The evolution of smart cities has placed new demands on urban planners—demands for precision, foresight, and a more systematic way to manage the complexity of modern metropolitan life. It is no longer enough to zone by intuition or tradition. Cities today require a sharper, data-driven approach to balancing economic growth with livability, environmental sustainability, and […]
Japan’s Act on Promotion of Corporate Social Responsibility in Natural Resource Sectors, enacted in 2021, quietly introduced what is proving to be a notable shift in how firms—particularly in high-tech industries—are expected to manage the social and environmental risks embedded in their raw material supply chains. While not as headline-grabbing as some other regulatory frameworks, […]
Canada’s Modern Slavery Act, passed quietly in 2018, began to show its sharper teeth in 2023. For the first time, Canadian courts issued orders compelling companies—some large, some perhaps caught off guard—to produce modern slavery statements. This development, anticipated by some and surprising to others, signals that the enforcement phase of the legislation is no […]
E-government has become more than a vision of digital convenience. For many policymakers and businesses, it’s now a practical necessity—an answer to the growing demands for efficiency, transparency, and international integration. But as more economic activity spans borders, traditional administrative systems often become a bottleneck rather than a bridge. The International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC) […]
When the US-Egypt Free Trade Agreement was first signed back in 2004, few could have predicted how radically the conversation around supply chain transparency would shift over the following two decades. The agreement was functional, if somewhat conventional, focusing largely on tariff reductions and basic market access provisions. But the 2022 renegotiation of the FTA—finalized […]
When the EU Conflict Minerals Regulation came into force in 2017, the electronics sector was among the industries most directly affected. It’s perhaps no surprise. The very components that power our modern devices—tiny yet critical—are often the ones most entangled in complex, opaque supply chains. From 2017 through 2022, regulators, companies, and civil society groups […]
The persistent gap between men’s and women’s earnings is a subject of ongoing concern, debate, and policy experimentation in economies around the world. Yet meaningful action requires a clarity of diagnosis that often eludes high-level statistics. For economists and policymakers, understanding not only the existence but the distribution of gender pay gaps—across sectors, firm sizes, […]
When Australia’s Modern Slavery Act came into force in 2018, it was heralded as a major step toward eradicating forced labor and exploitation from corporate supply chains. Yet, as with many such regulatory frameworks, the real test came later—when companies began filing statements and regulators assessed whether those statements amounted to more than just well-meaning […]
When the US government imposed Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum imports back in 2018, the policy was framed, officially at least, as a national security measure. It was about preserving the integrity of critical domestic industries, or so the argument went. But nearly from the outset, economists, manufacturers, and policymakers began to debate—sometimes […]
Climate risk is reshaping how insurers see their portfolios. The question is not whether exposures exist, but how to identify them and respond in ways that are both rigorous and practical. For this, the International Standard Industrial Classification system—ISIC codes—provides an anchor, allowing insurers to bring order to the sheer diversity of policyholders and risks. […]
When the European Union revised the Waste Framework Directive in 2018, the goals were ambitious. It wasn’t just about encouraging higher recycling rates or reducing landfill dependency—though those were part of it. The real push, or at least what became clearer over time, was toward supply chain transparency at the municipal level. By 2022, this […]
India’s textile industry has long navigated a complex web of trade agreements, preferential tariffs, and shifting global demand. With the 2021 revisions to Rules of Origin (ROO) under its FTAs—particularly the agreements with the UK and the UAE—the complexity has deepened. The shift to stricter yarn-forward rules, while not unexpected, has caused significant recalibration among […]
When people talk about the transformation of trade, the story usually revolves around containers, ports, and mega-ships—visible proof that goods are moving across borders. Yet, beneath the surface, something quieter but equally significant has been happening: the rise of e-commerce exports. If you want to know how a country’s export profile is changing, you can’t […]
Since the passage of the Color Additive Labeling Act amendments in 2021, the processed food industry in the United States has found itself adjusting to a regulatory landscape that is, at once, both familiar and markedly more demanding. The core objective of the revised act—requiring explicit labeling of certain artificial colors known to trigger allergic […]
With the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) strategic plans now in force since January 2023, the European Union has taken a definitive step toward making agricultural supply chains more transparent. The strategic plans for 2023–2027 introduce a layered set of obligations for member states, particularly around reporting data on farm inputs. The intention is clear […]
Anyone who’s worked on urban policy, especially in rapidly growing cities, knows there’s always more going on than the maps let on. The neighborhoods that never quite make it onto official plans—informal settlements, slums, whatever label you use—are often economic engines in their own right. The question isn’t just where these communities are, but how […]