International

Uncertainty—whether from financial crises, pandemics, geopolitical clashes, or sudden technological change—creates pressures that push governments and voters toward protectionist policies. Protectionism surfaces as a response to fear, political incentives, and strategic calculation. This article explains the forces that revive protectionism in bad times, illustrates them with historical and recent cases, examines economic mechanisms and consequences, and outlines policy options that can reduce the temptation to retreat behind trade barriers.Historical pattern and recent examplesProtectionism has long been more than a modern curiosity, exemplified by the 1930s Smoot-Hawley tariffs, when the United States raised duties to shield domestic industries, only to trigger…

Societies are turning to courts more frequently to address climate change. Over the last decade the number of climate-related cases has surged — driven by worsening climate impacts, stronger science linking emissions to harm, evolving legal theories, activist strategy, and shifts in corporate and financial governance. This article explains the main drivers, the legal pathways plaintiffs use, notable examples, observable geographic patterns, and the practical consequences for governments, companies, and communities.Core drivers behind the rise in climate litigationClearer scientific attribution: Advances in attribution science and climate modeling make it increasingly possible to link specific extreme events and long-term harms to…

Nuclear power has once again moved to the forefront of global public and policy discussions, driven by a convergence of factors such as climate commitments, energy security needs, technological progress, market developments, and evolving public sentiment, shifting the conversation from ideological arguments to practical considerations about balancing deep decarbonization with dependable electricity generation.Main factors fueling the resurgence of interestClimate commitments: Governments and corporations aiming for net-zero emissions by mid-century face the need for large amounts of firm, low-carbon electricity. Nuclear’s near-zero operational CO2 emissions make it a candidate for supplying baseload and flexible power to support electrification of transport, industry,…

Standards are the rules, specifications, testing methods and conformity procedures that determine what products and services must be like to enter a market. They range from technical specifications for a household appliance to sanitary rules for meat, to data-protection protocols, to private sustainability labels imposed by multinational buyers. By reducing information asymmetries and improving interoperability, well-designed standards can lower transaction costs, build consumer trust, and expand trade. At the same time, standards can be deployed — intentionally or not — as barriers that exclude competitors, fragment markets, and reshape global value chains. The distributional effects are profound: who benefits, who…

Oceans as the planet’s dominant climate regulatorThe global ocean spans about 71% of Earth’s surface and functions as the planet’s chief climate moderator, absorbing and redistributing heat and carbon to soften temperature fluctuations, shape weather systems, and maintain essential life-supporting biogeochemical processes. Two key functions are especially notable.Heat storage: The ocean has absorbed most of the surplus heat generated by greenhouse gas emissions—widely assessed as exceeding 90% of the planet’s accumulated excess warmth—thereby tempering atmospheric temperature rises while introducing long-lasting thermal inertia that commits the climate system to future shifts.Carbon sink: The ocean takes in a substantial share of CO2…

Plastic recycling is often depicted as a catch‑all solution to plastic pollution, but the reality is considerably more complex. Although recycling provides significant benefits, it cannot by itself eradicate plastic waste because of technical, economic, behavioral, and systemic limitations. This article examines these constraints, offers relevant evidence and illustrations, and underscores complementary strategies that must accompany recycling to create lasting change.Today’s scale: how production, waste, and the real impact of recycling unfoldGlobal plastic production has surged to well over 350 million metric tons annually in recent years. A landmark assessment of historical production and waste revealed that, of all plastics…

Businesses seeking expansion often face a strategic choice: grow through company-owned locations or adopt a franchise model. While both paths can lead to scale, the franchise model has proven especially attractive across industries such as food service, retail, fitness, and hospitality. Its appeal lies in how it distributes risk, accelerates growth, and leverages local entrepreneurship while maintaining brand consistency.Capital Efficiency and Faster ExpansionOne of the strongest advantages of franchising is capital efficiency. In a company-owned model, the brand must fund real estate, build-outs, equipment, staffing, and operating losses during ramp-up. This can severely limit the speed of expansion.Franchising shifts much…

The global response to plastics has produced partial wins and many persistent failures. Production continues to expand, waste systems are under-resourced, policy mixes rely heavily on voluntary industry action, and many proposed technical fixes do not address root causes. The result is a growing flow of plastic pollution, entrenched fossil-fuel linkages, and rising social and environmental harms—especially in low- and middle-income countries.Failure 1 — Production keeps growing while policy focuses on end-of-lifeThe conversation remains tilted toward waste management and recycling while production of new plastics marches upward. Global production is on the order of hundreds of millions of tonnes per…

When a country restricts exports of staple foods or key agricultural inputs, the effects ripple across markets, households, governments, and international relations. Export restrictions include outright bans, export licensing, higher export taxes, quantity quotas, and administrative delays. These measures are often intended to protect domestic consumers or stabilize local prices, but they also create consequences that extend beyond national borders and beyond the short term.Mechanisms and immediate market effectsReduction in global supply: When one or more exporters limit shipments, the effective global supply falls. For commodities with thin margins between supply and demand, even modest reductions can raise world prices.Price…

Biodiversity, encompassing the richness of life found in genes, species and ecosystems, is far from an abstract environmental notion reserved for researchers or conservation advocates. It forms the foundation for the products, services and stability that contemporary economies rely upon. When biodiversity erodes, repercussions spread through supply networks, strain public finances, disrupt corporate accounts and influence national security. Viewing biodiversity as an economic security concern shifts it from a conservation focus to a core pillar of both national and global economic stability.How biodiversity links to economic securityProvisioning services and supply chains. Biodiversity delivers essential resources including food, timber, medicinal compounds,…