When hundreds of policymakers, industrialists, researchers, academics and NGO representatives met in Seoul for the Global Green Growth Summit 2012 on May 10 and 11, it was no wonder that the Asian region was well represented ― not only because of the location, but also due to the region’s interest in energy developments.Positive developments, like the success of Korea’s green growth policy, contributed to that interest. Challenges, like the tragedy of Fukushima, served as a stark reminder of the

MADRID ― Economics, particularly economic theories, always yield in the end to political imperatives. That is why Europe’s fast-changing political landscape, reshaped by electoral insurrections in France and Greece against German-backed fiscal austerity, is bound to affect Europe’s economic policies as well.Such an imperative has been at work throughout Europe’s postwar history. Indeed, Europe’s shift from the modest customs union of the European Economic Community to the single market and commo

Elizabeth Warren, who on Saturday claimed the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate from Massachusetts, still has Indian trouble. Her claim to American Indian ancestry entered a new phase last week.At first Warren said she learned that her employer, Harvard Law School, had cited her as a minority faculty member only after the Boston Herald informed her of it several weeks ago. Then last week she conceded that she herself had told Harvard that she was American Indian, though she said she told the

Californians will vote this fall on an initiative to abolish the death penalty. Proponents of the measure say it is necessary because capital punishment is too costly. Opponents argue that costs can be cut by streamlining the system.But whether one is for or against capital punishment, trying to make the process cheaper and quicker is a terrible ― and dangerous ― idea.Recently, my co-authors and I published the results of an extensive four-year investigation into the Texas execution of Carlos De

When the caldron is lit in London this summer and the XXX Olympics begins, one familiar participant will play a more active role than any other, taking center stage at 23 individual events. To the delight of billions, and without concern for its own well-being, it will be thrown, kicked, punched, slapped and struck with no fewer than three different instruments of torture. That abused but beloved participant is, of course, the humble, ubiquitous ball.This universal object of play has become so i

Apple Inc., we are confident, will not be selling cars anytime soon. But the auto industry ― like music, film or, dare we say, publishing ― could use a little bit of old-fashioned disruptive innovation, and maybe Gordon Murray can provide it. Murray, the famed London-based automotive designer and entrepreneur responsible for some of the most successful Formula 1 race cars, has lately turned his attention to a less expensive, less speedy pursuit: He wants to provide a small, light, efficient car

As the economy recovers and fuel prices ease, U.S. airlines are doing better. Prospects for the summer and the rest of 2012 look brighter, particularly because there are fewer carriers after the mergers of the last five years. Yet U.S. airlines face a long-term challenge that should concern industry executives as well as investors. That impediment isn’t wages, fuel prices or a stagnant economy. It’s growth in demand for air travel, which has been anemic at best for more than a decade, even when

Lately I’ve spent a lot of time trying to help scientists explain in simple words what it is they do. Why in the world, you might wonder, should a nonscientific person worry about a thing like that? There are two pretty good reasons.For one thing, before a surgeon slices me open, I’d like him or her to do at least two minutes on what this is all about. What’s the problem? What are the chances this will work? Will I be able to play the violin when I wake up?In a way, scientists are operating on u

Average life expectancy is one of two statistics commonly used to compare the health-care systems of different nations. (The other is infant mortality.) One of the puzzles about the U.S. system is that we spend far and away the most money per capita for health care, but we rank 50th in average life expectancy ― after Macau, Malta, and Turks and Caicos, among others. We are all familiar with statistics about how much of health-care spending takes place in the last year of life, and with stories a