In The News

A Hawkeyed Addition to Canada's Arctic Arsenal

Paul Taylor December 11, 2007
A Canadian satellite – Radarsat-2 – will monitor the Arctic and Antarctic and help defend Canada’s territorial claims in the Arctic, reports Paul Taylor in the Globe & Mail. Canada has had a similar satellite in orbit since 1995, which monitors the progress of melting polar ice, oil spills and agricultural growth. Research based on the satellite’s images contributed to Canada becoming a...

How Not to Repeat the Mistakes of the Kyoto Protocol

Scott Barrett November 14, 2007
Most countries recognize the need for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. But for any climate treaty to succeed at reducing emissions, all countries – especially the big emitters – must participate. Otherwise, trade leakage will result, as emitting industries concentrate in the nations with the fewest restrictions. For such reasons, the Kyoto Protocol to the UN Framework Convention on...

A Villain to Our Rescue

Robert J. Samuelson November 9, 2007
Politicians, activists and even some business executives in the West blame globalization for a lot of problems. But the US has benefited from foreign trade. “Contrary to popular opinion, the trade balance (deficit or surplus) barely affects total U.S. employment over long periods,” writes Robert Samuelson for the Washington Post. Some types of foreign competition do hurt some individual workers...

Globalization a Mixed Bag: Patten

Amit Baruah November 5, 2007
Globalization does not help every individual or country, but it is by no means a conspiracy by the rich against the poor, said Chris Patten, chancellor of Oxford University and former British governor of Hong Kong, during a lecture in India. Evidence suggests that trade and economic growth have ended poverty for millions of people. World labor markets, especially for skilled workers, are highly...

Gale Warning, Global Burden Sharing

Joergen Oerstroem Moeller October 19, 2007
Global questions of political economy have traditionally revolved around sharing public goods or dealing with crises. Today, however, the world must decide how to distribute the costs of tremendous challenges that are looming over the horizon. Joergen Oerstroem Moeller, visiting senior research fellow with the Institute of Southeast Asian Study, anticipates the world to be buffeted by the...

Globalization With Arab Characteristics

Marcus Noland October 17, 2007
A young workforce can be a great economic asset. Yet Arab states, with booming populations, desperately need to increase employment opportunities for young adults. Foreign investment has stagnated, limited to oil and tourism as firms remain wary of weak intellectual property rights and uncertain political transitions. Meanwhile, state-dominated economies have failed to achieve linkages to outside...

Inequality in India and China: Is Globalization to Blame?

Pranab Bardhan October 15, 2007
Globalization undoubtedly has many complex and unintended consequences. However, Pranab Bardhan, economist at University of California, Berkeley, argues that globalization cannot be credited as either an evil force responsible for rising inequality or a virtuous one behind falling poverty rates in the developing world. Conventional wisdom holds that notable increases in inequality and steep...