FSI researchers consider international development from a variety of angles. They analyze ideas such as how public action and good governance are cornerstones of economic prosperity in Mexico and how investments in high school education will improve China’s economy.
They are looking at novel technological interventions to improve rural livelihoods, like the development implications of solar power-generated crop growing in Northern Benin.
FSI academics also assess which political processes yield better access to public services, particularly in developing countries. With a focus on health care, researchers have studied the political incentives to embrace UNICEF’s child survival efforts and how a well-run anti-alcohol policy in Russia affected mortality rates.
FSI’s work on international development also includes training the next generation of leaders through pre- and post-doctoral fellowships as well as the Draper Hills Summer Fellows Program.
European Political Systems Seminar
Encina Ground Floor Conference Room
Session I: Analytical Frameworks for Studying Farm Policy Reform
Speaker: Wayne Moyer, Grinnell College
Discussant: Christophe Crombez, University of Leuven and Stanford University
Session II: The Evidence of a Hallian Paradigm Shift in Farm Policy
Speaker: Timothy Josling, Stanford University
Discussant: David Orden, Virginia Tech
Session III: Experience with Farm Policy Reform, 1990-1995
Speaker: Timothy Josling, Stanford University (GATT/WTO: UR up to Heysel, 1990)
Discussant: Stephen Tangermann, University of Gottingen; Lee Ann Patterson, UCSF
Speaker: Wayne Moyer, Grinnell College (US 1990 Farm Bill)
Discussant: David Orden, Virginia Tech
Speaker: Timothy Josling, Stanford University (Blair House, 1992-1993 and URAA, 1994)
Discussant: Wayne Moyer, Grinnell College (EU 1992 CAP Reform)
Session IV: Farm Policy Reform, 1996-2000
Speaker: Wayne Moyer, Grinnell College (US 1996 Fair Act)
Discussant: David Orden, Virginia Tech
Speaker: Wayne Moyer, Grinnell College (EU Agenda 2000)
Discussant: Stefan Tangermann, University of Gottingen; John Gillingham, University of Missouri
Session V: Future of Farm Policy Reform
Speaker; Tim Josling, Stanford University (WTO 2000 Round)
Speaker: David Orden, Virginia Tech (US Farm Policy Futures)
Speaker: Stefan Tangermann, University of Gottingen (CAP Reform Possibilities)
Discussant: All
Daniel and Nancy Okimoto Conference Room
Session I: The World Banana Market
Speaker: Tom Spreen, University of Florida
Discussant: Micky Paggi, Congressional Budget Office
"The World Banana Market"
Session II: Bananas and the EU
Speaker: Stephan Tangermann, University of Gottingen
Discussant: Jo Swinnen, Leuven and EU Commission
"Bananas and the EU"
Session III: Bananas and Multinationals
Speaker: Tim Taylor and Xavier Abufele, University of Florida
Discussant: Micky Paggi, Congressional Budget Office
"Bananas and Multinationals"
Session IV: Bananas and the Caribbean
Speaker: Tim Taylor, University of Florida; Patrick Antoine, RNM, Barbados
Discussant: John Stovall, NCFAP, Washington
"Bananas and the Carribbean"
Session V: Bananas and the WTO
Speaker: Timothy Josling, Stanford University
Discussant: Stephan Tangermann, University of Gottingen
"Bananas and the WTO"
Session VI: Lessons for Trade Policy
Session VII: Group discussion about the completion and publication of the book "Going Bananas"
Daniel and Nancy Okimoto Conference Room
Conference in Honor of the 25th Anniversary of the Visiting Austrian Professorship at Stanford
Thursday, October 18
10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Session I: Managing the Global Economy
Lead Presenter: Ronald McKinnon, Stanford University, "The Evolving World Dollar Standard"
Panel: David Brady, Stanford University; Gerhard Hafner, University of Vienna; Stefan Schleicher, University of Graz
1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Session II: International Environmental Policy
Lead Presenter: John Weyant, Stanford University
Panel: Stefan Schleicher, University of Graz; Fritz Steinhausler, University of Salzburg
4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Session III: European Security Policy
Lead Presenter: Hanspeter Neuhold, University of Vienna
Panel: Heinz Gaertner, Stanford University; David Holloway, Stanford University; Fritz Steinhausler, University of Salzburg
7:00 p.m
Dinner
Westin Hotel, El Camino Real, Palo Alto
Speaker: Gerhard Casper
Friday, October 19
8:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
Session IV: Trade and Society
Lead Presenter: Tim Josling, Stanford University, "Biotech Regulations in the US and Europe: Consumer Protection or Consumer Protectionism"
Panel: John Barton, Stanford University
10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Session V: Development of Democracy in Europe
Lead Presenter: Christophe Crombez, Stanford University, "Democracy in the European Union"
Panel: Coit Blacker, Stanford University; Roberto D'Alimonte, Stanford University
