In The News

Project Syndicate: Brexit in a Brave New World

Daniel Gros February 7, 2017
Trade increases efficiency, reducing costs for all parties. Large economies have advantages with tariffs, and “The advantage of the larger economy is even greater when it comes to non-tariff barriers, which often result from differences in regulations and standards among trading countries,” explains Daniel Gros for Project Syndicate. “In most cases, the smaller country must simply accept the...

MIT Technology Review: Hotter Days Will Drive Global Inequality

David Rotman February 6, 2017
Extreme heat reduces labor productivity and will drive inequality among nations and regions. “The average global income is predicted to be 23 percent less by the end of the century than it would be without climate change,” reports MIT Technology Review on work by researchers from Stanford and University of California at Berkeley. “But the effects of a hotter world will be shared very unevenly,...

GPS World: Agriculture Robots Market Projected to Reach US$5.7 Billion by 2024

February 2, 2017
Need to feed a growing global population, along with urban migration and less land dedicated to agriculture, is pushing development of robots for the agriculture industry. Companies in Asia, North America and Europe are developing the robots for precision farming, and these “include UAVs, driverless tractors, automated harvesting machines and more,” reports GPS World, based on a Transparency...

The Economic Peril of Aggrieved Nationalism

Martin Wolf January 25, 2017
Humanity is tribal, notes Martin Wolf for the Financial Times, and communities form around shared cultural or national values during difficult times. “Today, as in the past, leaders foment aggrieved nationalism to justify despotism and even war,” Wolf writes. “For much of human history, war was seen as the natural relationship between societies. Victory brought plunder, power and prestige, at...

Worldwide, People Rally in Support of Women’s March on Washington

Karla Adam January 23, 2017
More than 1 million people marched in the United States on January 21 and more than another million joined with at least 650 sister marches around the globe. The goal was to promote human rights, gender equality and a new wave of political activism. “Organizers said that demonstrators wanted to send a bold message to President Trump on his first full day in office that women’s rights are worth...

Fake Messiah: As Trump Withdraws From Globalization Stakes, Xi Steps In - But to What Avail?

Nayan Chanda January 18, 2017
President Xi Jinping is praising globalization and suggesting that China is ready to assume leadership of a globalized world – even as the United States signals its withdrawal on some fronts and rejects global commitments like the Paris agreement on climate change. During his keynote address at the World Economic Forum, Xi pointed out that China once resisted globalization and opening its economy...

Dementia Rates “Higher Near Busy Roads”

James Gallagher January 17, 2017
The noise and fumes of highways may contribute to dementia. Public health researchers in Ontario followed nearly 2 million people in Canada and found higher rates of dementia among those living close to roadways. About 50 million people have multiple forms of dementia worldwide. “Compared with those living 300m away from a major road the risk was: 7% higher within 50m, 4% higher between 50-100m...