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February 9, 2007|Volume 35, Number 17


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"If you own a piece of art work that is inscrutable to other people, it is a signal to them that you have sophisticated concerns about other things [besides money]."

-- William Goetzmann, the Edwin J. Beinecke Professor of Finance and Management Studies, "Contemporary Art: Follow the Money -- The Latest Status Investment Is Showing Signs of a Bubble," International Herald Tribune (France), Jan. 27, 2007.

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"Noses are more complicated than some surgeons believe."

-- Dr. Douglas A. Ross, associate professor of surgery, noting that two-thirds of patients are unhappy with nose surgery, "Broken Up Over a Broken Nose," New Haven Register, Jan. 28, 2007.

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"Blind Americans may soon find themselves able to use money just like anyone else. That is unless the Treasury Department is successful this month in its appeal of a recent federal court order that paper currency be made recognizable to the blind, who are currently unable to distinguish one denomination from another. ... Money is essential to a person's participation in society. Its accessibility to blind people should be considered as important as that of wheelchair ramps or Braille in elevators."

-- Cyrus Habib, student at the Law School, in his article, "Show Us the Money; America's Paper Currency Shortchanges the Blind," The Washington Post, Jan. 18, 2007.

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"Although the army has remained very loyal to [President Lansana Conte of Guinea] until now, they will be most interested in assuring their own survival. Whatever promises they may have made to stand by the president, there is theoretically a point beyond which they will have much more to lose by remaining loyal than by abandoning him."

-- Michael McGovern, assistant professor of anthropology, on political unrest in the West African nation, "Guinea Strike Poses Toughest Challenge Yet to Conte," Reuters News (U.K.), Jan. 19, 2007.

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"There are conspiracy theories ... [about] the Japanese trying to mold world opinion and create a cadre of Manchurian candidates out there [through the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program, known as JET]. ... I think you're really talking, in terms of numbers, about one of the most significant cultural exchange programs ever. On top of that, what stuns me is ... if you go around to [western] people who are involved professionally with Japan, and you do a very unscientific poll, I think I consistently get somewhere between a quarter and a third of the people have been on JET. ... [The program] has somehow, for whatever reason, inspired a fair number of people to ultimately devote their lives professionally to Japan, and that's no small feat."

-- Michael Auslin, associate professor of history, "JET Impresses a Generation: Yale Professor Lauds Program for Broad Impact," Daily Yomiuri (Japan), Jan. 25, 2007.

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"Increases in labor productivity can result from technical change -- an undeniable positive -- but also simply from increased capital/labor ratios, which may or may not be a good thing. Take China as an example. Its industrial labor productivity has been rising fast but accompanied by exceedingly high investment rates (40% of gross domestic product), rising capital intensity, and falling rates of return or levels of efficiency."

-- Gustav Ranis, the Frank Altschul Professor Emeritus of International Economics, in his letter to the editor, "TFP Only Positive Indicator of Productivity Change," Financial Times (London), Jan. 25, 2007.

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"The framers of India's Constitution, adopted in 1950, opted for a centralized, 'quasi-federal' system because of concerns about the country's unity and stability, as well as the risk of inequality and resources being captured by the elite. ... Nehru and other leaders were admirers of Soviet-style central planning and wanted to replicate it in India. There was also a consensus that the economy would be insulated from world markets reflecting in part the disastrous experience of the world economy between the two World Wars and the perception of liberal foreign trade as a colonial imposition. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and central planning going out of fashion even earlier, the Planning Commission and its role have become all but anachronistic."

-- T.N. Srinivasan, the Samuel C. Park Jr. Professor of Economics, calling for institutional reforms to protect India's federal fiscal system, in his article, "Institutional Reforms and 151 Challenges Facing the Economy," Business Line (The Hindu), Jan. 18, 2007.

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"Early research [on global warming] never took adaptation into account. It just looked at climate change effects as if people just stood still and never did anything at all. Sea levels rise and you let the water rise up to your knees and you don't do anything about it. It appears we are very good at this kind of adaptation. It's the only reason we can survive living in the polar ice caps all the way down to the equator."

