issues about shortages of doctorates, women and under-represented minorities, and whether there is a workforce shortage.

GOTSCH, T. 2004. Jobs, Privacy Concerns Spark State Trend Against Sending Call Center Jobs Overseas. Telecommunications Reports 70, 3 (Feb.) 25-26.

The article surveys some of the protectionist legislative response to offshoring, especially at the state government level. Some of the state legislation requires the call centers and other service centers to be located in the region of the customers that is being served. One place that legislation has made progress is in North Carolina, where, in August 2003, Gov. Michael Easley issued an executive order stopping the use of overseas call centers on state contracts.

GRISWOLD, D.T. AND BUSS, D. D. 2004. Outsourcing Benefits Michigan Economy and Taxpayers. Policy Brief. Mackinac Center for Public Policy, Midland, Michigan (Sept. 16).

Griswold is director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, and the article takes the typical Cato Institute "free trade, no Protectionism" line of argument. The article is directed at Michigan which is sensitive about job loss because of the prior losses in the automobile and manufacturing industries. Examples are given of two Michigan companies that benefit from free trade: Delphi, a subsidiary of General Motors, and Covansys, a technology services provider. The article also talks about the direct foreign investment that occurs in Michigan as a result of free trade from such companies as Mazda Motor, Nissan Motor, Hyundai, Suzuki Motor, Toyota Motor, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

HALBFINGER, D. M. 2005. Pentagon's New Goal: Put Science Into Scripts. The New York Times (Aug. 4).

The article describes a program funded by the US Air Force and Army to teach scientists how to write and sell screenplays. The purpose is to attract students to careers in science.

HARSHA, P. 2005. Help Requested in Support of Defense Authorization Amendment. Computing Research Policy Blog, Computing Research Association (July 21). (Available at http://www.cra.org/govaffairs/blog/archives/000383.html ).

This is a blog entry that urges support and awareness for an amendment proposed by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) to the FY 2006 Defense Authorization bill that "would increase funding for a number of programs of interest to the computing research community, including a $10 million plus-up to 'fundamental computer science and cybersecurity research at DARPA.' "

HAVEMAN, J. D. AND SCHATZ, H. J. 2004. Services Offshoring: Background and Implications for California. Public Policy Institute of California (Aug.).

This is a good overview of the offshoring issue with some additional information about the actions by states to protect jobs and about the possible impacts on California. The paper identifies issues that need to be considered when implementing protectionist measures at the state level, including the cost of the policy, how many workers it will affect, whether it is appropriate to provide assistance to relatively high-wage workers since most government programs are targeted at low-wage workers, whether restricting offshoring will help workers within that state (given that the contracts may end up going to US firms in other states), and whether there might be all kinds of unintended consequences such as falling out of compliance with international trade agreements. The authors advocate using some of the funds saved from using lower-cost workers in outsourcing arrangements to provide extra benefits for displaced US workers, both to cushion the blow temporarily and to speed the return to work. They argue that labor market data is inadequate for making policy decisions about outsourcing, but it is clear that the numbers of people affected are relatively small and that policies that ease the situation for displaced workers rather than trying to stop offshoring are more likely to help the economy.

HIRA, R. AND HIRA, A. 2005. Outsourcing America. AMACOM, New York,NY.

Ron Hira is a professor of public policy at Rochester Institute of technology and head of IEEE-USA's visa and offshoring policy initiatives. Anil Hira is a professor of international economic policy at Simon Fraser University in Canada. The book presents an overview of offshoring written for the general public rather than the expert, taking a position that this phenomenon has and is likely to continue to cause serious harm to the United States. Topics include economic theories of free trade and competitive advantage (and their limitations), positions held in the public debate, how much offshoring is being done and to where, reasons companies send work offshore, the impacts on the US economy and the US worker, and how developing countries attract US jobs. A set of recommendations are presented.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA 2003. New ITAA Paper on L-1 Visas Clarifies 'Specialized Knowledge' for Foreign Information Technology Workers - Association Calls the Visas Critically Important. Press Release (July 29).