2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Session VI: Roundtable on the Future of Transatlantic Relationship
Chair and Moderator: Bill Perry, Stanford University
Panel: Mike McFaul, Stanford University; Hanspeter Neuhold, University of Vienna; Gerhard Hafner, University of Vienna
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Follow-up session on future Stanford/Austria research collaboration
Daniel and Nancy Okimoto Conference Room
Encina Ground Floor Conference Room
Encina Ground Floor Conference Room
The BP Foundation has awarded a five-year, $7.5 million grant to Stanford University's Program on Energy and Sustainable Development to support research on modern energy markets. The foundation is funded by BP, one of the world's largest energy companies.
The gift follows the BP Foundation's initial grant of $1.8 million over three years, which was pledged in 2004 in support of the program.
"BP's support has allowed our program to study the world's most pressing energy problems, such as global warming, energy poverty and the prospects for the world oil market," said program director and Stanford law Professor David G. Victor. "In addition to BP Foundation support, we learn from BP's experience as an energy company because they operate in all the markets where we do research--such as in China and India."
"BP Foundation believes the work undertaken at Stanford deals directly with global issues that are key to meeting the world's growing energy needs," said Steve Elbert, chairman of the BP Foundation. "The drive to research and implement strategies to further understand today's energy markets is important work, and we are proud to partner again with Stanford."
The Program on Energy and Sustainable Development, part of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, concentrates on the legal, political and institutional dimensions of how societies derive value from energy. The BP Foundation grant is part of a rapid expansion of Stanford's research and teaching on energy issues, much of which focuses on the technical aspects of energy systems.
All of the program's research is public and published openly, including on its website. The gift from the BP Foundation, as well as all similar gifts to support the program's research, includes special provisions that assure the research program's independence in setting its research agenda.
The agreement with Stanford is one in a series of BP partnerships with universities in the United Kingdom, the United States and China, representing a total commitment of more than $600 million. The program at Stanford complements work on similar topics at Princeton University, Tsinghua University and Imperial College, among others.
Founded in 2001, the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development focuses on the "political economy" of modern energy services--the interaction of political, institutional and economic forces that often dominate energy markets. It collaborates with the Stanford Law School and other university departments and schools, including economics, engineering and earth sciences. About half of the program's resources are devoted to research partnerships in key developing countries, including Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa. Program researchers have examined the emergence of a global business in natural gas, reforms of electric power markets and the supply of modern energy services to low-income rural households in developing countries.
The program's other major sponsor is the Electric Power Research Institute in Palo Alto, Calif., a research consortium that includes most of the world's largest electric companies.
Stanford Law School
Transatlantic Technology Law Forum
559 Nathan Abbott Way
Stanford, CA 94305-8610
Siegfried Fina is co-director of the Stanford-Vienna Transatlantic Technology Law Forum (a joint venture of Stanford Law School and the University of Vienna School of Law) and an associate professor of European Union Law and Technology Law at the University of Vienna School of Law in Austria. His work focuses on the business-related and the technology-related law and policy of the European Union as well as on the legal aspects of the EU-U.S. trade and the economic governance issues of the transatlantic marketplace.
Until 2002, Fina was an associate professor of law at the Vienna University of Technology. He also is an adjunct associate professor of law at Danube University Krems in Austria. He is a member of the board of directors of the International Federation for European Law (FIDE) and a member of the European Union Studies Association of the U.S. and Austria. Fina received a JD and JSD from the University of Vienna School of Law. In addition, he received a Diploma in Business Administration from the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, a Diploma in Political Science from the University of Vienna Department of Government and Political Science, and a post-graduate Diploma in International Studies from the University of Vienna.
