In The News

Anticipate Another Global Depression? FT

June 6, 2020
High employment rates accompany the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns. Global economists assessed the possibility of economic depression for the Financial Time. Full recovery depends on availability of treatments and vaccines and maintenance of trust. Robert Zoellick, former World Bank president, reminds that the 1930s Great Depression caused more than economic pain: “It metastasised to a loss of...

Argentina in Default: Buenos Aires Times

June 3, 2020
Two rating agencies, Fitch and S&P reduced Argentina’s bonds to default status after the nation missed a $US500-million payment. Negotiations for debt restructuring are underway, with the hopes of agreement and possible rise in the bond rating. A lower rating forces nations to pay higher interest rates. Argentina’s public debt is 90 percent of GDP at the end of 2019. The Covid-19 pandemic has...

How We Broke the World: NYT

Thomas L. Friedman June 2, 2020
Global insecurity has intensified with the gradual dismantling of protections. “Over the past 20 years, we’ve been steadily removing man-made and natural buffers, redundancies, regulations and norms that provide resilience and protection when big systems – be they ecological, geopolitical or financial – get stressed,” explains Thomas Friedman for the New York Times. Obsession with short-term...

Trump’s "Withdrawal" From WHO: Just Security

Harold Hongju Koh June 1, 2020
Donald Trump announced his intention to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization, another treaty arrangement, in the midst of a pandemic. The Trump administration may be trying to deflect attention from a disastrous pandemic response, yet Harold Koh of Yale Law School focuses on legal issues: Trump, lacking legal authority, did not actually withdraw the US from WHO, and...

When America Goes AWOL: Times of India

Nayan Chanda June 1, 2020
The United States, reporting 33 percent of the world’s Covid-19 cases with 4 percent of the population, has stepped back from global leadership. A bungled pandemic response delivered a blow to US moral and intellectual standing. “After having cut off funding for WHO – a critical player in these times – Washington announced it would not join a global effort to find a vaccine for the virus,” writes...

US to Cut Ties with WHO: STAT

Andrew Joseph May 29, 2020
The US president announced that the country will halt funding and withdraw from the World Health Organization. The US is the agency’s largest funder, providing about 15 percent of the budget. “The move has alarmed health experts, who say the decision will undermine efforts to improve the health of people around the world,” writes Andrew Joseph for STAT. “It’s not immediately clear whether the...

Don't Confuse Schooling With Learning: Rappler

Juan Miguel Luz May 29, 2020
Leaders in the Philippines consider postponing all public and private school classes until a Covid-19 vaccine is available. Experts warn that a vaccine may not be ready until next year, and perhaps never. Educators maintain that putting a pause on learning would create another crisis. “Children must continue learning and if not in traditional schooling, then in some other way,” writes Juan Miguel...