Policy Analysis and Commentary | FSI

Professor Francis Fukuyama and Belarusian leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

Policy Analysis and Commentary

Key takeaways from FSI scholars on pressing policy issues.

World-Class Research, Public Impact

Learn more about how FSI makes a difference in the world.

Policy Impact

Publications

Conference Memos

Strengthening the Russian Digital Economy for Long Term Prosperity

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The Stanford US-Russia Journal, 2020

Conference Memos

Feasibility Assessment of Microgrid Wind Energy Systems: Implementation of TASED in the Arctic Regions of Yamal and Murmansk

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The Stanford US-Russia Journal, 2020

Conference Memos

U.S.-Russian Nuclear Cooperation: Insights from History

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The Stanford US-Russia Journal, 2020

Conference Memos

Reimagining Russian Higher Education: Could an experiment in progressive education in Siberia help transform Russia's universities?

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The Stanford US-Russia Journal, 2020

Journal Articles

Authoritarian media and diversionary threats: lessons from 30 years of Syrian state discourse

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Political Science Research and Methods, 2020

Commentary

Donald Trump Could Lose the Election by Authorizing a New Nuclear Weapons Test

2020

Working Papers

COVID-19 Incidence and the Timing of Quarantine Measures and Travel Restrictions: A Cross-country Analysis

Asia Health Policy Program working paper # 58, 2020

Journal Articles

Impacts of Chilean forest subsidies on forest cover, carbon and biodiversity

Nature Sustainability, 2020

Journal Articles

Independent Reading in Rural China's Elementary Schools: A Mixed-Methods Analysis

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International Journal of Educational Development, 2020

Journal Articles

Intermediation in Mortgage-Backed Securities: The Plantation Business of F.W. Hudig, 1759-1797

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SSRN, 2020

Journal Articles

Using Conjoint Experiments to Analyze Elections: The Essential Role of the Average Marginal Component Effect (AMCE)

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SSRN, 2020

Journal Articles

Reassessing American Democracy: The Enduring Challenge of Racial Exclusion

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Michigan Law Review Online, 2020

Commentary

How the West could win a technological ‘shadow war’ with China

2020

Commentary

Coronavirus Could Make America’s Gun Problem Even Deadlier

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The New York Times , 2020

Journal Articles

School Quality and Peer Effects: Explaining Differences in Academic Performance between China’s Migrant and Rural Students

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The Journal of Development Studies, 2020

Journal Articles

Using Gross Ecosystem Product (GEP) to Value Nature In Decision Making

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PNAS, 2020

Significance
To achieve sustainable development, there is a pressing need to move beyond conventional economic measures like gross domestic product (GDP). We develop gross ecosystem product (GEP), a measure that summarizes the value of the contributions of nature to economic activity. We illustrate the calculation of GEP in Qinghai Province, China, to show that the approach is tractable both across China and globally. Known as the water tower of Asia, Qinghai is the source of the Mekong, Yangtze, and Yellow Rivers and nearly two-thirds of GEP derives from water-related values. GEP was greater than GDP in Qinghai in 2000, and was three-fourths as large as GDP in 2015. China is using GEP to guide investments in ecosystem conservation and restoration.

Abstract
Gross domestic product (GDP) summarizes a vast amount of economic information in a single monetary metric that is widely used by decision makers around the world. However, GDP fails to capture fully the contributions of nature to economic activity and human well-being. To address this critical omission, we develop a measure of gross ecosystem product (GEP) that summarizes the value of ecosystem services in a single monetary metric. We illustrate the measurement of GEP through an application to the Chinese province of Qinghai, showing that the approach is tractable using available data. Known as the “water tower of Asia,” Qinghai is the source of the Mekong, Yangtze, and Yellow Rivers, and indeed, we find that water-related ecosystem services make up nearly two-thirds of the value of GEP for Qinghai. Importantly most of these benefits accrue downstream. In Qinghai, GEP was greater than GDP in 2000 and three-fourths as large as GDP in 2015 as its market economy grew. Large-scale investment in restoration resulted in improvements in the flows of ecosystem services measured in GEP (127.5%) over this period. Going forward, China is using GEP in decision making in multiple ways, as part of a transformation to inclusive, green growth. This includes investing in conservation of ecosystem assets to secure provision of ecosystem services through transregional compensation payments.

Journal Articles

Learning about Electricity Market Performance with a Large Share of Renewables from the COVID-19 Lock-Down

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Program on Energy and Sustainable Development, 2020

Journal Articles

Handgun Ownership and Suicide in California

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New England Journal of Medicine , 2020

Journal Articles

Factors Linked to Cultivating Successful Readers: Evidence from Rural China

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International Journal of Educational Research, 2020

Conference Memos

Discrimination and the Returns to Cultural Assimilation in the Age of Mass Migration

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AEA Papers and Proceedings, 2020

Journal Articles

Ethics and Governance for Digital Disease Surveillance

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Science Magazine , 2020

Journal Articles

Thinking Globally, Acting Locally — The U.S. Response to Covid-19

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New England Journal of Medicine, 2020

Journal Articles

Teacher Qualifications and Development Outcomes of Preschool Children in Rural China

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Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 2020

Journal Articles

Large-Scale International Assessments of Learning Outcomes: Balancing the Interests of Multiple Stakeholders

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Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 2020

Working Papers

An Experimental Comparison of Carbon Pricing Under Uncertainty in Electricity Markets

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Program on Energy and Sustainable Development, 2020