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Kumar Venkat

Kumar Venkat is a technologist and writer based in Portland, Oregon. The views expressed here are personal and do not reflect the positions of his employer.

Articles by this author

	Views Thursday, April 01, 2004 What Kind of Productivity Do We Need? On my last visit to India, I walked into a restroom at the airport in Bangalore, the high-tech capital of India, and was greeted by an attendant whose job was to dispense liquid soap and paper towels. The work was, of course, superfluous, but he clearly needed the job and the tips he occasionally... Read more
	Views Thursday, January 08, 2004 Free Trade: Benefit or Peril for the Environment? One of the most contentious issues surrounding globalization is the concern that free trade hurts the environment, both locally and globally. The classic argument for free global trade is that it is efficient for countries to specialize in producing goods where they have a comparative advantage,... Read more
	Views Thursday, December 11, 2003 Global Trade = Global Warming Recent news that Russia is unlikely to ratify the Kyoto Protocol -- which would deliver a deathblow to the world's first climate change pact -- comes at a time when the need for a comprehensive international agreement on greenhouse-gas emissions has never been greater. One of the reasons is the... Read more
	Views Thursday, September 18, 2003 Globalization's Unanswered Questions During the run-up to the World Trade Organization's failed meeting in Cancun, most editorial writers around the world called for an end to unfair farm subsidies and tariffs in rich countries. After all, who could be against an open global market in agricultural products that might offer farmers in... Read more