Knowledge@Wharton -- Law and Public Policy

One, Two, Three Free Trade Agreements: Finally, a New Era for Global Trade?

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:29:01 EST

Nearly five years after the Bush administration first negotiated free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, revised versions of those pacts were finally approved by the U.S. Congress last fall and will be implemented during 2012. Although global companies reacted with an anti-climactic sense of relief, many trade analysts welcomed the new opportunities that the pacts will open for U.S. exporters, and predicted more such agreements to come.

Revisiting the American Dream: Is the U.S. Providing Fewer Opportunities to Get Ahead?

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:33:22 EST

The United States is widely seen as a place where a person can rise from extreme poverty to lavish wealth on the basis of hard work, ingenuity and a little luck. But has that vision of the American dream become less attainable in recent times? As economic inequality rises, and much of the population grapples with high unemployment and a stagnant housing market, observers say it is becoming harder and harder to go from rags to riches. Fewer opportunities to do so, they note, has real implications for the country's overall future.

Small Businesses in Russia: Drowning in a Sea of Giants

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:51:09 EST

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are vital to the future of the Russian economy, even more so than in other countries. Yet they face increasingly difficult odds of survival when expanding their operations. The challenges they face include an inaccessible credit environment, inefficient short-term government efforts to improve the business environment and an underdeveloped legal and administrative infrastructure that is highly susceptible to corruption.

The Trials and Tribulations of Japan's Energy Policy

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:49:36 EST

The March 2011 nuclear accident in Japan epitomizes the promises and perils of an energy source that once provided a measure of autonomy for import-reliant countries. As an energy-thirsty economy with few indigenous resources, Japan must find ways to make more extensive use of alternative and renewable sources, such as solar and wind.

China and the WTO: Looking Back, Looking Forward

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:06:25 EST

Ten years after China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO), the country has become the world’s largest exporter and accounts for some 10% of global trade. The International Monetary Fund predicts that by 2016, China will overtake the U.S. to become the world’s largest economy. How did membership in the WTO help transform China? What will the next decade mean for China and its trading partners? To discuss these questions and others, Knowledge@Wharton spoke with Wharton management professors Marshall Meyer and Mauro Guillen and finance professor Franklin Allen. Their insights appear in this special report, produced in collaboration with Beijing Review magazine.

To End Poverty, What Works, What Doesn't and Why: A Conversation with the Authors of 'Poor Economics'

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:16:32 EST

MIT economists Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo approach global poverty much as a medical researcher might set about finding the treatment for a disease: They believe in conducting small, randomized trials to see what works, what doesn't and why. Their book, Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty, explains this approach. Last week, the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs named it the best business book of 2011. Knowledge@Wharton spoke with Banerjee and Duflo at a conference in Goa, India, about their concepts and how they can help rescue millions from destitution.

Is Going to College Worth the Investment?

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 14:21:51 EST

The value of a college education is under attack. While more U.S. students are enrolled than ever before, a perfect storm of soaring costs, rising student debt and shrinking job prospects have led more and more critics to challenge whether college remains a worthwhile investment for students. Knowledge@Wharton spoke to experts at Wharton and elsewhere to examine both sides of a debate that is growing increasingly loud.

The United Tweets of America: Building a Social Network for 'The Last Best Hope of Earth'

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 14:49:53 EST

The 10^th anniversary of September 11, 2001, marked the dedication of the 9/11 Memorial at the site of Ground Zero in lower Manhattan. A fitting counterpart to that memorial would be the creation of an online portal tentatively called "America, the Social Network," according to this opinion piece by David N. Lawrence, Steven M. Witzel, Stephen Labaton, Arthur Grubert, John A. Squires, Gil Childers and Matthew H. Lawrence. The portal would present America, past and present, to its own citizens and the world and serve as a digital crossroads for feedback and exchanges with online friends across the globe.

Ten Years After 9/11 -- Risk Management in the Era of the Unthinkable

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 19:15:30 EST

For the entire country, the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks confirmed that the unthinkable was possible. To the business world, it meant that being ready for a fire, a flood or a violent crime no longer represented "preparing for the worst." The attacks redefined the meaning of risk management in both the public and private sector, Wharton experts say, forcing companies and the government to rethink the ways that they prepare for, respond to and recover from large-scale disasters.

Of Change and Continuity: Penn's Jacques deLisle on Beijing's Next Generation of Leaders

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 14:33:48 EST

One word that can't be used to describe the arrival next year of China's new premier and president is "dramatic" -- it can take months for newly appointed leaders in Beijing to settle in. Even so, other possible leadership changes in 2012, in not only the U.S., but also Taiwan, could put China's new leaders to the test, according to Jacques deLisle, a University of Pennsylvania professor. In an interview with Knowledge@Wharton, DeLisle offered a snapshot of the legacy of Beijing's fourth generation and what could make politics more challenging for its fifth generation.

'The Happiness Manifesto': Can a Country Be as Happy as a Duck in Water?

