In The News

The Zombie System: How Capitalism Has Gone Off the Rails

Michael Sauga October 27, 2014
The industrial world is failing to produce jobs and opportunities for citizens, and its leaders are at a loss for how to jump-start the economy after the lackluster performance of previous efforts. “Politicians and business leaders everywhere are now calling for new growth initiatives, but the governments' arsenals are empty,” writes Michael Sauga for Spiegel Online. “The billions spent on...

American Schools Are Training Kids for a World That Doesn’t Exist

David Edwards October 23, 2014
Education must prepare students for a fast-changing world, argues David Edwards for Wired. The world must handle 2 billion more people over the next 20 years along with a stressed food supply and climate change. “The many rich and varied human cultures of the earth will continue to mix, more rapidly than they ever have, through mass population movements and unprecedented information exchange, and...

Currency Wars Evolve With Goal of Avoiding Deflation

David Goodman, Lucy Meakin and Ye Xie October 22, 2014
Countries once worried about inflation or rising prices now fret about deflation and adjust currencies accordingly, reducing costs of their exports relative to other economies. Trouble is, many nations are jumping in to this game, leading to stagnant wages and job growth. Global consumers anticipate price declines and delay spending. “Brazil Finance Minister Guido Mantega popularized the term ‘...

Meet the Entrepreneurs at the Forefront of the Space Race

Carren Jao October 22, 2014
The world is entering a new Space Age as entrepreneurs spearhead advances in space technology and travel. This renewed Space Age is attributed to a greater commercial role in the space industry; in the United States, NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, adopted a decentralized market strategy in 2005, and interest in the space industry has exploded since with the expansion of...

Government Approval Not Enough, Businesses Need Social License

John Morrison October 21, 2014
Globalization drives business deals around the globe along with keen new awareness about social, environmental and other consequences of development. Best business practice now demands consent of the local people, suggests John Morrison, author of The Social License: How to Keep Your Organization Legitimate. The need for such pacts began with oil and mining projects to prevent costly delays and...

The Age of Vulnerability

Joseph E. Stiglitz October 20, 2014
Studies confirm that inequality continues in the United States as income rises for the very rich but stagnates or even declines for the majority. Economist Joseph Stiglitz describes a study from the UN Development Programme for an essay for Project Syndicate: “America ranks fifth according to HDI, below Norway, Australia, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. But when its score is adjusted for...

How Wall Street Is Killing Big Oil

Deepak Gopinath October 16, 2014
Companies rely on stock markets to raise money by selling small shares of ownership to investors. But investors may be killing rather than boosting major private energy companies. “Once reliable market beaters, Big Oil shares are lagging,” writes economist Deepak Gopinath. “Under pressure from investors, the world’s largest oil companies are now forced to cut capital expenditure and sell assets...