Conformity Magazine - July 2008 - (Page 6)

Editor’s Note n this year’s presidential election contest, it’s been hard not to lose one’s bearings amid all of the promises that have been offered by the three leading contenders. And now that both political parties finally have presumptive nominees, we can expect that their promises for our nation and the world will become even more grandiose, while genuine discussion and debate about our problems and possible solutions disappear in the all-consuming search for votes. I Revisiting the Copenhagen Consensus and World Trade community? Quite simply, it makes sense. According to the challenge paper presented at this year’s Copenhagen Consensus meetings, the successful conclusion of the Doha Round of international trade talks could generate up to $113 trillion in new wealth during the 21st century, at a cost of $420 billion or less. That’s a return of 269 to 1! What’s more, more than 80% of this economic windfall would benefit the world’s poorest countries, and indirectly help to address other top challenges on the Copenhagen Consensus list. For example, faster economic growth can help to reduce poverty rates in underdeveloped countries, and communicable diseases can be more effectively addressed when medicines are more widely available and affordable. And the benefits of expanded free trade extend to us here in the United States as well. As we noted in this space in February 2007, the Institute for International Economics has estimated that liberalization of trade since 1945 has increased U.S. annual incomes by $9000 per household, or an estimated $1 trillion. In the 1990s alone, the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Uruguay Round generated annual benefits of $1300 to $2000 per household. With the elimination of the remaining barriers to trade, U.S. incomes could increase an additional $500 billion annually, or about $4500 per household. (Now there’s an economic plan on which both presidential candidates ought to be able to agree!) But, while the financial cost estimated by the Copenhagen Consensus economists to complete the Doha Development Agenda is zero (the total cost of the four other top priorities is only $5.6 billion dollars over 4 years), the political cost of agreement is apparently too rich for those countries participating in the deliberations, since there is still no agreement on the key formulas required to reduce agricultural tariffs and subsidiaries. It seems to us that a successful conclusion to the Doha Round of trade talks would be an issue on which both presidential candidates could agree. As the march to the November elections continues, we hope that both Senators McCain and Obama will speak out forcefully about the Doha Round, and on the need to achieve a prompt resolution of the remaining trade issues. Bill von Achen, Managing Editor Interested readers can learn more about the project that produced the Copenhagen Consensus by visiting the project’s web site at www.copenhagenconsensus.com. Readers can learn more about the WTO and the Doha Agenda at www.wto.org. It’s some comfort then that the Copenhagen Consensus Center has just released the results of its 2008 round of discussions and deliberations around the following question: “What would be the best way of advancing global welfare… by supposing that an additional $75 billion were at their disposal over a four-year initial period?” As we wrote about in this space in mid 2006, the Copenhagen Consensus began in 2004, when Danish academic and environmentalist Bjorn Lomborg invited eight distinguished economists (including five Nobel Prize winners!) to Copenhagen to explore and answer the same question. (The “funding” available in 2004 was set at $50 billion, largely a reflection of the then stronger U.S. dollar.) Working from an original list of issues identified by the United Nations, the economists review and discuss ten separate “challenge papers,” prepared by acknowledged authorities on each of the ten areas deemed to represent the greatest global challenges. Combined, the challenge papers include more than 30 separate and specific proposals, which the economists then rank in terms of the potential benefits weighed against the economic cost. In 2004, the top five priorities were as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Control of HIV/AIDS (disease) Providing micronutrients (malnutrition) Trade liberalization (trade) Control of malaria (disease) Development of new agricultural technologies (malnutrition) And here are the top five priorities from the 2008 round: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Micronutrient supplements for children (Vitamin A and Zinc, malnutrition) Completion of the Doha Development Agenda (trade) Micronutrient fortification (iron and salt iodization, malnutrition) Expanded immunization coverage for children (diseases) Biofortification (malnutrition) Why does reduction of trade barriers show up, then and now, on a list of the greatest challenges facing our global Conformity JULy 2008 http://www.copenhagenconsensus.com http://www.wto.org

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Conformity Magazine - July 2008 Contents Editor's Note FCC Adopts 6 Million Dollars in DTV Enforcement Orders Commission Enforcement Bureau Adopts V-Chip Consent Decree FDA Seeks 2 Million Dollars from Medical Device Manufacturer FDA Answers Questions About CFLs and UV Radiation EPA Issues Energy Star Specs for TV, Video Boxes Canada Unveils Sweeping Product Safety Legislation How the Evolution of CISPR Standards Continues to Shape the Requirements for Anechoic Chambers ESD Open Forum Reach Compliance for Non-EU Article Manufacturers The iNARTE Informer Preamplifier Considerations for Emission Measurement Systems Effective Shielding in Medical Electronics Applications Product News Focus On...Power Components Buyer's Guide Updated Standards List for the EU's ATEX Directive EOS/ESD Symposium Set for September CPSC Actions in the News Researchers Work to Develop Non-Flammable Batteries Safety Link Launches Redesigned, Enhanced Web Site IEC Standards Update UL Standards Update Product Reviews Telcordia Standards Update From Our "You Can't Make This Stuff Up" Department Looking Back: Items from Past Issues of Conformity Advertisers

Conformity Magazine - July 2008

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