In The News

COVID-19 Threatens Refugee Camps: Economist

April 11, 2020
Refugee camps around the world are under urgent threats of COVID-19 due to high density and lack of necessary medical supplies. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, there are more than 70 million forcibly displaced people worldwide, most of whom dwell in low- and middle-income countries. Poor conditions will allow the virus to spread. Social distancing is almost...

Depending on Billionaires to Save Us: Vox

Theodore Schleifer April 10, 2020
Inequality has widened as governments rely on tax cuts for the wealthy and delay investment in infrastructure, disaster preparedness, education or other social programs that benefit entire societies. Starved of revenues, many governments fail in their pandemic response. “The US government has repeatedly proven to be sluggish at best and impotent at worst at controlling the carnage of the...

Worldwide Surging Food Prices: Bloomberg

Agnieszka de Sousa, Ruth Olurounbi and Pratik Parija April 10, 2020
The prices of wheat and rice have been surging in the spot and future markets. Countries that rely on imports must bear additional financial burden besides confronting COVID-19. The reasons for the price increases remain unclear, with analysis of the future markets’ influence, local supplies and panic buying underway. Anxiety over governments’ ability to control food prices and guarantee supply...

Disagreement on COVID-19 Policy: Global Policy

Benjamin Cashore and Steven Bernstein April 9, 2020
The world has more than 1.4 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 with more than 80,000 dead, and numerous countries tackle the public health crisis with mixed results. World leaders are in a hurry to reopen economies, and even public health experts have differed on how to contain the disease’s spread, with approaches ranging from the early prevention to delays and denials. Professors Benjamin...

Global Call for Action

April 9, 2020
More than 200 political leaders, economists, academics and directors of NGOS have issued a call to action from G20 governments, urging immediate global coordination and emergency measures for addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis. Both crises “require world leaders to commit to funding far beyond the current capacity of our existing international institutions,” explains the letter...

US Energy Independence Is Dying: OilPrice.com

Irina Slav April 8, 2020
As COVID-19 spread worldwide, Saudi Arabia and Russia failed to agree on oil production limits. Russia suggested it would slash production only if the United States did likewise, putting a dagger into any notion of US energy independence. Many US firms reject a deal with OPEC or Russia. Production continues, global oil storage is running out; the US economy remains dependent on fossil fuels and...

Trump Threatens to Withhold Funding for WHO: NYT

Michael D. Shear April 8, 2020
Critics have blasted Donald Trump’s delay in recognizing COVID-19 as a crisis and failing to implement strong public health measures early on. In a press conference, he directed a similar charge against the World Health Organization and raised the threat of withholding US funding from the global group. The US contribution represents about 10 percent of the WHO budget. “They called it wrong,” the...