In The News

Disagreement on COVID-19 Policy: Global Policy

Benjamin Cashore and Steven Bernstein April 9, 2020
The world has more than 1.4 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 with more than 80,000 dead, and numerous countries tackle the public health crisis with mixed results. World leaders are in a hurry to reopen economies, and even public health experts have differed on how to contain the disease’s spread, with approaches ranging from the early prevention to delays and denials. Professors Benjamin...

Global Call for Action

April 9, 2020
More than 200 political leaders, economists, academics and directors of NGOS have issued a call to action from G20 governments, urging immediate global coordination and emergency measures for addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis. Both crises “require world leaders to commit to funding far beyond the current capacity of our existing international institutions,” explains the letter...

Trump Threatens to Withhold Funding for WHO: NYT

Michael D. Shear April 8, 2020
Critics have blasted Donald Trump’s delay in recognizing COVID-19 as a crisis and failing to implement strong public health measures early on. In a press conference, he directed a similar charge against the World Health Organization and raised the threat of withholding US funding from the global group. The US contribution represents about 10 percent of the WHO budget. “They called it wrong,” the...

Lockdown Disrupts Agri Supply Chains: Dawn

Mohammad Hussain Khan April 7, 2020
Wheat is ready for harvest in Pakistan, but the areas are in lockdown since March 22 to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Many farmers anticipate governments to extend lockdowns. At the same time, they anticipate price pressure for the crops. Sharecroppers face particular challenges. “Whilst a grower has multiple income generation options, a sharecropper depends on one crop or livestock to keep his...

George Orwell Lives: The Times of India

Nayan Chanda April 6, 2020
George Orwell’s novel 1984 describes an unsettled society under constant surveillance by a totalitarian government promoting ignorance and striving to control every action and thought. In the absence of trust, leaders expect citizens to agree mindlessly with any proclamation regardless of the facts. Nayan Chanda compares the novel to China’s propaganda and censorship in touting its leadership...

Face Mask Data: Ars Technica

Beth Mole April 5, 2020
East Asia quickly endorsed masks to fight spread of COVID-19, while the United States and Europe, following the lead of the World Health Organization, initially urged reserving such equipment for health providers. That thinking evolved, with health experts recommending cloth masks for citizens while maintaining social distance, washing hands, avoiding crowds and keeping a distance of six feet in...

Global Pandemic Strategy: Project Syndicate

Josep Borrell April 5, 2020
The world confronts a common enemy in COVID-19, and choices made today will shape individual communities and the world in the months and years ahead, explains Josep Borrell for Project Syndicate. A natural instinct is to fend for one’s self. “Going it alone all but guarantees that the fight will last longer, and that the human and economic costs will be far higher,” he writes. “Although the enemy...