L-1 visas have been used to bring workers, especially from India, to do outsourcing work. Many people believe that this is a misuse of the L-1 visa. ITAA took a stance on this issue, arguing that there is a valuable role for the L-1 visas but there needs to be admin-istrative reforms so that they are made available only for legitimate purposes such as bringing employees with specialized knowledge to work in the United States on a temporary basis for their multinational company. The change proposed would define specialized knowledge more narrowly so as not to include just anyone with knowledge of software programs, programming languages such as Java and COBOL, and IT tools with a large body of people skilled in them. "Advanced knowledge of an employer's special process or methodology that is not generally held throughout the industry could be considered specialized knowledge and would be an acceptable case for applying for an L-1 visa."

KALITA, S.M. 2005. As Government Cap on Work Visas Rises, So Does Confusion. Washington Post (April 8) E1.

The article describes the US H1-B visa program. Topics include the dispute over criteria for the 20,000 additional visas approved by Congress, the increasing demand for H1-B visas over the past year, the increased cost of the visas, and offshoring as an alternative to temporary workers under the H1-B visa program.

KLINGER, S. AND SYKES, M.L. 2004. Exporting the Law: A Legal Analysis of State and Federal Outsourcing Legislation. The National Foundation for American Policy, Washington, DC. (April).

The National Foundation for American Policy, founded in 2003, is a "non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to public policy research on trade, immigration and other issues of national importance." The report provides what it claims to be the first legal analysis of proposed and enacted US state and federal legislation attempting to restrict outsourcing. The authors are a partner and associate, respectively, in the Washington, DC law firm of Alston & Bird. Legislators in 36 states have introduced more than 100 bills restricting overseas outsourcing. There are numerous proposed pieces of federal legislation as well. Few have been passed into law as of yet. Many of the state legislative initiatives are on shaky legal ground because they intrude on the federal government's right to control foreign affairs under the foreign commerce clause of the US Constitution. Proposed federal legislation does not have this problem but it may well be in violation of various international agreements. Topics include state outsourcing legislation, state bans on performing public contract work overseas, state bills requiring public contracts to be performed by individuals authorized to work in the United States, state bills restricting call centers and sending data overseas, in-state or US-based company preferences in state contracting, state tax and budgetary incentive bills providing incentives to restrict outsourcing, state executive orders, federal outsourcing legislation, legislation to limit the transfer of data overseas, federal contracting bans, and the Thomas-Voinovich Amendment (limiting work done outside the country for executive agencies).

KRONSTADT, K.A. 2004. India, 2004 National Election. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, Washington, DC. CSR 2-3.

Summary from the report. U.S. relations with India depend largely on India's political leadership. India's 2004 national elections ended governance by the center-right coalition headed by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and brought in a new center-left coalition led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Following the upset victory for the historically-dominant Indian National Congress Party led by Sonia Gandhi, Gandhi declined the post of Prime Minister in the new left-leaning United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition government, instead nominating her party lieutenant, Oxford-educated economist Manmohan Singh, for the job. As Finance Minister from 1991-1996, Singh was the architect of major Indian economic reform and liberalization efforts. On May 22, the widely-esteemed Sikh became India's first ever non-Hindu Prime Minister. The defeated Bharatiya Janata Party now sits in opposition at the national level led in Parliament by former Deputy Prime Minister Lal Advani. A coalition of communist parties supports the UPA, but New Delhi's economic, foreign, and security policies are not expected to be significantly altered. The new government has vowed to continue close and positive engagement with the United States in all areas. This report, which will not be updated, provides an overview of the elections, key parties, and U.S. policy interests.

LUNDY, K. 2003. Australia vs. Offshore -How Can Australia Win? Melbourne, Australia (Oct. 10) (Available at http://www.katelundy.com.au/offshoring.htm).

This is an opinion piece on the topic of ICT offshoring in Australia. The author believes that offshoring will not benefit the Australian economy, but rather reduce Australia's capacity to innovate and commercialize which will lead to decreased business opportunities in the ICT field. The author mentions several drawbacks to offshoring, which include loss of jobs, unreliable security and privacy practices overseas, and overhead of administration costs outweighing any actual cost savings.

MARK, R. 2005. Senators Promise Brain Drain Bill. (Available at http://www.internetnews.com/ bus-news/print.php/3521851) (July 21).

The article discusses recent interest in the US Congress to increase the number of American students training for science and engineering careers to match the expected growth in technical jobs. Political actions being considered are increased funding for cutting-edge, multi-disciplinary research and development of new manufacturing processes, and extra funding for the Technology Talent Act (which helps universities to increase the number of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics graduates). The legislation is supported by the Council on Competitiveness which has its own innovation initiatives that call for new graduate fellowships, reworking immigration law to allow foreign students studying in the United States an easier process to stay and pursue a science career in the country, and building innovation locales around the country.

