GLOBAL SUBSIDIES INITIATIVE
Subsidy WatchIssue 9, February 2007
-
The end of peace: the potential new era of litigation at the WTO
On January 8, some six months after the World Trade Organization (WTO) multilateral trade talks ground to a halt, Canada filed notice that it was seeking consultations with the United States over its corn subsidies, thus setting in motion dispute settlement procedures that could lead to litigation should the two sides fail to reconcile their differences.
Also in this issue:
Analysis
-
New U.S. House bill aims to lower subsidies to oil and gas sector
The United States House of Representatives passed legislation last month that would lower tax breaks and other subsidies that the United States government grants the oil industry.
-
The World Wildlife Fund on subsidies and sustainable development
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has published a series of documents relating to a roundtable on subsidies and sustainable development held in São Paulo, Brazil, last June. The roundtable brought together some 40 experts from academia, international organizations and public and private sectors to discuss the role that subsidies can play in both fostering and hindering sustainable development.
Commentary
Studies
-
Subsidy allocation ignoring Chicago’s poorer neighborhoods
The Washington-based non-profit organization Good Jobs First has released a detailed study on state job subsidies in Illinois. The report finds that these incentives overwhelmingly flow to affluent suburbs in the Chicago Region over those areas hardest hit by plant closings and job flight.
Gold Collar: How State Job Subsidies in the Chicago Region Favor Affluent Suburbs, looked at 780 subsidies granted by the state of Illinois from 1990 through 2004, which had a total value of USD 1.2 billion.
-
Study criticizes Industry Canada’s subsidy programs
The non-profit Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) released a study last month examining Canadian federal subsidies to businesses. It found that over 18 billion Canadian dollars (CAD) in subsidies were distributed by Industry Canada to Canadian business between fiscal years 1982 and 2005.
On the Dole: Businesses, Lobbyists, and Industry Canada's Subsidy Programs, focused solely on subsidy programs run by Industry Canada, the federal government's industry department.
www.globalsubsidies.org
- Email:
- info [at] globalsubsidies [dot] org
- Tel:
- +41 22 917 88 48
- Fax:
- +41 22 917 80 54
9, Chemin de Balexert, office 5-53
1219 Châtelaine, Geneva
Switzerland
Costing America’s proposed alternative fuel standard*
On January 2007, U.S. President George Bush delivered his annual State of the Union address, in which he unveiled a plan to reduce gasoline by 20% over the next decade, in part by promoting alternative fuel sources. Ronald Steenblik, the Global Subsidies Initiative's Director of Research, and Doug Koplow, founder of Earth Track, estimate that the public costs associated with this proposal could amount to well over a hundred billion U.S.
Read more