OTA Reports, 1980 – 1984

The Congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) closed on September 29, 1995. During its 23-year history, OTA provided Congressional members and committees with analyses of the scientific and technological issues that were increasingly relevant to public policy and legislative action.

OTA occupied a unique role among the Congressional information agencies. Unlike the General Accounting Office, which is primarily concerned with evaluation of ongoing programs, and the Congressional Research Service, which provides rapid information on legislative topics, OTA provided a deeper, more comprehensive, and more technical level of analysis. Through eleven Congressional sessions, OTA became a key resource for Congressional members and staff confronting technological issues in crafting public policy. Its existence brought a healthy balance to the analytical resources available to the executive and legislative branches of government.

The agency’s legacy is found in the many items of legislation it influenced and in the channels of communication its staff helped foster between legislative policymakers and members of the scientific, technical, and business communities.

The Black Vault has archived here the complete collection of reports and data issued by the OTA. Clicking on any document below will take you directly to the report, all in .pdf format. This collection holds 110,670 pages in total.

 

1984

1. Acid Rain and Transported Air Pollutants: Implications for Public Policy
2. Africa Tomorrow: Issues in Technology, Agriculture, and U.S. Foreign Aid
3. Airport System Development
4. Annual Report to the Congress: January 1 to September 30, 1983
5. Arms Control in Space
6. The Boston Elbow
7. Civilian Space Stations and the U.S. Future in Space
8. Commercial Biotechnology: An International Analysis
9. Computerized Manufacturing Automation: Employment, Education, and the Workplace
10. The Contact Lens Industry: Structure, Competition, and Public Policy
11. Directed Energy Missile Defense in Space
12. Effects of Information Technology on Financial Services Systems
13. Environmental Protection in the Federal Coal Leasing Program
14. Federal Policies and the Medical Devices Industry
15. The Hemodialysis Equipment and Disposables Industry
16. Human Gene Therapy
17. Impacts of Neuroscience
18. Intensive Care Units (ICUs): Clinical Outcomes, Costs, and Decisionmaking
19. The Market for Wheelchairs: Innovations and Federal Policy
20. Medical Technology and the Costs of the Medicare Program
21. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging Technology: A Clinical, Industrial, and Policy Analysis
22. Nuclear Power in an Age of Uncertainty
23. Protecting the Nation’s Groundwater from Contamination-Vol. I
24. Protecting the Nation’s Groundwater from Contamination-Vol. II
25. Remote Sensing and the Private Sector: Issues for Discussion
26. Review of Postal Automation Strategy: A Technical and Decision Analysis
27. Technologies To Sustain Forest Resources
28. Technology and the Future of the U.S. Construction Industry
29. Technology, Innovation, and Regional Economic Development
30. Technology, Renewable Resources, and American Crafts
31. Technology Transfer to the Middle East
32. U.S. Vulnerability to an Oil Import Curtailment
33. Update of Federal Activities Regarding the Use of Pneumococcal Vaccine
34. Wetlands: Their Use and Regulation
35. Wood Use: U.S. Competitiveness and Technology-Vol. II

1983

1. Agricultural Postharvest Technology and Marketing Economics Research
2. Annual Report to the Congress for 1982
3. An Assessment of Maritime Trade and Technology
4. Assistive Devices for Severe Speech Impairments
5. Automation and the Workplace: Selected Labor, Education, and Training Issues
6. Census of State Government Initiatives for High-Technology Industrial Development
7. Diagnosis Related Groups (DRGs) and the Medicare Program: Implications for Medical Technology
8. The Effectiveness and Costs of Alcoholism Treatment
9. Encouraging High-Technology Development
10. Habitability of the Love Canal Area: An Analysis of the Technical Basis for the Decision on the Habitability of the Emergency Declaration Area
11. The Impact of Randomized Clinical Trials on Health Policy and Medical Practice
12. Industrial and Commercial Cogeneration
13. Industrial Energy Use
14. The Information Content of Premanufacture Notices
15. International Competitiveness in Electronics
16. Plants: The Potential for Extracting Protein, Medicines, and Other Useful Chemicals
17. Quality and Relevance of Research and Related Activities at the Gorges Memorial Laboratory
18. The Role of Genetic Testing in the Prevention of Occupational Diseases
19. The Safety, Efficacy, and Cost Effectiveness of Therapeutic Apheresis
20. SALYUT: Soviet Steps Toward Permanent Human Presence in Space
21. Scientific Validity of Polygraph Testing: A Research Review and Evaluation
22. Sustaining Tropical Forest Resources: Reforestation of Degraded Lands
23. Sustaining Tropical Forest Resources: U.S. and International Institutions
24. Technologies and Management Strategies for Hazardous Waste Control
25. Technology and East-West Trade: An Update
26. Technology and Learning Disabilities
27. U.S. Natural Gas Availability: Conventional Gas Supply Through the Year 2000
28. U.S. Passenger Rail Technologies
29. UNISPACE ’82: A Context for International Cooperation and Competition
30. Variations in Hospital Length of Stay: Their Relationship to Health Outcomes
31. Water-Related Technologies for Sustainable Agriculture in Arid/Semiarid Lands: Selected Foreign Experience
32. Water-Related Technologies for Sustainable Agriculture in U.S. Arid/Semiarid Lands
33. Wood Use: U.S. Competitiveness and Technology-Vol. I

