October 13, 2009 Martin Loken, Consul General of Canada, Minneapolis, Minnesota
"Canada and the U.S.: Partners in Recovery" The ties between the U.S. and Canada are truly unique. The two countries are the closest of neighbors, friends, and allies. They share a strong, mutually beneficial partnership marked by huge commercial exchanges, deep linkages on energy and environmental matters, and shared perspectives on a range of international issues. Consul General Loken argues that the two countries should work together to build on the strengths of the integrated North American economy as they deal with the challenges facing the global economy.He will discuss 1) how NAFTA has created one of the world`s largest economic regions and how that benefits both Canada and the U.S.; 2) how the competitive position of Canada and the United States relies on the strength and efficiency of our cross-border supply chains, and 3) the challenges presented by protectionism and how those challenges could affect cooperative efforts to get out of the global recession. He examines the key features of the Canada-U.S. relationship and how Minnesota and the Upper Midwest fit into that partnership.
September 29, 2009 Paul M. Vaaler, UMN Carlson School of Management
“Immigrant Remittances and the Venture Investment Environment in Developing Countries” Immigrants from developing countries number in the tens of millions, remit hundreds of billions of dollars annually, and usually include with those remittances guidance about their use. What happens to these financial (money) and social (ideas) remittances? Researchers and policy-makers in development, public policy and law often hold that remittances to developing countries are used for basic subsistence purposes such as food, shelter, education and healthcare needs of family and friends back home. Their possible impact on new business funding, start-ups and growth has been overlooked. In response, he develops a framework grounded in social knowledge and transaction cost theories to investigate the relationship between immigrant remittances and home country: (1) capital availability; (2) new business creation; and (3) international trade openness. Studying 65 developing countries from 2001 to 2007, he shows that immigrant remittances have positive effects on these entrepreneurial outcomes, suggesting the important role of immigrants abroad in providing venture capital and ideas for developing country growth and integration into the world economy. Vaaler and Yavuz Remittance Paper September 17 2009
September 15, 2009 Gregory Shaffer, UMN Law School
"The International Law and Politics of Genetically Modified Foods" The transatlantic dispute over genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has brought the United States and the European Union into conflict. Professor Shaffer presented the core arguments in his book on this subject, which was published by Oxford University Press this summer. The book investigates the obstacles to reconciling regulatory differences among nations through international cooperation, through the lens of the GMO dispute. It addresses the dynamic interactions of domestic law and politics, transnational networks, international regimes, and global markets, through a theoretical and empirical analysis of the governance of GM foods and crops. The book assesses the impacts, and the limits, of international pressures on domestic US and European law, politics, and business practice, which have remained strikingly resistant to change. A further description and reviews can be found here. Talk Notes
April 21, 2009 Steven Block, The Fletcher School, Tufts University
"The Political Economy of Agricultural Trade Intervention in Africa"
How are demography, democracy and agricultural policies related in Africa? Tufts University Professor Steve Block presents initial answers related to this question based on his current research with Robert Bates of Harvard University. Rural populations in Africa are often targeted for higher taxation and price controls on their agricultural output in order to keep foodstuffs cheap and certain non-agricultural groups better off. Opening up the political process and promoting more competitive elections reduces such distortions significantly and substantially. Listen to learn more about how more open and competitive electoral politics apparently change agricultural policies and privileges in Africa.
April 7, 2009 Myles Shaver, UMN Carlson School of Management
"How Exporting Facilitates Capital Investment" Research findings across many countries indicate that exporters are ‘stronger’ firms (e.g., more productive) than non-exporters. For strategy scholars and policymakers, this begs the question of whether stronger firms become exporters (i.e., exporting is an outcome), or if exporting strengthens firms. Most firm level research shows that exporting is only an outcome. In this work Professor Shaver adds to a nascent stream of research that shows how exporting affects firms. He provides evidence that exporting can foster capital investments by enabling greater firm self-finance.
March 24, 2009 Teri Caraway, Department of Political Science
"Labor Rights in East Asia: Progress or Regress?"