MARKLUND, G. 2004. The Swedish National Innovation System 1970-2003. VINNOVA Analysis, VA 2004:2. Stockholm, Sweden.

From the introduction: The purpose of this study is to contribute to improved understanding of factors determining the long-term competitiveness of the Swedish economy. Innovation and the rate of economic success of innovation are the most important determinants of long-term productivity which, in turn, determines long-term value added and economic growth. Therefore, this study aims at identifying, characterizing, and valuing general and particular strengths and weaknesses in connection to innovation and economic growth in Sweden. In relation to this analysis, policy challenges for future Swedish innovation, value added and economic growth are discussed. Knowledge-intensive industrial and economic activities are particularly important for the future competitiveness of national economies. Therefore, the analysis of the Swedish national innovation system will primarily focus on strengths, weaknesses, and policy challenges in relation to knowledge-intensive innovation and knowledge-based economic growth.

MCCARTER, P.M. 2005. US Government Agency's Approval of Unauthorized Visas Cuts US Jobs. Press Release. IEEE-USA (March 18).

This press release reports that the US immigration service (USCIS), not for the first time, has approved more visas under the H1-B program than authorized by Congress. This year 75,000 have been approved, while the cap was 65,000. Congress led by Senator Grassley (R-IA) is taking USCIS to task.

MCEACHERN, C. 2005. Technology on the Back Burner? VARBusiness (Aug. 5).

This brief article discusses the fact that President Bush did not reappoint the old members or appoint new members to the Presidential Information Technology Advisory Committee when it expired in June 2005. Speculation is presented that the administration did not like some of the strong language about the shortcomings in the administration's policies and funding for research.

MONTGOMERY, G.2004. Techies on Tenterhooks. Dispatch (Aug.). (Available at apcmag.com).

This is an opinion piece reacting negatively to the Policy on Offshoring presented by the Australian Computer Society (ACS). The policy is described as a "how-to guide for offshoring, the ACS policy presents a set of guidelines, checklists, templates and re-skilling schemes designed to show government and business that gutting the local industry in favor of cheap overseas labor isn't really so bad." The president of ACS told Dispatch that he will turn ACS into a "policy making machine", which the authors of this article feel "sells out the members of the society, panders to the Federal government, and indicates a right-wing agenda."

THE NATION 2004. Toward a Progressive View on Outsourcing. The Nation 22 (March 22-26).

In response to the furor over the comments on February 9, 2004, to remarks by Gregory Mankiw, head of the President's Council of Economic Advisors, that outsourcing "is probably a plus for the economy in the long run", three views were solicited from Sarah Anderson and John Cavanaugh (Institute for Policy Studies), Jeff Madrick (editor of Challenge magazine), and Doug Henwood (editor of Left Business Observer). Topics included John Kerry's presidential platform, lack of support of labor in trade policy, unemployment and labor repression as countervailing forces to productivity, problems with the standard economic account of the benefits of free trade, weaknesses in current protectionist legislation, full employment policy, worker displacement policy, and the role of automation in job loss.

NICHOLSON, B. 2001. Global Software Outsourcing: The Solution to the IT Skills Gap. Workshop Report to Anglo German Foundation for the Study of Industrial Society.

The report summarizes an international workshop held at the Wissenschaftszentrum in Berlin on May 30-31, 2001. The purpose was to assess the current IT skill shortage and its effects on Germany and the United Kingdom. The workshop included policy makers, academics, and practitioners from the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, and India. Outcomes were addressed to both national policy makers and corporate executives.

OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY, EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT. Response to Union of Concerned Scientists Document. 2005. (Available at http://www.ostp.gov/html/ucs.html . Accessed Aug.).

Comments are provided by the President's science advisor, John Marburger, in response to accusations made to the Bush Administration concerning its policies and actions towards scientific integrity.

PRNEWSWIRE 2003. Back to the Future as North West Faces Severe Service Sector Jobs Haemorrhage. (Sept.).

This press release on behalf of Amicus, the United Kingdom's largest financial and insurance sector union, warns of the potential loss of tens of thousands of call center and back office jobs in major insurance companies in the northwestern part of the United Kingdom due to offshoring to India.

