In The News

Perverse Incentives

April 26, 2007
Unfortunately, when some companies know that a chemical or product is about to be banned, they push it off onto unsuspecting customers in other countries. Or, if companies anticipate being paid not to produce a certain chemical, they boost production to capture high returns in the short run. Unfortunately, some firms take advantage of international treaties like the Kyoto Treaty, violating the...

From Old World to Real World

Steven Pearlstein April 26, 2007
Advocates of globalization, free trade and outsourcing admit that jobs shift to low-wage developing nations, but promise eventual benefits for the developed world. Producing goods at a lower cost abroad reduces prices, translating into more money for Western consumers to purchase more products. A common strategy for keeping jobs in the developed world is to provide high levels of education and...

Bees Vanish, and Scientists Race for Reasons

Alexei Barrioneuvo April 25, 2007
Researchers are scrambling to determine the reasons behind the disappearance of 25 percent of US honey bees – as well as colony crashes in Europe and South America, which may or may not be linked. Culprits could include viruses, funguses or pesticides. Honeybees are the principal pollinators of hundreds of crops and essential for fruits, vegetables, flowers and nuts – and the insect’s decline...

US Pet Deaths: Wake-Up Call on Global Food Safety?

Susan Froetschel April 24, 2007
Pesticides and fertilizers have long contributed to global food security. But some farmers, tempted by high crop yields and profits, overuse the products, allowing excess agrochemicals to infiltrate water supplies and soil. The US Food and Drug Administration confirmed deaths of 16 pets and received more than 15,000 complaints of ill pets, linked to gluten imported from China. The reports...

How Biofuels Could Starve the Poor

C. Ford Runge April 24, 2007
With rising oil prices and growing demand for ethanol as an alternative fuel, US corn producers anticipate a huge boost in profitability. Any spike in corn prices caused by increasing ethanol consumption, however, could devastate the developing world. Billions of impoverished people depend on corn and other staples for their caloric intake, but higher corn prices would decrease affordability of...

Australia and US to Swap Refugees

Barbara McMahon April 23, 2007
Australia and the US have agreed to a program for exchanging each other’s asylum seekers, with the hopes that geographic distance will discourage dangerous voyages and illegal immigration. The US will handle Australia’s asylum seekers from places like Sri Lanka and Burma; Australia will handle the US detainees from Haiti and Cuba. Though the program, the US and Australia will process and resettle...

Capitalist Tools Needed for Future Globalism Ills

Robert J. Shiller April 23, 2007
Fears about displacement caused by economic globalization have been at the forefront of the French presidential campaign, as Nicholas Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal head for the final election round in May. The sentiment expressed in candidate Nicolas Sarkozy’s call to end “speculative capitalism” finds resonance in many parts of the world, as governments attempt to interfere with global free trade...