Opinion: TPP is Bad for One’s Health

Reflecting President Barack Obama’s pivot to Asia, the US, Japan and 10 other Pacific Rim nations have inked a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. This is the largest mega free trade agreement (FTA) in two decades and represents 40 per cent of the global economy.

OPINION: Time to Reform the Global Casino

The year 2015 highlights the global shift from traditional money-based, gross domestic product (GDP)-measured economic growth to the new models of sustainable, inclusive human development embodied in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ratified by its 193 member nations.

Trans-Pacific partnership raise the barriers for the access to affordable medicines

The pharmaceutical industry from the US and Europe scored a major victory with the adoption, in 1994, of a binding agreement on intellectual property (Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights - TRIPS) in the context of the nascent World Trade Organization (WTO).

If the World Trade Organisation did not Exist, it Would Have to be Invented

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is a relative newcomer on the international stage. This year we are marking our 20th anniversary.

Opinion: India’s Compact with Africa

The third India-Africa Forum Summit to be held in New Delhi later this month – in which 54 African countries will participaate – is expected to result in a deeper engagement between India and Africa. This summit takes place at a time when both need each other more than ever before. Both remain bright spots in a bleak and blighted growth landscape. Out of 189 countries, only 63 are expected to grow by 4 per cent and more this year, 36 of which are in Africa. But many countries there are adversely impacted by China's diminishing appetite for commodities and shrinking trade. India is currently one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

Opinion: International Tax Cooperation Crucial for Development

It has become clear that the South, including the least developed countries, has little reason to expect any real progress to the almost half century old commitment to transfer 0.7 percent of developed countries’ income to developing countries. But to add insult to injury, developing countries have, once again, been denied full participation in inter-governmental discussions to enhance overall as well as national tax capacities.

The Spectre of Jobless Growth in India

India faces a serious challenge of dealing with joblessness despite statistically being the world’s fastest growing economy. The spread, depth and intensity of the problem, especially among the educated youth, is not reflected the latest unemployment number of 4.9 per cent in 2013-14. This estimate captures the chronically unemployed – those who sought or were available for work for the major part of the year – but it rarely figures in public discourse as the rate is relatively low and stable over time. Another reason is that the economy continues to generate employment opportunities even if they are largely casual or temporary in the informal sector.

Mexican Government Depends More and More on Private Business Partners

The Mexican government has increasingly turned to public–private partnerships (PPPs) to build infrastructure in the energy industry and other areas. But critics say this system operates under a cloak of opacity and is plagued by the discretional use of funds.

Opinion: Dance with the Dragon

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a meeting with India Inc. to discuss the global economic crisis and how the country can seize the emerging opportunities. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government does believe this crisis is indeed an opportunity as the economy’s fundamentals remain strong.

Activists Say Fracking Fails to ‘Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful’

U.S. activist Vera Scroggins has been sued five times by the oil industry, and since October 2013 she has faced a restraining order banning her from any properties owned or leased by one of the biggest players in Pennsylvania’s natural gas rush, Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation.

Opinion: Brazil’s Crisis is a Blessing and a Curse

The Lula development model that lifted 35 million people out of poverty and raised living standards for another 20 million people during the governments of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2011) has run its course.

Is Good Governance Good For Development?

Many well-meaning people who would like better governance have been misled into insisting on so-called ‘good governance’ reforms, with the expectation that this would lead to development.

Is Modi Making in India?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' programme is inspired by the East Asian manufacturing export success story of development. Earlier, when he was chief minister of the state of Gujarat, he expressed an ambition of modeling the state on South Korea.

G20 Finance Ministers Committed to Sustainable Development

Finance ministers and central bank governors of the world’s 20 major economies, accounting for 66 percent of world population, have pledged to “promote an enabling global economic environment for developing countries as they pursue their sustainable development agendas”.

Young Cubans Look Forward to Greater Openness to Technology

Young people in Cuba are anxiously awaiting an acceleration of the informatisation of society, which is apparently moving ahead at the same pace as the current reform process, “without haste, but without pause,” according to the authorities.

Opinion: A Call for Public Participation in National Budget Processes

After forming governments, authorising them to tax us and to spend on our collective needs, do we remain watchful about our money? No, we don’t. Not even when we know governments borrow from money markets on the strength of the tax fund created, often beyond our means to repay. Why?

Opinion: From Inequality to Inclusion

Recent years have seen a remarkable resurgence of interest in economic inequality, thanks primarily to growing recognition of some of its economic, social, cultural and political consequences in the wake of Western economic stagnation.

Q&A: “We Must Put Everything Aside and Just Focus on Water”

Globally, more than 748 million people do not have access to safe drinking water. That is more than double the population of the entire United States.

Crisis in Brazil Hampers Infrastructure under Construction

Besides suffering from macroeconomic imbalances, like a drop in GDP, a high inflation rate and a large public deficit, Brazil is experiencing heavy losses as many oil industry and logistical works grind to a halt.

CORRECTION/Who Will Pay the Price for Australia’s Climate Change Policies?

Rowan Foley has spent many years as a ranger and park manager, caring for Uluru–Kata Tjuta National Park Aboriginal lands in the spiritual heart of Australia’s Red Centre in the Northern Territory. He has been observing the effects of soaring temperatures and extreme weather events on his people, residing in some of the hottest regions of the country.

Local Development, the Key to Legitimising Amazon Hydropower Dams

In the case of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam in Brazil, the projects aimed at mitigating the social impacts have been delayed. But in other cases, infrastructure such as hospitals and water and sewage pipes could improve the image of the hydropower plants on Brazil’s Amazon rainforest rivers, turning them into a factor of effective local development.