Global Research and Consulting Group Insights

Harvard

The Effect of Covid-19 on Economic Inequality

A demonstrator calls attention to income inequality during the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York several years ago. Photo: Mat McDermott (CC-BY)Today, the magnitude of the economic inequality present in the

Osahon Tokunboh

4 min read

Harvard

The Tragedy of Workplace Gender Inequality: Why Fewer Women Occupy Managerial Positions

Fewer CEOs are women than are named John and David. (Source: Execucomp). Licensed under CC BY 2.0.This article consists of two interviews, one with Professor Laura Kray and one with organizational

Chenyu Wang

12 min read

Harvard

Quantum Computing and its Effects on Our Productivity

IBM researcher Jerry Chow in the quantum computing lab at IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center. (Credit: Jon Simon/Feature Photo Service for IBM). Licensed under CC BY 2.0.What is quantum

Brian Ma

3 min read

Harvard

The State of the World's Children

In 1959, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1). We — as a global community — thus began to hold these truths to be self-evident, that the

Kyla N Golding

4 min read

Harvard

The Complexity Around Fair Trade

The rise of fair trade can stem all the way back to the age of colonization when traders exploited countries in Asia, South America, and Asia of their commodities. While traders profited off

Meiyi Yan

3 min read

Harvard

Diversity and Inclusion in Outdoor Sports

Deschutes Wild and Scenic River, Oregon (Credit: Bureau of Land Management). Licensed under CC BY 2.0.Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, outdoor recreation has come to the forefront of social life as an

Hannah McNeill

4 min read

Development

Health Interventions for Indigenous Communities in Canada

Abstract Indigenous communities in Canada face a decreased life expectancy due to higher rates of chronic illnesses. Increased physical activity is considered a key factor in reducing the risks of these chronic diseases

Portia Gaitskell

4 min read

MIT

GRC Project Spotlight: Lift4Life

Project Background: Lift4Life is a non-profit organization in Canada and a registered charity in the US that is focused on empowering marginalized communities through strength training and powerlifting. It was founded by powerlifter

Portia Gaitskell

4 min read

Project Spotlights

GRC Project Spotlight: FRAXA

Boy with Fragile X syndrome playing with toy. Source: Peter Saxon 2014/Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under CC BY 2.0.On the evening of July 22, 2020, over 60 monuments around the world

Lara Dada

4 min read

Harvard

Vaccine Nationalism and Inequities in the Global Vaccination Campaign

Officials of Jalandhar Civil Hospital hand over the vaccine to the staff of community health centres. (Credit: Sarabjit Singh/Tribune India). Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.As of May 1, 2021, India

Ibrahima Diagne

4 min read

Harvard

ESG: A New Mindset for Investing

For many outside the industry, the lexicon used by the world’s financial leaders and firms can often seem built more on buzzwords than meaning, with terms rising and falling out of fashion

John Berkay

5 min read

Berkeley

Africa and Its Struggle in the Quest for Vaccination

Since the introduction of COVID-19 in late December of 2019, COVID’s rampant spread has locked down families, communities and global economies. With a host of problems ranging from vaccine procurement to administration, Africa’s vaccination effort is in dire need of assistance.

Ethan Soe

6 min read

Harvard

COVID-19’s Impact on America’s Food System

Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States of America, people across the country have been heavily impacted economically, socially, and physically. COVID-19 has exposed a multitude of problems outside of only the

Meiyi Yan

3 min read

Berkeley

The History and Growth of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Profession

As employees discuss their discriminative experiences in the workplace, executives are scrambling to improve their organizations' hiring practices and company culture. This has led to the rapid expansion of corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.

Sarah Dong

5 min read

Harvard

China’s Current and Future Role in Climate Change

Spurred by an increasingly industrialized world since the mid-20th century, climate change and global warming have risen to the forefront of international issues that have and will continue to define environmental policy for

Brian Ma

2 min read

Harvard

Climate Change and Climate Justice in the Pacific Islands

The U.N. International Organization for Migration projects that there will be 200 million climate change migrants by 2050 (1). Some estimates range up to a billion, or more than one in every

Annelisa KL

4 min read

Harvard

Environmental Destruction Predating Climate Change Has Plagued Low-Income Communities of Color for Decades

Image credit: Ezra Acayan / Getty ImagesAs environmental disasters strike with greater frequency, the conversation around climate action is at its peak. In the last year alone, the United States lost $95 billion in