PUZZANGHERA, J. 2005. Bush's High-Tech Report Card. SiliconValley.com (July 25).

The article discusses Silicon Valley's attitude towards the Bush administration. One Republican who is an industry lobbyist stated anonymously, "I certainly can't say this has been a high-tech administration." Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) stated, "they are rudderless and visionless" on high technology. Partly responsible may be the hands-off economic policy and the need to deal with 9-11. And, partly it is because the administration's senior staff is dominated by people from old economy fields such as oil (Bush, Cheney, Donald Evans). Silicon Valley likes the Bush administration on class-action lawsuit reform making education a high priority and pushing free trade. They particularly dislike the Bush administration's policy positions on access to broadband service, not providing more research funding for the physical sciences, and accounting rules on stock options.

SAMUELSON, R. 2005. It's Not a Science Gap (Yet). Washington Post (Aug. 10) A17.

In a brief but thoughtful article, the author describes the worsening situation of the United States in comparison to other countries in production of science and engineering degrees and the slower growth of science and engineering salaries in the United States compared to salaries of other professions. The author points to the value for Americans of R&D breakthroughs made in other countries and tries to give perspective on the threat to America from the growth in scientific power of other nations.

SCHWARTZ, E. 2005. Green Card Regulations Encourage Offshoring. Info World (March 29).

This brief article reports on changes in the H-1B and green card processes of the United States and the likely impact they will have on driving companies to send work offshore. The column is based on a conversation with Frida Glucoft, an immigration lawyer at Mitchell Silberberg and Knupp. Topics include the increase in the filing fee for H1-B visas, the necessity of paying extra for expedited service, impact of the Department of Labor's new Program Electronic Review Management system, and the foot-dragging of the Custom and Immigration Service to process the 20,000 new visas for people with advanced degrees from US universities.

SPERLING, G. Raising the Tide and Lifting All Boats: Toward a Pro-Growth Progressive Consensus on Globalization. Progressive Politics 32, 82-88.

The author argues for developing a progressive political solution to the impacts of offshoring on the United States. One of the points that he emphasizes is the lack of new job creation more than job destruction due to offshoring. For example, during 2002 and 2003, there were 200,000 fewer jobs destroyed per quarter than in the late 1990s. Actual job loss amounts to only 0.1 to 0.2% of the US workforce per year. There are reasons to be thankful for outsourcing, for example, the large group of middle-class consumers that will eventually emerge in China and India, and we have an aging population that will eventually result in a smaller work pool. Sperling recommends six actions in his progressive platform: (1) taking job creation seriously; (2) investing in competitiveness by improving the education, research, and technology infrastructures; (3) taking education more seriously with a goal of four years of higher education for all citizens; (4) taking a preemption strategy that involves reaching out to workers in at-risk industries before they lose their jobs; (5) offering strong dislocation packages that include unemployment insurance, stronger retraining, temporary health care and mortgage assistance, and seamless systems for dealing with displaced workers; and (6) devising a new political approach that goes beyond traditional liberal and conservative views.

STERNSTEIN, A. 2005. Facing an Innovation Deficit. Federal Computer Week (Aug. 18).

The article presents the criticisms several organizations have lodged against the Bush Administration about underinvestment in IT research and development. A few budget details and other facts are presented. The Bush Administration's position is presented from some remarks by John Marburger, director of the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy.

SWEDISH GOVERNMENT 2004. Innovative Sweden - A Strategy for Growth Through Renewal, DS 2004:36, Stockholm, Sweden.

This article discusses strategies for the long-term growth and welfare in Sweden. In order to realize growth, the article suggests establishing a climate of innovation, which will lead to new goods and services or methods of production.

THE TASK FORCE ON THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN INNOVATION 2004. The Knowledge Economy: Is the United States Losing its Competitive Edge? (Feb.) (Available at http://www.futureofinnovation.org/PDF/Benchmarks.pdf).

From the introduction. The Task Force on the Future of American Innovation has developed a set of benchmarks to assess the international standing of the United States in science and technology. These benchmarks in education, the science and engineering (S&E) workforce, scientific knowledge, innovation, investment and high-tech economic output reveal troubling trends across the research and development (R&D) spectrum. The United States still leads the world in research and discovery, but our advantage is rapidly eroding, and our global competitors may soon overtake us. Research, education, the technical workforce, scientific discovery, innovation and economic growth are intertwined. To remain competitive on the global stage, we must ensure that each remains vigorous and healthy. That requires sustained investments and informed policies.

