In The News

Is the Bayer-Monsanto Merger Too Big To Succeed?

David Francis September 19, 2016
Bayer, a major pharmaceutical and chemical multinational based in Germany, seeks to expand reach in agriculture and crop science. Its proposed acquisition of Monsanto is “the largest all-cash transaction in history” and a crescendo of “a string of combinations in the industry,” explains David Francis for Foreign Policy. This consolidated corporation would sell approximately one quarter of the...

Globalization Goes National

Tyler Cowen September 16, 2016
Global trade is slowing and a contributing factor could be that large and geographically fragmented nations focus on internal economic integration, as explained by Tyler Cowen for Bloomberg: “many nations lack integrated economic relations within their borders, and thus they could reap high gains from trade by opening up internally.” Improved communications via the internet strengthen internal...

Rise of Right-Wing Populism: A Manifesto for the Moderate Left

Pranab Bardhan September 15, 2016
Populists take advantage of the real pain of inequality and the economic disruptions of new technology and globalization. Sympathetic and angry, they promise quick fixes and resist compromise. Such “demagogues thrive when the institutions of democracy are hollowed out,” argues economist Pranab Bardhan, and he offers recommendations for citizens whose politics lean left of center. Trade unions...

The World Comes to a Tiny Town: Eastport’s Lesson in Globalization

James Fallows September 12, 2016
Eastport, Maine – an aging town once known for its canned sardines – is a small-scale example of the globalization uniting all corners of the world. Eastport with its deepwater port reshapes its economy to remain relevant, but still confronts challenges that a generation ago may have mattered little to its residents. Three examples highlight Eastport’s global connections: EU regulations on...

Will ExxonMobil Have to Pay for Misleading the Public on Climate Change?

Paul Barrett and Matthew Philips September 7, 2016
A handful of climate-change skeptics have convinced legislators in the United States and other nations to dismiss ample findings by climate researchers that the planet is warming. The Union of Concerned Scientists in 2007 compared fossil-fuel industry tactics “to manufacture uncertainty” on scientific findings with those of the cigarette industry. Investigative journalists in 2015 suggested that...

Flooding of Coast, Caused by Global Warming, Has Already Begun

Justin Gillis September 6, 2016
Rising waters threaten communities along the eastern and southern coasts of the United States even without storms as warned by climate researchers. “The inundation of the coast has begun,” reports Justin Gillis for the New York Times. “The sea has crept up to the point that a high tide and a brisk wind are all it takes to send water pouring into streets and homes. Federal scientists have...

Meant to Promote Cooperation, G20 Meeting Shows Discord

Chris Miller September 6, 2016
Fear is growing that globalization has spun out of control, with too many decisions at the local level left by the wayside. Contending with home-front discontent, leaders of the world’s major economies gathered for the G20 summit, encountering many reminders that nations are part of a global community and struggle is sure for any that try to withdraw and resolve big challenges on their own. Even...