In The News

Put Doomsday on the Schedule

David Dapice January 7, 2013
Americans, like most citizens all over the world, resent paying taxes, but are fond of government programs that allow health care, education or science to flourish. The US is overextended, living beyond its means, and Congress is divided over how to ease the climbing debt: Liberal Democrats want to tax the rich, while conservative Republicans aim to reduce spending that help citizens. Congress...

How Chinese Economic Policy Could Save Club Med Countries

Mohnish Pabrai January 7, 2013
Deep in debt, desperate to borrow for reduced daily operations, Mediterranean countries contemplate unloading valuable properties. Instead of selling desirable properties, investor Mohnish Pabrai urges Greece, Spain and Italy to create special economic zones that bypass stringent national labor regulations and lease these properties to skilled managers who could then hire millions of unemployed,...

East Asia: Stop Squabbling, Start Drilling

Will Hickey December 14, 2012
Large oilfields often don’t fall neatly within national boundaries. Intent on securing underground or undersea reserves, nations contest territorial claims. China battles Japan for the Diaoyu/Senkakku Islands and ASEAN members for large sections of the South China Sea. Settling disputes quickly is in the interest of all claimants, particularly those with less technological expertise, suggests...

The French Connection

Nayan Chanda December 12, 2012
Steadfast national sovereignty and global trade don’t mix so well, warns Nayan Chanda, editor of YaleGlobal Online, in his column for Businessworld. Traders and investors appreciate flexibility. So when steel demand in Europe declined and ArcelorMittal announced plans to close two blast furnaces, the French government responded by threatening temporary nationalization and sale of the firm’s...

For Better Planning, Watch Global Demographic Trends

Joseph Chamie December 12, 2012
An understanding of demographic trends can assist governments in targeting policies for the future and saving money for education, retirement, taxes, healthcare, distribution of natural resources, and more. More importantly, targeted policies can ease resentment emerging over demographic imbalances. The globe can anticipate an additional 1 billion people by 2025 – a total of 8 billion – and...

All-Night Negotiations in Doha Produce No Cliffhanger

Scott Barrett December 10, 2012
Global leaders have been more adept at resolving economic crises than the climate crisis. Negotiating an economic crisis, whether it’s Brussels imposing euro budget oversight and consequences for excessive debt or the US avoiding a fiscal cliff of automatic spending cuts and tax hikes, is forced by immediate costs of inaction. Climate is not a human invention like an economy, and does not...

Governance Falls Behind Globalization

Ernesto Zedillo December 3, 2012
Many in the world point to the need for mechanisms to monitor and control globalization, particularly after a decade when debt crises in one country spread quickly around the globe. Yet as economic interdependence continues to build, governance is not keeping pace. Ernesto Zedillo is director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, and as YaleGlobal Online marks its 10th anniversary,...