Professor Caraway reports on research that examines the current state of de jure and de facto individual and collective labor rights in East Asia (Burma, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam). De jure collective and individual labor rights have improved in the region. Democracy offers a partial explanation for these improvements--labor laws in democracies provide for stronger individual labor rights than in non-democracies, and countries that have democratized have enacted significant labor law reforms that have enhanced collective labor rights. Nevertheless, the laws in almost every country—democracies included—still violate international labor standards, and poor enforcement erodes these legal gains. Moreover, countries with stronger collective labor rights do not have higher unionization rates, collective bargaining remains rare in most countries, and the right to strike is poorly protected—even in democracies. Unions in East Asia may be freer, but they remain feeble.
March 10, 2009
Arun Saldanha, UMN Geography Department
"Tourism and Moralism: The Lessons of Battles over Identity in Goa, India" Professor Saldanha builds on ethnographic findings that go beyond those underlying his Psychedelic White: Goa Tranceand the Viscosity of Race(Minnesota 2007) to inquire into the rationale of Goan activists trying to mitigate the detrimental effects of global tourism. Goa's tourism sector is strongly promoted by official policy and business on a number of scales, but is very complex on the ground. As in most tourist destinations, concerns have been raised about the environmentaland social impacts of tourism on the small coastal state. Professor Saldanha argues that, though these concerns are often legitimate, the moralistic framework in which they are couched prevents a sustainable policy agenda on tourism. In particular, many activist groups'protective stance on cultural identity shows a number of contradictions. Possible policy lessons for other tourist destinations are explored.
February 10, 2009 Jeffrey Broadbent, UMN Sociology Department
"Global Climate Change: Explaining Variation in National Responses"
Nations vary greatly in the degree that they take the threat of climate change seriously and try to reduces its causes (principally, take measures to reduce their output of greenhouse gasses). Understanding the sources of this variation is crucial to crafting a workable global agreement on sharing the burdens of the needed GHG reductions. The COMPON project (COMparing climate change POlicy Networks) addresses this question through cross-national comparative research designed to test central hypotheses. Professor Broadbent will discusses the project and its hypotheses, as well as some tentative answers.
January 27, 2009 Barbara Frey, UMN
"Reassessing the Rule of Law: Will the Obama Administration Change the Course of US Exceptionalism"
Exceptionalism has long characterized the US government's attitude with regard to international human rights and humanitarian standards:The US will only be held to international standards to the extent that those standards are contiguous with existing US law.The Bush administration staked out an extreme position with regard to international law, pushing back against even the most well-established human rights standards such as the prohibitions against torture and rendition.It is easy to forget that previous administrations, including the Clinton administration, had been cautious, at best, in embracing international human rights and humanitarian norms. What changes to this exceptionalist course regarding international law will we see in the Obama administration? What changes should be made?
December 2, 2008 J. Brian Atwood, UMN Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs
"Reforming U.S. Foreign Assistance"
US foreign assistance programs are now spread over 23 government agencies and have been described as in disarray and out of step with other policies that impact on the developing world. In the November/December 2008 edition of Foreign Affairs J. Brian Atwood writing with two other former USAID Administrators, Peter McPherson and Andrew Natsios, offers a path to reform.
November 18, 2008 Gurneeta Singh, UMN Carlson School of Management
"National Industrial Policy and Fuel Cell Development"
First 30 minutes of presentation. Dr. Singh develops a theoretical framework to explain variations in national innovation systems and firms’ knowledge strategies across industrialized countries. Using an inductive approach, a study of fuel cell innovation demonstrates how a country’s sociopolitical institutional arrangements, characterized by the levels of statism and corporatism, shape the competitive allocation of public resources, engagement with foreign actors, partnerships involving public and private actors, and technological diversity. These technology policies are sources of advantages (and disadvantages) for firms with implications for their knowledge creation and knowledge diffusion strategies. The framework is especially relevant in the context of industry emergence and R&D internationalization.
November 4, 2008
Robbin
Johnson, UMN Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs
"Food Security and BioFuels"
Food security has a number of different
dimensions: access to food at affordable prices; reliable supplies at
all times; adequate nutritional content; safety; sustainability of
production processes; and healthfulness. Biofuels has come
to represent both a rapidly growing market and an emerging threat to
global food security. (Robbin Johnson is Advisor to the Global Policy Area, Humphrey Institute)
Final moments and questions from Robbin Johnson talk on Food Security,
November 4, 2008.