Rosa Flores

5 min read

Development

Challenging times for Education in Kazakhstan due to the pandemic

The economic crisis is only the tip of the iceberg of the problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Its underwater part is damage to national educational systems, human capital due to the interruption

Ardana Izimova

7 min read

Harvard

3D-Printed Buildings: Concrete Advances

When many think of 3D printing, they probably imagine a desktop printer about the size of a toaster oven layering thin strands of plastic or resin to build small, unique shapes. They probably

Lyndsey Mugford

5 min read

Harvard

Intellectual Property and Public Health clash over Covid-19

Intellectual property is a field of law that is critical to be aware of in understanding inequities in access to medicine and especially relevant in the time of Covid. Before understanding how Intellectual

Jack Kelly

5 min read

Harvard

Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy

Image credit: Wyeth Nutrition Science Center The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on our macro-level societal functions and our micro-level personal lives cannot be understated. The pandemic has brought serious — and perhaps

Osahon Tokunboh

5 min read

Harvard

The AI/ML Revolution in Agriculture

As one of the biggest producers of agricultural goods in the world, the United States features domestic economic and social development that is deeply intertwined with the continual growth of its agricultural sector.

Hannah McNeill

5 min read

Harvard

An In-Depth Look at Wall Street's Latest Phenomenon: SPACs

Over the course of the pandemic, methods for companies going public other than traditional IPOs have expanded to include using SPACs. SPACs, otherwise known as special purpose acquisition companies or blank check companies,

Joshua Lee

5 min read

Harvard

Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired: What Covid-19 Tells Us About the History of Racialized Medicine

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports as of March 15, 2021, race and ethnicity is known for about 53% of individuals who have received at least one Covid-19 vaccine

Kyla N Golding

4 min read

Wharton

Supporting Sustainability in Afghanistan

Afghanistan is a developing country burdened by limited resources, climate change and political instability. Promoting sustainability initiatives in the region can help maintain low per capita carbon emission levels, while simultaneously growing its economy.

Emily H. Kim

5 min read

Wharton

The Future of Canadian Energy: How Can Canada Shake its Economic Dependence on Oil?

With the third-largest proven oil reserves in the world, oil has long played an important role in the Canadian economy. While this resource has been extremely valuable in the past, there are signs

Hubert Chen

3 min read

Harvard

The World Needs a Vacation: How Covid-19 Created a Crisis in the Global Tourism Economy

In Seychelles, a group of islands off the coast of East Africa that serves as home to just under 100,000 people, tourism comprises around 60% of the country’s 1.7 billion

Lara Dada

3 min read

Sustainability

The Role of Venture Capital in Fueling the Movement to Net-Zero Carbon Emissions

The world is in a race to oppose the continuously growing threat of climate change. Put simply, climate change is one of the most pressing of our time. Even the UN Secretary-General has

Jacob Gould

5 min read

Harvard

Permanently Altered: How Covid-19 Has Impacted Leisure and Travel

Since last March, Covid-19 has become a global antagonist of the global community. People from every corner of the world have been forced to change their everyday routines in various ways including decreasing

Chenyu Wang

5 min read

Brown

Chinatown Moves Out: Demography and Hate Crime in Modern Asian America

Take a look at Sugarland in Texas, Rockville in Maryland, and Richmond in British Columbia. What do all of these places have in common? On the surface, they may seem to be average,

Steven Long

3 min read

Harvard

The Journey Towards Net Zero in Transportation

In February 2020, a coalition of airlines, airports, and manufacturers known as UK Sustainable Aviation announced they were committing to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by the year 2050 (1)(2). Their claim is

John Berkay

6 min read

Harvard

A New Scramble for Africa: US and Chinese Engagements in the Region

As of March 13, 2021, the total number of Covid-19 cases in the United States topped 30 million. On the other side of the Pacific, the number of cases in China has yet

Ibrahima Diagne

4 min read

Brett Kopf: Remind.com, Omella, and the Reflections of an Entrepreneur

American entrepreneur Brett Kopf reflects on his entrepreneurial journey, the challenges along the way, and the importance of optimizing for learning rather than a pay-check. Brett is the co-founder of Omella.com and

Herman Lange

1 min read

Cambridge

The future of a clean and sustainable shipping industry

The shipping industry is a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. This article explores the options we have to make the global shipping industry more sustainable.

