Category: Economics

US Calls for Ban on Drunk Diplomats at UN Meetings


The United States has called for drunk diplomats to be barred from United Nations meetings, proposing that negotiation rooms “should in future be an inebriation-free zone”.

Speaking at the UN General Assembly’s budget committee, also known as the Fifth Committee, U.S. ambassador for management and reform at the United Nations, Joseph Torsella on Monday censured his colleagues for excessive drinking during delicate budget meetings and debates which often turn into heated marathon sessions that run into the early hours of the morning.

Towards A Global Carbon Tax – A Better Way To Fight Climate Change?: Jeffrey Sachs


The European Union Emissions Trading System was the world’s first large emissions trading scheme, which required industrial emitters to purchase a permit for each ton of CO2 emissions. However, with permits’ prices plummeting in the midst of Europe’s economic slowdown, a new global strategy is now required to combat climate change. Each region of the world should introduce a tax on CO2 emissions that starts low today and increases gradually and predictably in the future.

Infographic: Have We Bridged the Gender Wage Gap?


The equality movement has made tremendous gains in the last decades and women too can now enjoy greater freedom and access to education and employment. So why is there a persistent gender pay gap that just won’t go away?

It is the year 2012 and almost four years after the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was signed into law. Surely, the gender wage gap has been narrowed, right? Wrong.

Fighting Climate Change – Why Current Solutions Don’t Work: Gail Tverberg


World leaders seem to have their minds made up regarding what will fix world CO2 emissions problems. Their list includes taxes on gasoline consumption, more general carbon taxes, cap and trade programs, increased efficiency in automobiles, greater focus on renewables, and more natural gas usage.

Polluters Must Pay In ‘The New Era Of Responsibility’: Jeffrey Sachs


In a momentous verdict last week, BP was ordered to pay the largest criminal penalty in U.S. history for its role in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. However, while polluters are increasingly being held accountable for their crimes in the developed world, many global companies continue to enjoy relative impunity for environmental damage caused in poorer countries: as exhibited by the lack of reparation in the Niger Delta.

The Problem with ‘Static’ Development Models: by Michael Pettis


With a shift in economic strategy comes a radical change in the relationship between underlying growth variables and their impacts on growth. Instead of making predictions and estimations extrapolated from previous forecasts – the problem with most development and growth models – a better and more meaningful understanding of China, and other emerging or international markets for that matter, can be achieved if research and analyses were conducted in a grounded and sound manner.

China-EU Summit Opens with Strong Focus on Trade


Chinese and European leaders meet in Brussels today for the high-level EU-China summit with the emphasis on increasing trade ties between the two. Trade between China and the EU, the world’s largest trading block, has doubled since 2003, reaching 428 billion euros ($554 billion) last year.

The summit will also be the last for Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao, who will be stepping down as head of the Communist Party’s powerful politburo standing committee later this year.

Happiness Matters Too: Ben Bernanke


Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has called for compassion for the average American, arguing that economic indicators fail to reflect the suffering of individual citizens. US unemployment in July remained stubbornly high at 8.3 percent, with an estimated 12.8 million Americans out of work.

Speaking via a prerecorded video at the International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, Bernanke urged economists and researchers to look for better ways to measure well-being so they can make stronger and more effective policy decisions.

The Dangerous New Era Of Climate Change: Jeffrey Sachs


For many years, the risk of climate change was widely regarded as something far in the future, a risk perhaps facing our children or their children. But recent global events suggest that we have now entered a new and very dangerous era of global climate shifts, one that corporate lobbies and media propagandists are still attempting to deny.

Senior IMF Economist Lashes Out At “Tainted” Leadership In Resignation Letter


A senior economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has criticised the fund for its “incompetence” in dealing with the eurozone crisis; and slammed the decision to appoint Christine Lagarde as managing director, in a resignation letter submitted to the Dean of the IMF Executive Board on June 18, 2012.

Peter Doyle, a division chief in the IMF’s European Department, had resigned following 20 years of service, but had written the letter as he “wanted to take this opportunity to explain (his) departure.”