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Global climate change is an increasingly prominent political and business problem. Design of market-based systems to reduce carbon emissions has proven difficult. More broadly, national attempts to comply with the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol present both governments and firms with significant challenges. The design of international institutions that will be useful for managing change after the Kyoto period is a challenge both for Kyoto ratifiers and for countries like the United States that have not ratified the agreement. Creation of a post-Kyoto treaty on climate change requires agreement by China and the United States, the world's largest carbon emitters. The case summarizes the science and economics of climate change and encourages readers to contemplate the strategic and risk management problems that it presents to government officials and to business leaders in developed countries and in the developing world.

Oliver Williamson has made fundamental contributions to antitrust economics, going back to 1966 when he was Special Economic Assistant to the Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust in the U.S. Department of Justice. Williamson was ahead of his time. In the intervening years, antitrust law has followed in the direction charted by Williamson.

By mid-2009 Colombian President Alvaro Uribe had ended decades of virtual civil war and strengthened the business climate, but he faced tough economic challenges. Though he had instituted prominent market reforms and brought inflation down sharply, Colombia seemed stuck in a middle ground, industrially behind Brazil or Chile but ahead of poorer Latin American countries. Traditional exports--coal, coffee, oil--still comprised more than half the total, while manufactured exports comprised only a fifth. Public investment in transport and other infrastructure--a perpetual obstacle to growth in mountainous Colombia--remained too low. A major ambition of Uribe or his possible like-minded successor was to secure U.S. Congressional approval of a free trade agreement signed in 2006. But would it really help Colombia diversify its economy? Colombia already had access to the U.S. market but still had a relatively closed economy compared with neighbors such as Mexico or Chile.

GUIDES is an easily remembered framework that can help the business leader and student to confidently and quickly identify, organize, and interpret a country's key economic indicators. Alternatively, it can help them to evaluate third-party analyses and to compare such analyses across countries. In either case, this framework provides a structured way to complete and communicate analysis of a country's economic data.

In response to the economic and financial crisis of 2008-2009, the Federal Reserve greatly expanded the scale and scope of its activities. Though lauded by many experts for its actions, the Fed and its chairman, Ben Bernanke, faced harsh criticism from some public commentators and members of Congress. This document summarizes that criticism and Chairman Bernanke's responses to it, highlighting the tension between congressional oversight of the Fed and the Fed's independence from political influence.

The Federal Republic of Nigeria was the most populous country in Africa. According to a July 2009 estimate, it was also the world's 8th largest nation. With land area roughly twice the size of California, Nigeria was rich in natural resources, especially oil. However, the country seemed to have mineral wealth in equal measure to its economic, social, and political troubles. For decades, the country had grappled with tumultuous military rule, religious and ethnic unrest, as well as a highly unequal allocation of resources. Nevertheless, recent reforms and developments in key sectors had boosted economic growth and spurred a sense of optimism for the country's future. The question was whether or not Nigeria could sustain this momentum, overcome its key challenges, and create a business environment that would allow it to compete on an international level. This paper provides a brief history of Nigeria and explores its current position in the global economy.

Despite concerns about censorship and putting users in jeopardy, Google decided to launch Google.cn in 2006. Google stated that it would monitor conditions in China and even reconsider its approach to China if warranted. Three years later, in December 2009, Google detected an extensive and sophisticated cyber attack that targeted companies and specific employees within the companies. Google investigated the attack and announced that it would change its approach in China. Google would no longer censor results in China and acknowledged that this move might result in shutting down Google.cn. It then moved its search business to Hong Kong to outside the great firewall. This case explores the ethical dilemmas raised by Google's foray into the Chinese market while trying to adhere to its motto of "Don't Be Evil." The case also identifies the market consequences of its decision to withdraw from China and the reactions of its competitors and Chinese firms with which it had been working.

A look at global bailout and stimulus levels as percentages of GDP helps identify which economies will be stressed and which will have the resources to bounce back.

At what point in a recession should the Fed institute an arguably risky expansionary monetary policy-namely, aggressive Fed purchasing of long-term Treasury bonds? Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke faced this question in 2009. Suitable for both core and elective MBA courses in global financial markets, this case examines the risks associated with a policy so perilously close to monetizing the budget deficit. Students consider the factors behind the current and prospective levels of U.S. long-term interest rates from Bernanke's perspective. Already, the Federal Open Market Committee had lowered the federal funds rate from 5.25% in 2007 to roughly 0%; it had also begun an almost unfathomable effort to free up frozen credit markets and easing credit to loosen monetary conditions even further.

This case explores company strategy, business-government relations, and collective action challenges associated with international and domestic lobbying regarding regulation of the chemical industry. In the fall of 2006, a five-year legislative process for a major new law regulating chemicals in the European Union appeared to be nearing its conclusion. REACH, the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals, would create a new European Chemicals Agency, require companies to submit testing data on existing and new compounds, and restrict the manufacture of hazardous substances. Andrew Liveris, CEO of the Dow Chemical Company, has to decide whether the company should engage in direct discussions with the European Parliament and Commission, with the implication that the company can influence the regulations but also would have to support the final outcome. The case summarizes Dow's history, competitive dynamics in the sector, and regulation of the chemical industry before describing the REACH legislative process and various approaches to lobbying used by chemical companies, trade groups, and environmental NGOs.