-- Robert Mendelsohn, the Edwin Weyerhaeuser Davis Professor of Forest Policy, "Global Warming May Spell Opportunity, Not Disaster, for Canada," Financial Post (Canada), Jan. 27, 2007.

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"The news earlier this month about how a New York court treated the dissolution of a gay relationship demonstrates how far gays have come in the struggle for marriage equality and how far we have yet to go. The court held that a separation agreement between two men was binding even though they were not married. ... My only concern about such decisions is their potential to serve as substitutes for same-sex marriage, rather than as stations toward it. Too many people reacted to the New York decision by reaffirming that gays could get all the significant benefits of marriage through contract. This is false."

-- Kenji Yoshino, the Guido Calabresi Professor of Law, in his article, "For Gays, Read the Fine Print," The New York Times, Jan. 28, 2007.

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"The biggest risk in the world economy today, for Asia especially but for everyone else too, is the possibility that America will opt out of the leadership role it once played in the global marketplace. ... Looking ahead, the range of challenges to the global economy is huge, whether it's dealing with resource nationalism, the need to create new regimes for energy and the environment, the challenge of poverty, or the requirement for a better regulatory system for an unruly $140 trillion international capital market. Without forceful leadership from one country, not only is the likelihood of making progress on any of these issues not good, but the odds are that whatever cooperation now exists would unwind."

-- Jeffrey E. Garten, the Juan Trippe Professor in the Practice of International Trade, Finance and Business, in his article, "Global Investor: Off the Radar: The No. 1 Risk," Newsweek International, Jan. 29, 2007.

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"As the Iranian regime becomes more explicit and bold in its incitement to genocide, the hypocrisy of some on the western left is intolerable. It is no longer enough to claim opposition to the fascist anti-Semitism that shook Europe to its core more than 60 years ago, a common practice these days. The left must stand firmly against this new contemporary form of genocidal anti-Semitism."

-- Charles Asher Small, director of the Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism, in his article, "Anti-Semitism and Unholy Alliance; Western Leftists, Islamists Have Nothing in Common Except Disdain for Israel," Ynetnews -- Israel, Jan. 21, 2007.

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"We've seen companies that have tried to go environmental but haven't done it in a thoughtful or strategic way. Ford Motor Company, for example, which is at risk of becoming our first-ever environment-related bankruptcy, had a CEO, Bill Ford, who was a real environmentalist, but they didn't really understand what the critical environmental issues were for the company. So when it came time to bear down on this, they redid their famous River Rouge factory with a green architect and brought in natural ventilation and light, even grass on the roof, but it turns out that the factory was not the critical issue for Ford Motor Company. It was the cars that they produced. They were producing gas-guzzlers that the public has turned away from."

-- Daniel Esty, the Hillhouse Professor of Environmental Law and Policy, clinical professor of law, and director of the World Fellows Program, "Turning Green Into Gold," Market Place (CA), Jan. 29, 2007.


T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Revolutionary discoveries in nanoscience announced

Levin calls for action on global warming

'Goals for Goals' is boosting awareness of maternal health issues

YaleGlobal Online crosses 100-million mark in number of 'hits'

Fleury named new director of YINQE

'Made for Love' explores ways affection was depicted in art

Divinity School hosting 'Voices and Votes' symposium

Yale Opera to stage a new production of Puccini's romantic tale . . .

Research shows mitochondrial protein maintains appetite during fasting

Molecule's role in congenital brain malformation is identified

Design innovations of Amsterdam-based UNStudio are the focus . . .

Study questions intensive monitoring of infants at risk for group B strep

Study: Better communication needed regarding mammogram results

Scientists learn how leading cause of food-borne illness . . .

Talk will examine ways to restore America's 'damaged foreign policy'

Implications of road development in the Amazon to be examined

Shot-putter breaks 57-year-old record

IN MEMORIAM

Correction

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