In The News

Reelected Obama Looks at Fiscal Cliff

David Dapice November 7, 2012
President Barack Obama has won the hard fought battle for a second term. But he has no time to rest or celebrate. The president and US politicians must hurry to put finances in order, warns economist David Dapice. Congress failing to agree on raising taxes or cut spending invoked a deus ex machina of painful automatic cuts and deadlines. In summer of 2011, the US Congress came close to...

World Momentum Builds for Universal Health Coverage

Yanzhong Huang March 9, 2012
The US may resist universal health care coverage, but less wealthy emerging economies are investing in providing health care to all. Despite the economic recession, nearly 100 countries are studying how to institute government-funded programs, aiming to offer affordable basic care for all citizens and control costs, reports Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on...

Childless by Choice

Joseph Chamie and Barry Mirkin March 2, 2012
Around the globe, more women and men are delaying childbirth, with many deciding against having children altogether. Economic recession, high unemployment rates, education and career ambitions contribute to the phenomenon. Among most developed nations, one in 10 women in their late 40s have no children, and in Italy and Switzerland, the childlessness rate approaches one in four women. The...

The New Future of Old Age

Peter W. Gallagher December 29, 2011
The average human’s life expectancy has stretched to seven decades. But seven decades of life was not so unusual for some pre-modern groups as well. “It turns out that settlement, especially urban living, was toxic,” writes Peter Gallagher for Policy Magazine. “The rapid recovery in life expectancy after the mid-nineteenth century may be the greatest humanitarian achievement of the industrial era...

Indian Firms Jolted by China's Social Security Plan

Saibal Dasgupta November 10, 2011
The cost for foreign firms doing business in China will climb as the country extends social-security obligations to cover foreign companies and their employees, reports Saibal Dasgupta in the Times of India. The move may lead many firms to reconsider expansion plans in China. Employers will contribute 37 percent of salary and employees 11 percent for benefits including pensions, and health...

Why Is This Cargo Container Emitting So Much Radiation?

Andrew Curry October 27, 2011
Screening thousands of cargo containers that arrive daily in any global port is nonstop work. Sealed containers can have false walls and doors or removable hinges to carry illegal drugs, immigrants or difficult-to-detect nuclear weapons. In Italy, inspectors routinely check containers carrying scrap metal, efficiently gathered into groups, for radiation. A maximum radiation reading, a million...

The UN’s Battle with NCDs

Sheri Fink and Rebecca Rabinowitz October 19, 2011
Sheri Fink and Rebecca Rabinowitz of the New America Foundation call attention to rising danger of non-communicable diseases, or NCDs. Such diseases, including heart and lung disease, cancer and diabetes, now account for two out of every three deaths worldwide. A UN meeting signals new priority on the challenges of such diseases. Non-communicable diseases, many preventable, have become prevalent...