1982

1. The Air Cargo System
2. Air Service to Small Communities
3. Airport and Air Traffic Control System
4. Annual Report to the Congress for 1981
5. The Artificial Heart: Costs, Risks, and Benefits
6. An Assessment of Alternatives for a National Computerized Criminal History System
7. Cardiac Radionuclide Imaging and Cost Effectiveness
8. Civilian Space Policy and Applications
9. Energy Efficiency of Buildings in Cities
10. Environmental Issues of Synthetic Transportation Fuels From Coal
11. Exploratory Workshop on the Social Impacts of Robotics: Summary and Issues
12. Financing and Program Alternatives for Advanced High-Speed Aircraft
13. Four Common X-Ray Procedures: Problems and Prospects for Economic Evaluation
14. Global Models, World Futures, and Public Policy: A Critique
15. Impacts of Technology on U.S. Cropland and Rangeland Productivity
16. Implications of Electronic Mail and Message Systems for the U.S. Postal Service
17. Increased Automobile Fuel Efficiency and Synthetic Fuels: Alternatives for Reducing Oil Imports
18. Informational Technology and Its Impact on American Education
19. Mandatory Passive Restraint Systems in Automobiles: Issues and Evidence
20. Medical Technology Under Proposals To Increase Competition in Health Care
21. MEDLARS and Health Information Policy
22. Postmarketing Surveillance of Prescription Drugs
23. Radiofrequency Use and Management: Impacts From the World Administrative Radio Conference of 1979
24. Review of the FAA 1982 National Airspace System Plan
25. Selected Electronic Funds Transfer Issues: Privacy, Security, and Equity
26. Selected Technical and Economic Comparisons of Synfuel Options
27. Selected Telecommunications Devices for Hearing-Impaired Persons
28. Space Science Research in the United States
29. Strategies for Medical Technology Assessment
30. Synthetic Fuels for Transportation: The Future Potential of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles
31. Technology and Handicapped People
32. Technology Transfer at the National Institutes of Health
33. Use of Models for Water Resources Management, Planning, and Policy
34. Water Availability for Synthetic Fuels: An Assessment of Current Studies
35. World Population and Fertility Planning Technologies: The Next 20 Years

1981

1. Allocating Costs and Benefits in Disease Prevention Programs: An Application to Cervical Cancer Screening
2. Annual Report to the Congress for 1980
3. Assessing Selected Respiratory Therapy Modalities: Trends and Relative Costs in the Washington, D.C., Area
4. An Assessment of Development and Production Potential of Federal Coal Leases
5. Assessment of Technologies for Determining Cancer Risks From the Environment
6. An Assessment of Technology for Local Development
7. An Assessment of the United States Food and Agricultural Research System
8. Benefit-And-Cost Analysis of Medical Interventions: The Case of Cimetidine and Peptic Ulcer Disease
9. Coal Exports and Port Development Computer-Based National Information Systems: Technology and Public Policy Issues
10. Cost Benefit/Cost Effectiveness of Medical Technologies: A Case Study of Orthopedic Joint Implants
11. Cost Effectiveness of Automated Multichannel Chemistry Analyzers
12. The Cost Effectiveness of Bone Marrow Transplant Therapy and Its Policy Implications
13. Cost Effectiveness of Influenza Vaccination
14. The Cost Effectiveness of Upper Gastrointestinal Endoscopy
15. The Costs and Effectiveness of Neonatal Intensive Care
16. The Costs and Effectiveness of Nurse Practitioners
17. Elective Hysterectomy: Costs, Risks, and Benefits
18. The Feasibility of Economic Evaluation of Diagnostic Procedures: The Case of CT Scanning
19. Formal Analysis, Policy Formulation, and End-Stage Renal Disease
20. Impacts of Applied Genetics: Micro-Organisms, Plants, and Animals
21. MX Missile Basing
22. Nonnuclear Industrial Hazardous Waste: Classifying for Hazard Management
23. Nuclear Powerplant Standardization: Light Water Reactors
24. Patent-Term Extension and the Pharmaceutical Industry
25. Patterns and Trends in Federal Coal Lease Ownership, 1950-80
26. Periodontal Disease: Assessing the Effectiveness and Costs of the Keyes Technique
27. Policy Implications of the Computed Tomography (CT) Scanner: An Update
28. Screening for Colon Cancer: A Technology Assessment
29. Solar Power Satellites
30. Surgery for Breast Cancer
31. Technology and Oceanography: An Assessment of Federal Technologies for Oceanographic Research and Monitoring
32. Technology and Soviet Energy Availability
33. U.S. Industrial Competitiveness: A Comparison of Steel, Electronics, and Automobiles

1980

1. Advanced High-Speed Aircraft
2. Alternative Energy Futures: Part I-The Future of Liquefied Natural Gas Imports
3. Annual Report to the Congress for 1979
4. An Assessment of Oil Shale Technologies
5. Assessment of Oil Shale Technologies-Vol. II: A History and Analysis of the Federal Prototype Oil Shale Leasing Program
6. Compensation for Vaccine-Related Injuries
7. Conservation and Solar Energy Programs of the Department of Energy: A Critique
8. Criteria for Evaluating the Implementation Plan Required By the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act of 1977
9. The Efficacy and Cost Effectiveness of Psychotherapy
10. Energy From Biological Processes
11. Energy from Biological Processes: Volume II-Technical and Environmental Analyses
12. Forecasts of Physician Supply and Requirements Impact of Advanced Group Rapid Transit Technology
13. The Implications of Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Medical Technology
14. The Implications of Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Medical Technology: Methodological Issues and Literature Review
15. Issues and Options in Flood Hazards Management
16. The Management of Health Care Technology in Ten Countries
17. Ocean Margin Drilling
18. Proceedings of the OTA Seminar on the Discrete Address Beacon System (DABS)
19. Recent Developments in Ocean Thermal Energy
20. Taggants in Explosives
21. Technology and Steel Industry Competitiveness
22. U.S. Disaster Assistance to Developing Countries: Lessons Applicable to U.S. Domestic Disaster Programs
23. World Petroleum Availability 1980-2000

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