In mid-February 2009, amid the global financial crisis, the news was grim. The U.S. economy had been in recession since December 2007. If the downturn lasted into early spring, it would become America's longest postwar recession. The economy had shed 3.5 million jobs over the previous 12 months, the worst 12-month period on record. Bank lending was plummeting; the few banks with funds available were holding onto them. With this massive shift into liquid assets (cash and cash equivalents) and away from lending of any sort (even for productive uses or, in many cases, the working capital firms needed to survive), the economy would likely grind to a halt. On this brisk mid-February day in Washington, Timothy Geithner and Ben Bernanke rolled up their sleeves and reevaluated their plans to address the nearly impossible task of righting the ship. In terms of monetary and fiscal policy, were they doing all they could to halt this epic slide? Were they doing too much?

In 2005, China announced plans to "converge with," but not completely adopt, IFRS. China also began to lobby for changes to specific IFRS provisions, such as for related party disclosures by state-owned firms, to bring them more into line with Chinese interests. China's accounting system had already undergone significant reforms during the two decades when its economy had grown to become the fourth largest in the world. However, enforcement of accounting standards remained weak, the financial system was relatively immature, and large state-owned firms still dominated many sectors of the economy.

In 1997, amidst Japan's ongoing financial problems, Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto sought to restructure the financial sector to make it more transparent and globally competitive. He hoped that this effort, dubbed the "Big Bang" after the British financial restructuring a decade earlier, would prove as successful. But the financial problems, which seemed to have abated, looked as if they might be worsening. Thus, Hashimoto had to weigh priorities. Should he focus on long-term restructuring, immediate financial rescue, or both? Might an over-emphasis on long-term restructuring increase the chances that major banks could collapse? And what were the best economic and political strategies in these arenas? As a major developed economy, Japan offers an analog to the problems that faced the United States in its 2008-2009 financial crisis.

In 1997, amidst Japan's ongoing financial problems, Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto sought to restructure the financial sector to make it more transparent and globally competitive. He hoped that this effort, dubbed the "Big Bang" after the British financial restructuring of a decade earlier, would prove as successful. But the financial problems, which seemed to have abated, looked as if they might be worsening. Thus, Hashimoto had to weigh priorities. Should he focus on long-term restructuring, immediate financial rescue, or both? Might an over-emphasis on long-term restructuring increase the chances that major banks could collapse? And what were the best economic and political strategies in these arenas? As a major developed economy, Japan offers an analog to the problems that faced the United States in its 2008-09 financial crisis.

The Cosan case introduces students and executive education participants to political economy and business strategy in the biofuels industry. Cosan, based in Brazil, is the largest grower and processor of sugarcane in the world, and the largest sugar and ethanol producer in Brazil; it is also the world's largest exporter of ethanol for vehicle fuels. Rubens Ometto, Cosan's CEO, has staked out a leading position in the Brazilian ethanol and sugar industries by virtue of his efficiencies in agricultural production and in downstream logistics. He now needs to consider whether, and how aggressively, to expand abroad, either with production facilities or by exporting Brazilian output. He also needs to decide the appropriate vertical structure for the firm: whether he should be involved more extensively in agriculture, processing, distribution, or retail. The answers to these questions depend on his views of the future of the industry, and on the governmental institutions that will affect the distribution of value along the value chain.

The "big three" performance variables--growth in real GDP, inflation rate, and unemployment rate--are important starting points for delving into the macroeconomies of any country. This note offers some brief background on the policy environment surrounding performance reporting in the United States and the Eurozone; exhibits show historical performance on each of the big three variables for both. Students are asked to relate important events in the world economy to the path of the three variables from 1999 through mid-2009. Differences in performance in each country/region over time and differences among the regions are also requested in the assignment questions.

In March 2009, the government of Iraq decided to hold its first oil field auctions. The auctions were for service contracts on the country's southern oil fields; the winner would obtain the right to produce oil above a certain target for a fixed fee. The bidders competed on the fee charged per barrel and the amount by which they promised to increase production. At the same time, the Kurdish regional government continued to sign Production Sharing Agreements with foreign companies for its oil fields, unrecognized by the national government. In a context of continuing (if much reduced) political violence and legislative deadlock in the national parliament, three actors needed to make key decisions. Jean Claude Gandur, the CEO of Addax Petroleum, needed to decide whether to continue investing in the Kurdish region in light of Baghdad's continuing opposition. The Iraqi oil minister, Hussein al-Shahristani, needed to design the oil auctions in such a way that oil companies would be moved to invest, and invest quickly, despite the lack of a national oil law. Finally, the American secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, needed to decide what Iraqi oil policy would be in the best interest of the United States, and what levers (if any) the U.S. government could pull in order to insure that such a policy would be carried out. What would the three actors decide, and how would their decisions affect the future of Iraq and the world oil market?