Yong Ren Tan

6 min read

Inequality

The Feminicidio Crisis in Mexico

The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated communities all over the world. In Mexico, women have been disproportionately affected due to increasing domestic abuse and the rise of feminicidios.

Ines Hinojosa

5 min read

Global Health

Are All Generic Drugs Created Equal?

For rich and developing countries alike, it is imperative to confront issues of drug safety, quality, and manufacturing to ensure an equitable distribution of essential medicines to the populations who need them most.

Irene Quan

3 min read

governance

The World Economic Forum: Its Past and Present

Every January, the world’s attention turns to the small Swiss town of Davos, as societal elites gather for the World Economic Forum (WEF). This meeting of world leaders, top business executives and

David Hu

3 min read

Development

Artificial Intelligence: Stopping Violent Attackers in Their Tracks

“Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” For decades, the NRA and other pro-gun special interest groups have justified their exorbitant lobbying spending – over $250 million total – on this line of logic.

Anuj Kothari

4 min read

ESG

Shoes for Social Impact: An Interview with the Chief Strategy and Impact Officer of TOMS

TOMS Shoes (Credit: Ajay Suresh 2021). Licensed under CC BY 2.0.When I was ten years old, my mom and I purchased matching navy blue and floral shoes from TOMS. I was

Kaitlin McGrath

8 min read

Development

Financial Inclusion: Designing Solutions to Provide Vital Economic Services

Localized financial literacy and digital transaction capabilities can create scalable financial access to unbanked communities in emerging markets.

Shivansh Mehta

5 min read

Development

M-Pesa in East Africa: A Means for Social Change

Safaricom's revolutionary M-Pesa mobile money system offers the potential for transformative change in East Africa and worldwide.

Marcus Deans

4 min read

Development

The Movement for Agricultural Reform in India

Economists generally agree that India’s agricultural sector needs reform, starting with reducing incentives to produce crops like rice and wheat. As of September 2020, 70 million tons of rice and wheat were

Tanya Venkatesh

6 min read

ESG

The Future of the Keystone Pipeline

The election of Joseph R. Biden in early November will return to the normal diplomatic and economic relationship between Canada and the United States from the “America First” policy implemented during the Trump

Constantine Li

3 min read

Education

Trends in Education in Typically Academically-Focused Countries

It was a special day in Singapore for twelve-year-old children and their parents on November 25, 2020. This day marked a milestone for many of these students, and for some, it was a

Yiting Gao

3 min read

Climate Change

Fracking: Its History in the US and Its Impacts on Climate Change

What is Fracking? Fracking is a drilling technique that allows oil and natural gas to be produced. Processes similar to fracking have been around since the 1860s. It was first used on hard

Camila Hirani

4 min read

Energy

Green Hydrogen: Fuel of the Future?

Scientists are certain that without drastic countermeasures and new technology, global warming will continue to cause ever more disruptive environmental, economic and social disasters. Furthermore, current research emphasizes that to slow global warming

David Hu

4 min read

Technology

Telemedicine: From Face-to-Face to Interface

The re-energized advent of telemedicine has opened doors to additional opportunities that will not only reduce exposure to COVID-19 and mitigate strains on hospital systems, but also expand access to healthcare and improve overall health outcomes for years to come.

Irene Quan

3 min read

Impact Investing

Impact Investment in Argentina: From "Growth Disaster" to High Growth State?

Argentina has been known as a “growth disaster” due to its decades-long economic stagnation despite promising growth trends in the early 20th century. In the first few years of the 1900s, Argentina’s

Phoebe Cahill

5 min read

Development

Why is American Healthcare so expensive?

$3.6 trillion or 17.7% of America’s GDP is spent on healthcare every year – nearly twice that of the average OECD country.(1)(2) Despite this, Americans do not have better

Tanya Venkatesh

5 min read

Global Health

The Forgotten Pandemic: The Rise of STDs during COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has overtaken the world, radically changing the nature of healthcare and treatment, disrupting daily life, and causing widespread illness and panic. As the world’s focus has shifted to this

Phoebe Cahill

3 min read

Business

Understanding the Disconnect between the Stock Market and the COVID-19 Economy

The S&P 500 has reached multiple record highs this year, despite the nation’s worst unemployment rate since the great depression. For many Americans, this obvious disconnect between the stock market and the economic health of America is confusing and hints at stark inequalities in society.

