Business Economics and Public Policy

Video available for the symposium "Two Behemoths in a Troubled Industry: Toyota and GM" held on April 6 in New York

In a New York Times Magazine article on April 16, Professor Elke Weber, codirector of the Center for Decision Sciences, suggests that solving climate change requires more than developing the right technology.

 From Threat To OpportunityThe Internet has reached the "web 2.0" generation in which users collaborate and interact. Has this been the end of the story? Not likely. Networks will soon progress to ultra-broadband capacity, and with it to new content styles, production models, and industry structure. It is therefore time to think ahead. What will "web 3.0" look like?Some questions addressed at this Conference were:

On April 6, 2009, the Center on Japanese Economy and Business organized a symposium titled "Two Behemoths in a Troubled Industry: Toyota and GM." The speakers were Steven Sturm, Group Vice President of Americas Strategic Research and Planning and Corporate Communications at Toyota Motor North America, and William Holstein, author of Why GM Matters: Inside the Race to Transform an American Icon. The discussion was moderated by David Weinstein, Carl S Shoup Professor of the Japanese Economy at Columbia University, and Professor Hugh Patrick, director of the Center on Japanese Economy and Business, served as commentator. The symposium was cosponsored by Columbia Business School's Asian Business Association, General Management Association, and Japan Business Association.

The Japan Table at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on March 26 hosted an informal panel discussion on the Japanese economy, focusing on macroeconomic and monetary policy in Japan, and lessons for the United States.

CITI Director Raul Katz, quoted in Fortune.com

A few weeks ago, President Obama signed the economic stimulus bill into law. It included $7.2bn for broadband infrastructure upgrade, plus some money for telemedicine and smart grids to stimulate applications. The money unleashed a feeding frenzy.

CJEB Associate Director David Weinstein was quoted in a Feb. 27 Bloomberg article, titled "Obama Must Defeat Spite on Bailouts to Beat Recession (Update1)".

On March 2, 2009, the Center on Japanese Economy and Business (CJEB) and the Japan Business Association of Columbia Business School hosted a zadankai (informal discussion) titled "Current Economic Conditions in Japan and Asia." Naoyuki Yoshino, professor of economics at Keio University in Tokyo and a member of Japan's Ministry of Finance, led the conversation; Professor Hugh Patrick, director of CJEB, served as the moderator.

Gerry Curtis, Burgess Professor of Political Science at Columbia University and CJEB core faculty member, writes an op-ed article in the Financial Times titled "Japan's politicians lose their way at a bad time."