Corporations and public policy

A brilliant article by Eizenstat and Kraiem on why the US business community is complying with the Kyoto Protocol emissions’ targets, despite the US administration not ratifying the treaty. (Foreign Policy, September/October 2005)

Government reforms

The Innovation Economy: Protecting the Talent Advantage - A new report (February 2006) on the Bay Area economy, tackling issues ranging from productivity to infrastructure to cost of living, co-authored by your host for the Bay Area Economic Forum.

Taking Stock of Oakland’s Economy also discusses the region of San Francisco. This document was presented to Mayor Dellums of Oakland early in April 2007 in an effort to revitalize the economy of Oakland. Co-authored by your host here at Thinking Again.

Robert Samuelson writes on The Politics of Make Believe, looking at labor market reforms in Europe and why there is no incentive for people to go to work, no politician strong enough to make the citizens understand that ageing societies are going right into the wall. A great summary of the issues at stake.

Long-term thinking / 2020 projects

McKinsey’s Global Forces project looks at several mega-trends towards 2015-2020. They have two main articles which describes what they are doing: “10 Trends To Watch In 2006” and “Going From Global Trends to Global Strategy“

The Center for Strategic and International Studies has a “7 revolutions” project, but seems not very active

Shell’s global scenarios are of course a must-read

The National Security Agency has a good report on 2020

PricewaterhouseCoopers with the Economist Intelligence Unit have also a project out