Authors: Amity Shlaes and Gaurav Tiwari YaleGlobal
In this YaleGlobal piece, Amity Shlaes and Gaurav Tiwari examine entrepreneurship and oil wealth in various countries and how these factors relate to a country’s policy towards the U.S. They find that there is indeed a significant positive relationship between the pro-US votes and the level of enterprise in a country, and that countries with oil tend to be less entrepreneurial as well as less friendly to the US. It seems clear that the US would benefit not only from helping countries strengthen education, the rule of law and free trade, but also from supporting the entrepreneurial culture of any country where the US has an interest.
Authors: Max Boot and Lee S. Wolosky Weekly Standard
Max Boot and Lee Wolosky write that “traveling to the Middle East can be a disconcerting experience. One day you feel as if you're journeying into the future, the next day into the past.”
Politicians are supposed to be the masters of persuasion, flattery and spin; technocrats just the opposite. In a review of The Age of Turbulence, Alan Greenspan’s new book, Sebastian Mallaby claims that Greenspan succeeded as much through charm as through his skills as an economist.
Sebastian Mallaby explains why the next World Bank president should continue the campaign against corruption in developing countries established by Paul Wolfowitz.
Generally, for advanced countries with deep and liquid capital markets like the United States, the best policy is to allow these markets to determine exchange rates.
Outside of a humanitarian crisis—such as a famine or a natural disaster—it is hard to make the case that any country deserves another's economic support. To paraphrase Britain's Lord Palmerston, countries do not have permanent friends, only permanent interests.
American policymakers have long been concerned about the eroding U.S. advantage in educating science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) students. With much of the assembly work for lucrative high-technology products having moved to Asia, future U.S. prosperity depends increasingly on innovating new products and techniques—innovation that requires training (or importing) a new generation of scientists and engineers.
Asked by Lauren Harrison, from Harvard Kennedy School Author: John Campbell
The exploitation of Congo's vast resources by competing elites and militaries for personal enrichment promotes insecurity and stymies development. Only very strong Western and African public outcry and a change in China's nonintervention approach might open the possibilities for change.
Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, discusses investment treaties, their implications for policies to promote financial stability and sustainable use of natural resources, and the flaws of the arbitration system used by investors and nations to settle conflicts, with a focus on the global south.
Speaker: Ginni Rometty Introductory Speaker: James W. Owens Presider: Richard N. Haass
IBM chairman, president, and CEO Ginni Rometty discusses the use of big data and the ways in which organizations are learning to compete in a new landscape, as part of CFR's CEO Speaker series.
Mark P. Lagon, CFR's adjunct senior fellow for human rights, leads a conversation on the role of business in international relations and upholding human rights obligations, as part of CFR's Academic Conference Call Series.
Mike Duke, president and chief executive officer of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., discusses the role of business in sustainability, women's economic empowerment, food security, and the global middle class.
Chevron Chairman and CEO John Watson shares his views on how U.S.-based multinational corporations can help expand American influence abroad and be a positive force for progress. Watson also discusses recent global energy trends, including the rise in production of shale gas and other unconventional energy sources, that are being driven by advances in energy technology.
Vivek Wadhwa discusses his work with AnnaLee Saxenian of Berkeley on the critical contributions of immigrant entrepreneurs to the rise of Silicon Valley.
Ray Dalio, founder and co-chief investment officer of Bridgewater Associates, L.P., discusses global economics.
This meeting is part of the Corporate Program's CEO Speaker Series, which provides a forum for leading global CEOs to share their priorities and insights before a high-level audience of CFR members. The series aims to educate the CFR membership on the private sector's important role in the policy debate by engaging the global business community's top leadership.
Speaker: Kenneth I. Chenault Presider: Alan S. Murray
Kenneth I. Chenault, chairman and chief executive officer of American Express, discusses the upheaval in the Eurozone, the struggling U.S. economy, and the role of business in foreign policy.
The meeting is part of the CEO Speaker series and the Bernard L. Schwartz Lecture on Business and Foreign Policy.
The Council on Foreign Relations' David Rockefeller Studies Program—CFR's "think tank"—is home to more than seventy full-time, adjunct, and visiting scholars and practitioners (called "fellows"). Their expertise covers the world's major regions as well as the critical issues shaping today's global agenda. Download the printable CFR Experts Guide.
Special operations play a critical role in how the United States confronts irregular threats, but to have long-term strategic impact, the author argues, numerous shortfalls must be addressed.
The author analyzes the potentially serious consequences, both at home and abroad, of a lightly overseen drone program and makes recommendations for improving its governance.
Two experts argue that despite myriad development strategies, only one can succeed in alleviating poverty in India: the overall growth of the country's economy. More