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 10:34:27 EST

The United Kingdom's Prime Minister David Cameron plans to create a national well-being index. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has formed a team that includes two Nobel Prize-winning economists to come up with a system for measuring the nation's well-being. In China, happiness indexes have become so popular that cities there compete for the title of China's happiest city. Many now argue that purely economic measures of a country's progress -- such as gross national product (GDP) -- fail to count many things people value highly, such as personal and community relationships or a healthy environment. To learn more about measuring happiness, Knowledge@Wharton spoke with Nic Marks, author of the e-book, The Happiness Manifesto: How Nations and People Can Nurture Well-Being.

Parag Khanna on 'How to Run the World'

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 12:39:58 EST

Parag Khanna is a leading geo-strategist, world traveler and author of the international bestseller, The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order. Stephen J. Kobrin, Wharton management professor and publisher of Wharton Digital Press, recently spoke with Khanna about his latest book, How to Run the World: Charting a Course to the Next Renaissance.

Can Anyone Create a Hacker-proof Cyberspace?

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 14:44:24 EST

Recent hackings at Fox News, Apple, Citibank and even the CIA have drawn renewed attention to cyber security and accelerated the policy debate on how to protect critical information. The opportunity for cyber attacks grows daily as corporations and governments continue to amass information about individuals in complex networks across the Internet, according to Wharton faculty and security analysts. Indeed, notes one expert, "hacktivists" -- including those who break into networks not necessarily to steal money, but for ideological reasons -- appear to be ramping up activity.

Succession Planning at the IMF: Europe Against the Rest of the World?

Wed, 25 May 2011 16:03:17 EST

As nominations for a new managing director are collected from member countries of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), European leaders are closing rank around French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde as their preferred candidate. But others see the dramatic resignation of former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn on May 18 as an opportunity to break with tradition and seriously consider candidates from emerging markets in Asia and elsewhere. Experts say there would be a number of benefits to having a non-European at the helm, including rescuing the institution from irrelevancy.

The EU in 2013: Debt Defaults and More?

Wed, 11 May 2011 16:38:59 EST

Is the eurozone at a breaking point? Absolutely not, European Union politicians insist. But a number of banking and finance experts -- who met recently in Florence, Italy, at a Wharton co-sponsored workshop -- question whether the EU has realistic expectations that Greece, in particular, will be able to repay its multibillion euro debt under the harsh bailout conditions it agreed to last year. By June 2013, when the terms of various EU-led rescue packages end, will life in Europe be much bleaker than policy makers admit?

Modeling Behavior: What Motivates People to Prepare, or Not Prepare, for Natural Disasters?

Wed, 11 May 2011 16:38:59 EST

Preparing for a natural disaster like a hurricane is critical in minimizing damage, but what motivates individuals to listen to warnings and act is largely unexplored territory. The question intrigued Wharton marketing professor Robert Meyer, who over the past five years has developed an interactive simulation to study how such factors as news media reports, storm warnings and the level of concern expressed by friends and neighbors prompts people to take, or not take, steps to protect against a disaster's impact. He describes his model in a new research paper.

From a Latte to a Life: 'The Price of Everything'

Tue, 03 May 2011 13:03:03 EST

Why are the injuries to a Vietnam veteran worth only a fraction of a cent compared to a dollar's worth of a film? How much is a dead fish worth versus the life of an investment banker who would have made millions of dollars had her life not been cut short by a terrorist attack? These are the questions at the heart of The Price of Everything: Solving the Mystery of Why We Pay What We Do, by Eduardo Porter.

America's Growing Hispanic Population: Investing in the Future 'Mainstay of Our Labor Force'

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 14:51:52 EST

The most recent tally of the nation's Hispanic population startled even demographers: According to the 2010 Census, Hispanics in the U.S. now number 50.5 million, or one out of every six Americans. But as Hispanic babies boom and America's non-Hispanic white population shrinks, an ethnic generation gap looms. Longer term, experts say, the country must find a way to educate an increasingly diverse and underprivileged generation of children or risk losing its competitive edge.

The Ouster of Muhammad Yunus: Can Politics Destroy Grameen Bank?

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 15:12:19 EST

"Dismissed." A single word from Bangladesh's highest court ended a bitter legal battle that has grabbed world attention. The loser in this case: Muhammad Yunus, the 70-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate and founder of Grameen Bank, the groundbreaking Bangladeshi microfinance institution he is no longer allowed to run. But as with many of the highs and lows of microfinance, there is much more than meets the eye to this boardroom shakeout.

U.S. Energy Policy after Japan: If Not Nuclear, Then What?

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 14:25:28 EST

As the crisis at Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant continues to unfold, every bit of news that trickles out deepens the debate about nuclear energy. Anti-nuclear activists point to smoldering reactors and radioactive drinking water; others say the fact that the aging plant survived the earthquake and tsunami without greater damage signals its ability to withstand major disruptions. At issue is whether the expansion of nuclear power in the U.S. gets a green, red or yellow light.