WALTON, J. 2004. WTO: China Enters Year Three. China Business Review (Jan.). (Available at http://www.chinabusinessreview.com/public/0401/01.html ).

China began its third year as a member of the WTO on December 11, 2003. The PRC government has been slow to implement its most significant commitments, and no progress has been made in some important areas. China has fallen into a pattern of renegotiating its WTO entry terms line by line as questions arise about implementation problems. Some areas that China has to work on before the December 11, 2004 deadline include granting full trading rights to foreign companies for the right to import and export services, implementation of a number of important commitments in the areas of retailing, wholesaling, and commission agents' services, and franchising, as well as significant openings to foreign investment in the banking, insurance, and securities sectors.

WILLIAMS, D. 2004. Response to the Australian Computer Society Policies. House of Representatives Alcove, Parliament House, Canberra, Australia (May). (Available at http://www.dcita.gov.au).

The article presents the Australian government's position on offshoring, and its views of the policy positions taken by the Australian Computer Society.

WILSON, C. 2005. Congress, Media, and Research Societies Bring National Attention to IT R&D Funding, USACM Weighs In. ACM Washington Update 9, 5 (May). (Available at http://www.acm.org/usacm/weblog/index.php?p=278).

From the Web site. A confluence of events brought an amazing amount of national attention to the decline in funding for long-term IT research and the federal government's commitment to funding basic research in the physical sciences. This subject has received attention in the past, but the intensity and sustained interest both in the media and by policymakers show that this issue has newfound traction…All of this set the stage for a House Science Committee hearing titled "The Future of Computer Science Research in the U.S." USACM and several other computing societies weighed in with testimony at the hearing. After the hearing the chairman of the committee, Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), stated his concern about the shift away from long-term IT R&D funding by the federal government concluding that the hearing was "just the first step in addressing concerns that computer scientists have raised about DARPA's research priorities."

WILSON, C. 2005. Congress to Bolster Math and Science. Tech Policy Blog, USACM (July). (Available at http://www.acm.org/usacm/weblog/index.php?p=298).

The article briefly mentions a few scholarship programs aimed at increasing interest in Math and Science. The first program "provides federal money, matched by private sources, to pay the tuition of students getting baccalaureate or advanced degrees in 'physical, life, or computer science; mathematics; and engineering.' " The second program "waives up to $5,000 of the interest portion of a student's loans. A student is eligible if they are a teacher of 'science, technology, engineering or mathematics' working in a 'high need' educational institution, but they don't need to have a math or science degree."

WORTHEN, B. 2004. Offshore Regulations: What to Worry At. CIO Magazine 15 (June).

The article examines the politics of offshoring in the United States in a presidential election year. Topics include the Thomas-Voinovich Amendment, state legislation intended to limit offshoring, campaigns against offshoring medical and financial data, the role of the H1-B and L-1 visa programs in offshoring, "right-to-know" laws concerning the location of people staffing call centers, and politicking by the US Chamber of Commerce and the Communications Workers of America on offshoring.

WORTHEN, B. 2005. Why George Bush Needs a Technology Czar. CIO Magazine 15 (April).

The article reports on the results from a poll of US chief information officers who indicated a need for a US technology czar to develop a strategic plan for technology, manage government sponsored R&D projects, and coordinate technology policy across government agencies. The article also reports on a study by the National Intelligence Council that the US position as innovation leader will be weakened by China and India over the next 15 years. The article argues that multidisciplinary research, such as cybersecurity, tends to get neglected. Weaknesses in the US system are discussed such as drop-offs in government R&D funding as a percentage of GDP, private sector R&D investment, and low numbers of science and engineering graduates. The article argues that the technology czar could be crafted out of the legislation authorizing the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Science and Technology Council, but that there seems little interest in the Bush administration for promoting science and technology.

WULF, W. 2005. The Importance of Foreign-Born Scientists and Security of the United States. Testimony before the Subcommittee on Immigration, Committee of the Judiciary, US House of Representatives. (Sept.).

The president of the National Academy of Engineering argues that foreign scientists have made and continue to make major contributions to the United States. Not only is the United States more prosperous because of them, it is also more secure. He argues for a balance between security and access to foreign students and professional scientists and engineers.