Opinions

“Miracle-makers” IMF, World Bank found wearing no clothes at Lima Annual Meetings
Last October 9-11 the World Bank and IMF Governors met in Lima, Peru, for their Annual Meetings. For those who do not follow the meetings closely, the World Bank and IMF Governors meet every year but only once every three years in a location outside Washington DC. The last time the meetings were hel...
The myth of welfare’s corrupting influence on the poor
Few ideas are so deeply ingrained in the American popular imagination as the belief that government aid for poor people will just encourage bad behavior....
A tale of two food prizes
What’s in a prize? The politics of distribution versus growth. On October 14th in Des Moines, Iowa, the Food Sovereignty Prize will be awarded to the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, run by African-American farmers of the southern United States and to OFRANEH—the Black Fraternal Organizat...
Africa and the WTO: the perils of weakening the development agenda
In the 2013 WTO Ministerial in Bali, India stood mostly alone as the rich countries tried to isolate the government for its stockholding and food security program. But India is far from alone in recognizing the value of public food reserves as insurance against price volatility, emergency food in th...
Global goals must fight the poor nutrition that kills 3 million children every year. The sustainable development goals need to reflect the complex cau...
One of the final acts in the lengthy process of creating a new set of global sustainable development goals (SDGs) was completed last weekend when world leaders formally adopted 17 goals and 169 targets. But for those of us who seek to tackle the world’s collective failing in ensuring adequate nutr...
Why Pope Francis’s call to care for the poor is so contagious
With enormous enthusiasm, our entire community prepares to welcome Pope Francis as he begins his apostolic journey to the United States right here in Washington D.C. It is a time for all of us,...
Education gap between rich and poor is growing wider
The wounds of segregation were still raw in the 1970s. With only rare exceptions, African-American children had nowhere near the same educational opportunities as whites....
In Myanmar, a soft coup ahead of an election
Campaigning formally started on Tuesday for Myanmar’s first general election since the end of direct military rule, but don’t be fooled by the display of colorful logos and slogans from various political parties: The army is back in force....
Here’s why industrial food is deceivingly cheap
Conventional agriculture isn’t cheap. From the use of artificial fertilizer and pesticides to the obesity epidemic, our current food system has a number of hidden costs to the natural environment and human health, far outweighing the benefits of cheap food....
Destruction of US credibility at WTO: It is hypocritical of the US to give price support to its farmers while denying it to the world’s poorest farm...
The tenth ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO), to be held in Nairobi on 15-18 December, is already mired in discord, with negotiators unable to agree on a mandated post-Bali work programme....