In The News

Trade Talks Lead to “Death of Doha and Birth of New WTO”

Shawn Donnan December 21, 2015
Members of the World Trade Organization committed to a global ban on agriculture export subsidies, with some exceptions. The WTO also signaled a move toward incremental changes as member states did not reach consensus on reaffirming the Doha round – a broad attempt underway since 2001 to reduce trade barriers and poverty for the world’s poorest nations. Shawn Donnan, writing for Financial Times...

How the Fed's Rate Hikes May Impact Asia

December 20, 2015
The US Federal Reserve responded to the 2007 financial crisis by reducing interest rates to stimulate spending and investment. Analysts since warned that a rate lift “could pose a challenge to a number of emerging market economies – particularly across Asia, a top exporter to the US – by pushing up bond yields, augmenting capital outflows and depreciating currencies,” reports Deutsche Welle. The...

Global Consensus on Climate Change Is a Good Start

Scott Barrett December 15, 2015
The world has reached consensus: Climate change is a serious threat, and each nation can play a role in reducing fossil fuel emissions. The Paris Agreement relies on a voluntary approach for developing policies for transitioning away from fossil fuels. “The biggest challenge with voluntary agreement to limit countries’ emissions is enforcement,” explains Scott Barrett, economist and Columbia...

Can Paris Reconcile Political and Economic Interests to Combat Climate Change?

David Dapice December 10, 2015
The scientific evidence is overwhelming that climate change threatens the global economy for future generations. Strategies to combat climate change are well known: increased reliance on renewable energies, decreased subsidies for fossil fuels, imposing a carbon tax, incentives for fuel efficiency and conservation, international transfers so poor countries avoid burning coal. Countries attending...

Call for US Ban on Muslims and Business Deals: IBT

Sarah Berger and David Sirota December 9, 2015
Bans of any sort are not good for business, perhaps especially so when a leading Republican presidential candidate calls for a blanket travel ban for Muslims seeking to enter the United States. One out of seven people in the world are Muslim, and simply uttering the broad and unworkable proposal could disrupt investment plans for Donald Trump’s business. “His company's on-the-ground dealings...

Biggest 2016 Risk May Be the One Just Behind Us: Oil

Mike Dolan December 9, 2015
Oil prices have remained stubbornly low – and could go even lower, suggests Mike Dolan for Reuters. The Brent crude oil price was above $100 per barrel and is now down to $40. “More than a trillion dollars of market capitalization has been wiped off oil stocks worldwide,” he writes. “Almost $2 trillion of debt sold by energy and mining companies since 2010, many of them high-yield or 'junk...

The Islamic State Wants the West to Over-React and Hasten Apocalypse

David C. Rapoport December 8, 2015
The Islamic State’s brutality has shifted targets – from expanding territorial control for a so-called caliphate in the Middle East to inspiring random attacks on soft targets in the West. The terrorist group emerged during Syria’s civil war, initially targeting Shia and other Muslims who resisted the primitive beliefs. By 2015, air attacks by the United States, Jordan and other nations combined...