Opinion article
The wealth of nations depends on how open they are to international trade
IPN Opinion article
Virginia Postrel elaborates on the benefits of trade: "By allowing nations, organizations and individuals to specialize in what they do best, trade makes more goods and services available to everyone, raising living standards for all. Open international trade has indirect advantages as well. By increasing competition, it spurs producers to find ways to reduce costs and, hence, prices to consumers -- again, increasing living standards. And it spreads knowledge and skill. People all over the world gain access to the best technologies and most productive business practices."
Alarmist Greens continue to fool a nervous public
IPN Opinion article
\"Like the scares promoted in Our Stolen Future on Earth Day five years ago, the case of earlier puberty is not established. But by the time this scare is discredited, as it almost certainly will be, the greens will have moved on to a new scare, and the public will be erroneously convinced that synthetic chemicals are causing all sorts of harmful effects...\"
Vaccines key to a healthy Africa
IPN Opinion article
"To encourage the development of vaccines and other treatments for HIV, TB and malaria, governments must first signal that they will respect the rights of the patent holders. Second, they should offer tax breaks on investment in research and development. Third, charities and rich governments should offer prizes to the developers of vaccines and new drugs..."
Misguided Virtue: False Notions of Corporate Social Responsibility
IPN Opinion article
David Henderson examines the CSR doctrine, subjecting it to fundamental criticisms. He argues that, far from being harmless, the adoption of "corporate social responsibility" threatens prosperity in poor countries as well as wealthy ones. CSR is likely to reduce competition and economic freedom and to undermine the market economy.
[Downloadable PDF]
Unearthing the truth about organic food
IPN Opinion article
"The Soil Association finally admitted in August 2001 that the 'perception that organic food 'is better for you' appears to have been largely based on intuition rather than conclusive evidence'."
Ban on DDT led to death and suffering
IPN Opinion article
"Rachel Carson, who died in 1964, is largely credited with launching the modern environmentalist movement with her book Silent Spring. Published in 1962, it alleged that widespread agricultural use of the pesticide DDT was the cause of enormous environmental harm, in particular to birds and their egg shells. Her treatise led to the banning of DDT in many countries. Last week the United Nations outlawed the dirty dozen chemicals [including DDT] the greens love to hate."
Free market best by test
IPN Opinion article
\"Antiglobalists insist anything big and market oriented is bad. But the major problem in the third world is the lack of capital, knowledge and technology. The most efficient way to transfer this is through foreign investments. Investors have transferred 1-trillion to the developing countries in the past decade more than all aid since the Second World War.\"
Ending patents not the cure
IPN Opinion article
\"The problem with the ending of patent protection, though, is that in the long term we all lose, especially those in developing countries. And that will be the outcome if the pharmaceutical companies fail in their attempt starting on March 5 in Pretoria High Court to overturn legislation that allows patent-breaking anti-AIDS drugs to be imported from India...\"
Without DDT, malaria bites back
IPN Opinion article
"Malaria is on the increase in all tropical regions of the planet - especially in Africa. In 2000, the disease killed more than one million people and made 300 million seriously ill.
According to Professor Wen Kilama of the African Malaria Vaccine Testing Network in Tanzania, 'Malaria is equivalent to crashing seven jumbo jets filled with children every day'..."