Hunter Siebel

4 min read

Climate Change

Geoengineering: An Efficient Method of Climate Change Mitigation or a Future Global Catastrophe?

Climate change is widely perceived as an existential threat to global biodiversity and to the human race itself. New climate modeling consistently suggests that without enormous, rapid changes to the carbon-based world energy infrastructure, there will be vast temperature increases

Elliott Hyman

6 min read

Global Health

Lifeboat Ethics: Understanding How a COVID-19 Vaccine Could Exacerbate Global Inequality

The lifeboat ethics dilemma is easy to understand, hard to resolve, and entirely a problem of resource allocation. Proposed by ecologist Garrett Hardin, lifeboat ethics is a metaphor depicting a lifeboat with the capacity to save only a limited number of vulnerable swimmers without capsizing

Benjamin Fu

3 min read

Education

Coronavirus and Colleges: Coughs, Classes, and Considerations

Over the past six months, the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has delivered a very significant and systemic impact on the way that we lived our lives. However, nowhere is the impact of COVID-19 felt than on the economics of America’s colleges and universities.

Sammer Marzouk

5 min read

COVID-19

An Epidemic Inside of a Pandemic: How COVID-19 has impacted the Ongoing Opioid Crisis

Nearly three-quarters of a million people have died due to the opioid epidemic from 1999 to 2018 (1). This crisis has affected individuals throughout the entire economic and geographic spectrum in the United

Raviraj Rege

3 min read

Development

Team Performance in Long-Duration Space Exploration

2020 has been an important year for space exploration, amongst other things. Space missions of a startling variety and ambition are scheduled for launch this year. Indeed, space engineers have not planned so

Aryaman Gupta

4 min read

Project Spotlights

GRC Project Spotlight: Arc Thrift Stores

This article is part of a series called GRC Project Spotlights, where GRC project team members illustrate their experience on a GRC project, the skills they leveraged from their experience, and the lessons

Mehak Monga

4 min read

Project Spotlights

GRC Project Spotlight: Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF)

This article is part of a series called GRC Project Spotlights, where GRC project team members illustrate their experience on a GRC project, the skills they leveraged from their experience, and the lessons

Dean Tan

4 min read

Global Health

The Race to the COVID-19 Vaccine

Since the initial identification of COVID-19 in China in December of 2019, the push to develop a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – has been unprecedented, in terms of the fast-paced

Raviraj Rege

3 min read

Development

Corporate Social Responsibility: The Two Extremes

In 2015, the UN adopted 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) which clearly outline the world we want. Fast forward five years later, certain companies in the American corporate world are aligning themselves with these SDG’s by leading efforts of their own.

Hannah Pan

3 min read

Sustainability

Switzerland as a Guide for Environmental Policy

For decades Switzerland has consistently been ranked among the best of other OECD countries for its policies towards the environment; most recently, it ranked 1 out of 180 countries in Yale’s Environmental Performance Index (EPI), that measures environmental health and ecosystem vitality.

Ben Jachim-Gallagher

2 min read

Global Health

How Pharmaceuticals Are Damaging the Environment

The pharmaceutical industry is one of the largest and most lucrative industries in the world, valued at over $1.2 trillion globally. Almost 50% of Americans take prescription drugs, and that number is steadily climbing. Drug abuse, especially of synthetic drugs, is also at an all-time high.

Kathy Xiang

3 min read

Education

How Technology is Improving Access to Quality High School Education in South Africa

South Africa’s education system is one that is plagued by a lack of resources and access to quality teaching which can be attributed to apartheid and governmental mismanagement since. The integration of technology in the classroom, however, is serving as a tool for change and improvement.

Jessica Austin

3 min read

Development

The Water Crisis in Qatar

From winning the 2022 World cup bid, to becoming the target of an extensive political and economic embargo led by the Saudi elite and their allies in the Emirates and Egypt, the tiny sheikhdom in the Gulf has made news headlines many times.

Heide Rogers

4 min read

Leisure

The Fitness Divide

Within the past year alone, the for-profit health-club industry amassed almost $32 billion in profits, growing almost 8% compared to previous years. Health and fitness have undoubtedly emerged as trends that parallel stereotypes of American success and ideals.

Hannah McNeill

5 min read

Inclusion and Diversity

Shaping the World…Without Women?

