In The News

More Carrot and Less Stick Needed to Fight Global Warming

Emmanuelle Ganne October 28, 2009
With the convention on climate change in Copenhagen in December fast approaching, countries tend to be focusing on measures that punish carbon users. As 2009 Yale World Fellow and trade specialist Emmanuelle Ganne puts it, governments favor a stick approach. But while popular, such policies place significant costs on households and create an image of fighting climate change as a burden. They do...

Germany’s Boring Election Masks Troubles Ahead

Bruce Stokes October 12, 2009
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s win in the recent German election could bring trouble for Berlin’s allies both in Europe and abroad. Though the elections were some of the dullest in history, according to commentator Bruce Stokes, the make-up of the new government – Christian Democrat and Free Democrat – is likely to lead to divisions with international allies over jumpstarting the economy and...

Thai Workers Fly to Sweden Where the Wild Berries Are

Bertil Lintner September 23, 2009
Wet summer weather in Northern Sweden has affected not only the yield of wild berries growing there, but also the economic well-being of the berry pickers, which, in this case, happen to be temporary workers from Thailand. Journalist Bertil Lintner writes that in 2007, Sweden began to give Thais temporary work visas to pick berries, encouraging close to a five-fold increase in workers by 2009. It...

Fortress Europe: Solving Immigration by Outsourced Bouncers

Shada Islam August 18, 2009
The European Union’s tough new stance on immigration and asylum policies has ramifications for the region’s labor shortages, coming demographic crises, and adherence to the rule of law. Brussels-based journalist Shada Islam writes that perhaps the most controversial aspect of this new stance is Italy’s choice to intercept refugees in the Mediterranean and the subsequently push them back with...

Driving Out of Germany, to Pollute Another Day

Carter Dougherty August 12, 2009
Old polluting German cars meant to be destroyed are being smuggled into the developing world, particularly Eastern Europe. Started in January 2009, Germany’s “cash for clunkers” program pays people up to $3,500 to give up an old car for a more environmentally-friendly one. Unlike the US program, which stipulates that engines be destroyed, the German program only requires clunkers to be left at...

Armenians Struggle for Health Care and Medicines

Monika Mkhitaryan, Onnik Krikorian August 5, 2009
Faced with unemployment and lower remittances in the current global economic slowdown, Armenians face a vicious health care cycle. Since the country’s independence in 1991, the government has created numerous healthcare programs which generally succeeded in providing for the health needs of its people. About half of the total expenditure on health is financed through the private sector, of which...

Europe Looks To Africa For Solar Power

Tom Zeller Jr. July 6, 2009
With the demand for renewable energy rising, a European project is applying innovative means to harvest energy in Africa. The project known as Desertec will seek to produce power through large fields of solar collection mirrors in North African deserts and then deliver that power back to Europe as electricity. Critics have called the plan inefficient and exploitative given that solar energy can...