"Hot off the Presses"

Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Summer 2009

Acting in Time on Energy Policy
Edited by Kelly Sims Gallagher; Brookings Institution Press
(May 2009)

Energy policy is on everyone's mind these days. The U.S. presidential campaign focused on energy independence and exploration ("Drill, baby, drill!"), climate change, alternative fuels, even nuclear energy. But there is a serious problem endemic to America's energy challenges. Policymakers tend to do just enough to satisfy political demands but not enough to solve the real problems, and they wait too long to act. The resulting policies are overly reactive, enacted once damage is already done, and they are too often incomplete, incoherent, and ineffectual. This important volume details this problem, making clear the unfortunate results of such short-sighted thinking, and it proposes measures to overcome this counterproductive tendency.

All of the contributors to Acting in Time on Energy Policy are affiliated with Harvard University and rank among America's pre-eminent energy policy analysts. They tackle important questions as they pertain to specific areas of energy policy: Why are these components of energy policy so important? How would "acting in time"-i.e. not waiting until politics demands action-make a difference? What should our policy actually be?

"For those determined to ensure that the United States acts in time on energy and climate imperatives, it is cause for rejoicing that Kelly Sims Gallagher has assembled compelling assessments that span a wide spectrum of issues and experts. She and her colleagues offer consistently constructive solutions, as distinct from scholarly hand-wringing, and they deserve a host of highly attentive and influential readers."
-- Ralph Cavanagh, Energy Program Co-Director, Natural Resources Defense Council

The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World
By Niall Ferguson; Penguin Press (November 2008)

In The Ascent of Money, Niall Ferguson shows that finance is in fact the foundation of human progress. What's more, he reveals financial history as the essential backstory behind all history. Through Ferguson's expert lens familiar historical landmarks appear in a new and sharper financial focus. Suddenly, the civilization of the Renaissance looks very different: a boom in the market for art and architecture made possible when Italian bankers adopted Arabic mathematics. The rise of the Dutch republic is reinterpreted as the triumph of the world's first modern bond market over insolvent Habsburg absolutism. And the origins of the French Revolution are traced back to a stock market bubble caused by a convicted Scot murderer.

The Ascent of Money documents how a new financial revolution is propelling the world's biggest countries, India and China, from poverty to wealth in the space of a single generation-an economic transformation unprecedented in human history. Yet the central lesson of the financial history is that sooner or later every bubble bursts-sooner or later the bearish sellers outnumber the bullish buyers, sooner or later greed flips into fear.

"...Ferguson takes us on an often enlightening and enjoyable spelunking tour through the underside of great events, a lesson in how the most successful great powers have always been underpinned by smart money."
-- Michael Hirsch, New York Times

Entrepreneurial Finance: Financing of Young Innovative Ventures
By Ant Bozkaya; VDM Verlag Publishing (April 2009)

This book aims to better understand the process of the funding of young innovative ventures, and how a deeper understanding of this process can help public policy to better stimulate entrepreneurial firms-especially in high-technology industries.

It includes original essays which deal with a set of economic, institutional, and public policy issues to examine entrepreneurial finance-broadly to mean financing issues facing young innovative ventures. These essays, complemented by a comprehensive introduction, are essential for scholars, researchers, policymakers, and entrepreneurs wishing to advance their understanding of this important and expanding field of study.

Pakistan's Troubled Frontier
Edited by Hassan Abbas; The Jamestown Foundation (April 2009)

First demarcated in 1893 by British diplomat Sir Mortimer Durand, the northwest frontier was created when the "Durand Line" imposed an artificial border between the tribal Pashtun communities of modern Afghanistan and Pakistan. Today, the frontier has become a breeding ground for a growing Islamic militancy in Pakistan's tribal areas that threatens the very stability of Pakistan-a vital U.S. ally in the global struggle against terrorism. Instability in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas and North-West Frontier Province threatens NATO's strategic Khyber Pass lifeline to Afghanistan, where 37,000 U.S. troops are seeking to contain an expanding Taliban insurgency.

Pakistan's Troubled Frontier is a gripping snapshot of the militants and movements threatening a region plunging into turmoil. This work represents an effort to examine the array of security issues threatening Pakistan's volatile northwest frontier and should become an important reference for policymakers seeking greater insight into the region. Packed with informative analysis written by leading experts, it offers the kind of expertise not typically available to the public and Western media. This volume is a substantial contribution to understanding the long-term future of U.S. security interests in South and Central Asia.

Post-Kyoto International Climate Policy: Summary for Policymakers
Edited by Joseph E. Aldy and Robert N. Stavins; Cambridge University Press (Forthcoming August 2009)

The Harvard Project on International Climate Agreements is a global, multi-disciplinary effort intended to help identify the key design elements of a scientifically sound, economically rational, and politically pragmatic post-2012 international policy architecture for addressing the threat of climate change. The purpose of the project is not to become an advocate for any single policy but to present the best possible information and analysis on the full range of options concerning mitigation, adaptation, technology, and finance. The main findings of the Harvard Project are reported in this accessible volume for policymakers, prepared by project leader Robert N. Stavins and former project leader Joseph E. Aldy.

For more information about this publication please contact the Belfer Center Communications Office at 617-495-9858.

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