Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs - International comparisons

Why Kenya Has to Adopt Biotechnology in Farming

Calestous Juma — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 09:38:25 -0500

"Those countries that adopt agricultural biotechnology today will be better prepared to use the same techniques to solve health, industrial and environmental problems. The underlying knowledge of genomics is the same and is remarkably versatile. As an early adopter, Kenya is now applying mobile technology to other fields such as health and agriculture."

How Big a Competitive Threat Is China, Really?

Michael Beckley — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:24:36 -0600

"Is China becoming a serious economic competitor to the United States? Is China, in effect, a giant Japan?...For many reasons, China is unlikely to repeat Japan's success. Most important, China is developing in a far more challenging international environment than Japan faced in the second half of the 20th century. As a result, its economy will remain more compatible than competitive with America's for the foreseeable future."

Entrepreneurship

Calestous Juma — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 15:18:32 -0500

The creation of agricultural enterprises represents one of the most effective ways to stimulate rural development. This chapter will review the efficacy of the policy tools used to promote agricultural enterprises, with a particular focus on the positive, transformative role that can be played by the private sector. Inspired by such examples, this chapter will end by exploring ways in which African countries, subregional, and regional bodies can create incentives that stimulate entrepreneurship in the agricultural sector. The chapter will take into account new tools such as information and communication technologies and the extent to which they can be harnessed to promote entrepreneurship.

Advances in Science, Technology, and Engineering

Calestous Juma — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 10:54:55 -0500

"The Green Revolution played a critical role in helping to overcome chronic food shortages in Latin America and Asia. The Green Revolution was largely a result of the creation of new institutional arrangements aimed at using existing technology to improve agricultural productivity. African countries are faced with enormous technological challenges. But they also have access to a much larger pool of scientific and technical knowledge than was available when the Green Revolution was launched in the 1950s."

Africa Can Feed Itself in a Generation

Calestous Juma — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 17:00:37 -0600

African agriculture is at a crossroads. Persistent food shortages are now being compounded by new threats arising from climate change. But Africa also has three major opportunities that can help transform its agriculture to be a force for economic growth. First, advances in science, technology, and engineering worldwide offer Africa new tools needed to promote sustainable agriculture. Second, efforts to create regional markets will provide new incentives for agricultural production and trade. Third, a new generation of African leaders is helping the continent focus on long-term economic transformation.

Comparing Climate Commitments: A Model-Based Analysis of the Copenhagen Accord

Warwick McKibbin, Adele Morris and Peter Wilcoxen — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 16:09:36 -0500

The authors compare the targets and actions to which countries have committed under the Copenhagen Accord. The Accord allows participating countries to express their commitments to reduce greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions in a variety of ways—most broadly, through economy-wide quantified emissions targets for developed countries and mitigation "actions" by developing countries. These are difficult to compare. However, even mitigation commitments that look similar can require very different levels of effort in different countries, and commitments that produce similar economic outcomes can look inequitable. These variations in effort and equity depend on historical patterns of energy use, marginal costs of greenhouse-gas abatement, choice of base year, methods for determining "business as usual" projections, and other factors.

Breaking New Ground or Breaking the Rules: Strategic Reorientation in U.S. Industrial Policy

Glenn R. Fong — Sun, 01 Oct 2000 00:00:00 -0500

Based on an examination of nine case studies, the author concludes that the federal government has not only improved its capability to develop and execute technology and industrial policy measures, but has done so for the specific purpose of enhancing U.S. economic competitiveness.