News and Analysis: 14-18 Dec 09 | EmergingFrontierMarkets.com

Based in: Manila, Philippines

Posted on Sat, 19 Dec 09:

Good neighbor: Send a Season's Greetings card, help Schools for Africa--Help us transform children's lives. All you have to do is to send someone an e-card. It's completely free and it's for a good cause. For each card opened, Nokia will make a donation to UNICEF. In a similar campaign last yr, Nokia donated 250,000 euros ($359,500) to UNICEF for the reconstruction of cyclone-hit schools in Myanmar. This time we support the Schools for Africa initiative, which aims to create better educ for children, and provide them w/ a safe and protective environment where they can learn and play, UNICEF, 1 Dec 09

A divided UN conference recognizes climate deal: The UN climate summit narrowly escaped collapse today as bitterly divided delegates agreed after all-night talks to recognize a political compromise that US Pres Obama brokered w/ China and other emerging powers. The 'Copenhagen Accord' was bogged down for hrs by protests from delegates. After a break, the conference president gaveled a decision to 'take note' of the agreement. Experts said that clears the way for the accord to begin even though it was not formally approved by the conference, AP (courtesy Jakarta Post), 19 Dec 09

Quick links: Media release about the Copenhagen Accord [pdf] | Document--Copenhagen Accord | UN climate change summit | Roundup: Day 12, Fri and Day 11, Thu | FAQ | Glossary of terms

Light of Christmas shines despite wall - Bethlehem mayor: A 20-ft tall pine tree that stands outside the Nativity Church in Bethlehem's Manger Square was set alight, following a Christmas message from Bethlehem to the world, delivered by the city's mayor, Ma'an News Ag./ West Bank, 15 Dec 09 (EcoDiario/ Spain--Pope says Bethlehem wall 'can be taken down', May '09 | Al Jazeera Eng.--Bethlehem struggles 'out of season', Feb '09 | Open Bethlehem's Passport)

Coffee/tea break: Is gift-giving bad for the economy?--The gift-giving season is upon us, but before you go buy that festive holiday sweater for your great aunt, one economist asks you to think twice before you fork over the cash. U Penn's Joel Waldfogel argues that holiday gift giving is an inefficient way of getting the right stuff to the right people, Natl Public Radio, 27 Nov 09 (U Penn--Q&A w/ Waldfogel | Amer Econ Rev--The deadweight loss of Christmas (1st p) | Princeton U Pr)

Posted on Thu, 17 Dec 09:

Copenhagen climate summit--What are the sticking points?: While it was originally hoped that a signed, sealed and delivered legally-binding intl treaty could be agreed by the end of the summit - after 2 yrs of negotiations - that is no longer a possibility. Leaders are now working towards a 'political agreement' with the legal treaty to come later, but just how much can be agreed and how much will have to be thrashed out over the coming mths has yet to be seen, Telegraph/ UK, 16 Dec 09

Nook and cranny: Geothermal-rich Southeast Asia struggles to tap Earth's power--Faced with looming energy crises in their developing economies, power-hungry Indonesia and Philippines are looking deep into the earth for a solution. Both are in the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, an area peppered w/ volcanoes and home to the world's biggest reservoir of geothermal power, Reuters (courtesy Epoch Times), 29 June 08 (Wash.Post--Filipinos draw power from buried heat, Oct '08 [free registr reqd])

Posted on Wed, 16 Dec 09:

Negotiators struggle to overcome climate talks deadlock: The chair of the UN climate change talks in Copenhagen sought to overcome deadlock today as thousands of protesters planned to storm the conference's venue. A restricted group of 25 nations were to discuss ways of helping break the impasse. Major problems remained bet. the conference's Danish presidency and the G77 group of developing nations, which includes big nations like India and China, but also smaller nations from Africa, Deutsche Presse-Ag.(courtesy Earth Times), 16 Dec 09

Jagdish Bhagwati: Feeble critiques--Capitalism's petty detractors: My Columbia U colleague J Stiglitz made a much-cited claim that the current crisis was for capitalism (and markets) the equivalent of the collapse of the Berlin Wall. When the Berlin Wall collapsed, we saw the bankruptcy of both authoritarian politics and an economics of extensive, almost universal, state ownership of the means of production and central planning, says Columbia economist-Council For.Relations senior fellow, World Affairs, Sep-Nov '09

Partha Dasgupta: Sustainable development and the wealth of nations--The famour Brundtland Commission Report ('87) defined sustainable devt "as one that meets the needs of the present w/o compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." It therefore requires that relative to their pop., each generation should bequeath to its successor at least as large a productive base as it had itself inherited. But how is a generation to judge whether it is leaving behind an adequate productive base for its successor?, notes Cambridge U economist-author of Human Well-Being and the Natural Environment, Cambridge U (courtesy Ctr Clean Air Policy), Sep '05 [pdf]

Posted on Tue, 15 Dec 09:

Time to stop climate finger-pointing - UN chief: Rich and poor nations must 'stop pointing fingers' and increase their pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions to salvage the faltering talks on a global warming pact, UN Sec-Gen Ban said today. China and other developing nations are resisting US-led attempts to make their emissions cuts binding and open to intl scrutiny rather than voluntary. While China says the US is backing off its commitment to help developing nations deal w/ climate change, the US contends that China is not a poor nation that needs climate change aid, AP (courtesy Jakarta Post), 15 Dec 09

Food crisis may repeat, warn leaders in global hunger fight: 3 leaders in the global fight vs hunger warned at a recent Brookings Institution panel discussion that the world needs to be prepared for another food crisis and take steps now to build food security in developing nations. Low food stocks, rising cereal prices, and the possibility some rice-producing nations will have to import rice next yr suggest food prices may rise in '10, World Bank, 25 Nov 09

Economic expert panel recommends climate engineering: After deliberations into the best responses to global warming, an expert panel of 5 top eeonomists, incl 3 Nobel Laureates, concluded that greater resources should be spent on research into climate engineering and green energy. The panel's findings highlight the problems w/ the current focus on carbon taxes. The panelists are Nobel Laureates F Kydland ('04), T Schelling ('05) and V Smith ('02), w/ Columbia U's J Bhagwati and U Chicago's N Stokey, Copenhagen Consensus, 4 Sep 09 [pdf]

Posted on Mon, 14 Dec 09:

Abu Dhabi gives Dubai $10B to help pay debt: Abu Dhabi, the oil-rich governing emirate of the United Arab Emirates, surprised investors today by pledging to provide $10 bln to Dubai, easing fears about an outright debt default by the smaller, struggling emirate, NY Times (free registr reqd), 14 Dec 09

Nobel Laureate Paul Samuelson dies at age 94: In a career that spanned 7 decades, he transformed economics, influenced millions of students and turned MIT into an economics powerhouse, MIT News, 13 Dec 09 (Nobel--Banquet speech | How I became an economist ['03] | Is there life after Nobel coronation? ['02] | U Michigan--Family tree of intl trade econ | J Econ Persp--The perseverance of Samuelson's Economics ['97], and pdf version [1.04MB, courtesy prawo.uni.wroc/ Poland])

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