Agriculture is the human enterprise most dependent on climate and natural resources, and is thus the sector that has the most to gain or lose from short- or long-run changes in the level or variability of climate. A growing literature seeks to understand the probable effects of climate change on agriculture, and improvements in our understanding of climate dynamics and crop response has begun to reduce some of the uncertainties inherent in projecting future impacts on agriculture. Nevertheless, there has been scant research conducted on the climate impacts on various crops and agroecosystems of central importance to the global poor. Furthermore, much of the existing literature assumes that farmers will automatically adapt to climate change and thereby lessen many of its potential negative impacts, taking for granted the monumental past efforts at the collection, preservation, and utilization of plant genetic resources on which much of farmer adaptation has historically depended.
Given potentially large changes in global temperature, regional precipitation patterns, and extreme weather events, we believe it is dangerous to assume that adaptation of cultivars will happen automatically. Extensive crop breeding that relies on access to genetic resources will almost certainly be required for crop adaptation under conditions of global climate change. Furthermore, substantial knowledge and insight is needed to gauge what types of diversity now exist in the gene banks, and what will be needed in the future. Fundamental questions remain to be addressed, for example: How are regional patterns of climate expected to change in the future, and how will these changes affect agro-ecosystems around the world? There are also several strategic investment issues to consider--which traits, which crops and which regions should be central to strategic decisions on ex situ genetic conservation? What steps should be taken to conserve the genetic diversity of the important but neglected minor crops where the number of accessions is currently low? Answers to these questions will be critical for promoting food security and ensuring human survival, and to date have received little or no attention in the scientific literature or broader policy arena.
This conference will seek to answer three main questions:
1) What and where are the largest threats to agro-ecosystems under future climate change? Here we will seek to identify both the nature and the location of the largest probable threats, a topic that to date has not been systematically undertaken for certain areas of interest.
2) Taken individually and together, what do these threats imply for crop genetic diversity on a regional or global level? I.e. which traits, which crops and which regions appear central to strategic decisions on ex situ genetic conservation?
3) What is the current state of genetic conservation with respect to these threats, and what does this imply about the sequencing of future efforts at ex situ conservation focus? For example, are there a set of minor crops important to food security that are both poorly represented in the gene banks and under great threat from future climate change?
Particular attention will be paid to those crops and cropping systems on which food insecure populations currently depend, and who would be least able to adapt in the absence of concerted public action to the contrary. We expect that this effort will be the first serious attempt to link crop genetic resource conservation to climate change and variability.
» A news article on recent investments being made by the Global Crop Diversity Trust, decisions which were informed by the Bellagio meeting.
Bellagio, Italy
Most reduction fisheries that produce fishmeal and fish oil have already reached or exceeded sustainable catch levels and will be placed under further pressure as the aquaculture industry grows. At the same time that research into alternative sources of nutrition for piscivorous aquaculture species is progressing, several laws and regulations are taking shape that address the issue of aquaculture feed practices, including the U.S. National Offshore Aquaculture Act (H.R. 2010, S. 1609), the California Sustainable Oceans Act (SB 201), and the development of organic aquaculture standards by the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB). Other nations with expanding aquaculture industries are also beginning to take notice of this issue and are investigating alternative feed sources.
At this pivotal time, the Stanford meeting will bring together a small group of forward-thinking researchers, environmental non-profits, aquaculture producers, feed developers, and others who are striving toward sustainable feed solutions. The goal is to develop recommendations and a guiding direction for achieving sustainable feed inputs, incorporating current science, economics, and policy. The meeting seeks to:
We hope the meeting will facilitate the cross-fertilization of ideas on sustainable feeds from people in different sectors and begin to provide some clarity and direction useful to policymakers. Although many experts have acknowledged the problem of increasing feed demands, and while alternative feed sources are a growing research field, there are few specific recommendations on how to achieve sustainable feed inputs. From the discussion at this workshop, we intend to produce specific recommendations to guide legislation and regulation on feeds, with the goal of improving the sustainability of aquaculture feed practices.
FSE - Stanford University