ECONOMICS AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS
October 8, 2009
"A Better Way to Health Reform"
Op-Ed, Washington Post
By Martin Feldstein, George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University
"The American health-care system suffers from three serious problems: Health-care costs are rising much faster than our incomes. More than 15 percent of the population has neither private nor public insurance. And the high cost of health care can lead to personal bankruptcy, even for families that do have health insurance," says Martin Feldstein, member of the board at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center.
AP Image
September 29, 2009
"A Budapest B-School Teaches Leadership at the Crossroads"
Op-Ed, Harvard Business Review
By Ben Heineman, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"In this era of upheaval, CEU Business School's aspiration - to merge teaching and research on business and society with traditional commercial subjects to train leaders for markets in transition - applies to all nations, developing and developed."
September 22, 2009
Belfer Center Announces 2009-2010 Research Fellows
News
By Sharon Wilke, Associate Director of Communications
Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs today announced its 2009-2010 research fellows. The fellows, drawn from governments, academia, and the public sector, will work with Center faculty and fellows to research issues of critical significance internationally, ranging from security issues such as nuclear proliferation and terrorism to climate change and energy policy. The new fellows come from countries as diverse as South Korea, India, Egypt, Germany, and South Africa.
September 15, 2009
"Riding the Digital Express"
Op-Ed, BBC News
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa
The first undersea fibre optic cable, Seacom, reached the east African coast in July 2009....Speaking at Seacom's launch on 23 July, Tanzania's President Jakaya Kikwete visualised a future in which Africans would truly become part of the global economy....But all these benefits will not be realised without a strong combination of entrepreneurship, education, policy and investment in regional networks.
AP Photo
September 14, 2009
"American Power in 21st Century"
Op-Ed, The Korea Times
By Joseph S. Nye, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor
The problem for American power in the 21st century is that there are more and more things outside the control of even the most powerful state. Although the U.S. does well on military measures, there is much going on that those measures fail to capture.
September 11, 2009
"Wall Street’s New Gilded Age"
Op-Ed, Newsweek
By Niall Ferguson, Member of the Board, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"But now, barely a year after one of the worst crises in all financial history, we seem to have returned to the Gilded Age of the late 19th century-the last time bankers came close to ruling America," argues Niall Ferguson, member of the Belfer Center's board of directors. "A few Wall Street giants, led by none other than JPMorgan, are back to making serious money and paying million-dollar bonuses," Ferguson says, while "every month, hundreds of thousands of ordinary Americans face foreclosure or unemployment because of a crisis caused by ... a few Wall Street giants."
AP Photo
September 7, 2009
"ObamaCare's Crippling Deficits"
Op-Ed, Wall Street Journal
By Martin Feldstein, George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University
Martin Feldstein believes that while the deficits caused by the fiscal stimulus package will end in 2011 and will help to sustain a fragile recovery in 2010, the deficits projected for the longer term are a threat to our economic future. The starting point for controlling those future deficits is for Congress to abandon the administration's health-care plan-a plan that will cost more than $1 trillion.
AP Photo
August 27, 2009
"Rules for Negotiating and Updating Climate Treaties"
Policy Brief
By Bard Harstad
A climate treaty is characterized by a large number of parameters: What should the abatement or emission levels be? How should the burden to abate be distributed across countries? What should the time profile for the emission levels be? Should there be issue linkages with other policy areas? Should there be any side transfers between some countries and, if so, what should the transfers be? This richness in parameters implies that there is a lot to decide and negotiate before the final climate treaty is ready.
Moreover, there is great uncertainty regarding the future costs and benefits of abatement. Today, it is not yet known how much abatement will be desirable in the future. This means that any climate treaty must be updated, or renegotiated, quite frequently in the coming years. The realized climate policies depend on future international negotiations—and the rules governing these.
August 27, 2009
"America's Mortgage Meltdown"
Op-Ed, The Age
By Martin Feldstein, George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University
"The bursting of America's housing bubble in the northern summer of 2006 triggered the global financial crisis and recession," argues Martin Feldstein, a member of the board at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center. "The sharp fall in house prices that followed dramatically reduced household wealth, leading to lower consumer spending and a fall in gross domestic product," Feldstein says.
AP Photo
August 19, 2009
"ObamaCare Is All About Rationing"
Op-Ed, Wall Street Journal
By Martin Feldstein, George F. Baker Professor of Economics at Harvard University
The best solution to this problem of private overconsumption of health services would be to eliminate the tax rule that is causing the excessive insurance and the resulting rise in health spending. Alternatively, Congress could strengthen the incentives in the existing law for health savings accounts with high insurance copayments. Either way, the result would be more cost-conscious behavior that would lower health-care spending.