Despite composing a whopping seventy-five percent of the nonprofit workforce, women only occupy twenty-one percent of leadership roles in large nonprofits (those with budgets in excess of $25 million). Indeed, the bigger the nonprofit, the bigger the gap.

Catherine Beddingfield

3 min read

Food Systems

GMOs Changing the Way Communities See Food

Given current trends, the global population is expected to reach an estimated nine billion people by 2050. While this raises a whole host of questions that affect the medical and scientific industries, one of the most important impacts has been on the agricultural sector.

Ahab Chopra

3 min read

Technology

From Open Skies to Big Data: The Next Force for Creative Destruction in the Airline Industry

Leveraging big data is the next key goal for airlines as greater understanding of clients’ needs and requests from dietary requirements to entertainment preferences allows for greater customization and better practice of second-degree price discrimination.

Justin Chan

4 min read

Sustainability

Transforming Cities for Sustainability

Majority-wise cities have become synonymous with being overpopulated, cramped, noisy, crime-ridden, and polluted. Approximately 70% of global carbon emissions currently originate from cities themselves, and according to the UN, the world’s population

Karina Strauch

4 min read

Development

Fostering entrepreneurial spirit and innovation in post-genocide Rwanda

In the 25 years since their devastating genocide, the Rwandan government 's innovative strategies have helped to redefine the nature of business on the African continent.

Andrea Jury

4 min read

Global Health

Hospitals Vanishing from Rural America

The increasing rate of rural hospitals closures is negatively impacting the health of rural Americans and the economy of rural communities.

James Bradley Parente

4 min read

Sustainability

Fashion Emissions: Fashion Industry’s Environmental Costs

The global fashion industry is having a catastrophic impact on the environment. This industry is the cause of significant carbon emissions, water pollution, natural resource depletion, and enormous waste generation. In fact, according

Harkirat Bhullar

3 min read

Sustainability

Challenges and Benefits of GMOs in the Fight Against the Global Food Shortage Crisis

How we can utilize genetically-engineered crops to solve the world hunger crisis

Thomas Junghyun Yoo

3 min read

COVID-19

Impact of COVID-19 on the Exploitation of Immigrant Workers in the United States

An immigrant worker can be a Dominican sewing machine operator, a Russian constructor worker, or a Bulgarian meat processor. Yet, what these three workers have in common is that as immigrant workers, they

Haily Rosario

5 min read

Development

Public Transportation: United States vs China

Public transportation has larger implications than most people realize. These effects are across a spectrum of issues, from the world of finance to global warming. One estimate suggested that, “an investment of $10

Amin Ahmed

4 min read

COVID-19

Effect of the global vaccination on economic recovery

The COVID-19 pandemic was the greatest threat to prosperity and well-being the world economy has ever experienced. We can observe it on the example of the US (Figure 1): GDP growth rate in

Ardana Izimova

3 min read

How Community Solar Farms are Changing the Renewable Energy Conversation

As community solar continues to grow, it becomes yet another tool homeowners, city leaders, and government officials can use to fight cliamte change, address energy scarcity, and spur economic activity.

Pooja Bapat

8 min read

Inefficiencies in Indian Agriculture: Problems Facing the Industry and Recent Legislation

India’s agricultural industry is a massive enterprise. India is one of the world’s largest producers of agricultural commodities and is consistently among the leading producers of several important crops such as

Armen Phelps

9 min read

Brown

A Magic Money Tree for the Climate Crisis

The climate crisis has begun, posing an immense threat to both life and prosperity. Raging fires, unprecedented storms, deadly heat, rising sea levels all threaten the livelihoods and lives of billions of people.

Claire Costa

8 min read

Aftermath of the Myanmar Coup: Human Rights Violations and the Exasperation of Inequality

Content Warning: Graphic descriptions of torture and abuse NLD supporters protest the military government Source: Newsweek https://www.newsweek.com/china-fails-condemn-myanmar-military-coup-despite-international-concern-1565754“The people of Myanmar only want democracy. The military coup was not

Mya Myitzu

7 min read

Electricity and New Energy Sources: Current Evaluation and Future Outlook

Is Electricity Sustainable? The United States relies on many different sources for energy generation. Primary energy sources, which include natural gas, coal, water, and nuclear energy, are original fuels. Secondary energy, such as

Nina Nguyen

6 min read