Fiddling with Irish Music Royalties in the WTO
How the Irish Music Rights Organization took on U.S. copyright law in the WTO – and won – yet your favorite pub is still allowed to play Irish music for you for free.
Helium Shortage Bursting More Than Balloons
From birthday parties to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, balloons are a staple when it comes to party decor and celebrations. But the world is running short on the critical element that makes them float: helium. With all of the uncertainty in the helium supply chain and so few sources available, pricing has been volatile and shortages over the last ten years have been common.
Trade and America’s Pastime
It’s midsummer, a milestone marked every year by baseball’s All-Star Game. No sport is more American than baseball. While we import much of the lower-cost equipment for amateur play, there’s a rich tradition of high-quality baseball equipment made in the U.S.A. that thrives alongside imports, demonstrating that trade enables a diverse marketplace that benefits us as consumers.
The Free Trade Spirit of Music Festivals
Music festivals cater to every taste in the world, drawing crowds of music fans who travel from the furthest reaches to hear their favorite artists. You don’t have to cross borders to get cross-border delivery of entertainment services. Coachella this year featured Korean girl group BLACKPINK, Colombian performer J Balvin, and French producer DJ Snake among the American performers.
Where Does the Ink in Your Tattoo Come From?
Nearly 3 in 10 Americans have at least one tattoo. When someone gets “inked,” the pigment injected under the skin is most likely comprised of globally produced and traded mineral powders and the industrial chemical called carbon black.
Four Ways Trade is Like March Madness
Trade policy is at a historical crossroads — a jump ball, as it were. As we enjoy the NCAA Tournament, let’s look at four similarities between trade and college basketball.
Trade and Conversation: A Book Review of the Monk of Mokha
The Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers, the miraculous true story of a young Yemeni-American man who grew up in one of San Francisco’s poorest neighborhoods and overcame seemingly impossible obstacles to export coffee from Yemen in the midst of a raging civil war.
Lapham’s Quarterly on Trade
If you haven’t been in a bookstore lately, now is the time to close up your laptop and seek out the Spring 2019 edition of Lapham’s Quarterly dedicated to the topic of trade. The journal takes you through time through the eyes of those who trade, from an Assyrian king to an American mink maker testifying last year on the impact of a tariff war with China.
Frida Fever: Kahlo Exhibit Highlights the Art of Trade
Frida Kahlo helped make Mexican folk art famous. The artisan sector is now the second-largest employer in the developing world after agriculture, worth over $32 billion every year. International trade in artisan goods more than doubled between 2002 and 2012. Growing numbers of foundations, corporations, and banks view the artisan entrepreneur arena as an investable sector.
Black Panther: Pass the Popcorn and Ignore the Trade Policy
Largely set in the mythical African kingdom of Wakanda, Black Panther portrays this small land-locked country as home to vast riches, the planet’s most advanced technology, and—as a result of largely avoiding contact with the outside world—an autarkic trade policy. While perhaps sufficient for a superhero movie’s flexible bounds of believability, audience members should not mistake this comic book-inspired universe for economic reality.