A donation of $1 million from The Starr Foundation is now providing a stable funding source for the Program in Integration of Global Markets (IGM) at the Mosbacher Institute for Trade, Economics, and Public Policy at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University.
The IGM program promotes sound trade policy by addressing such issues as the modernization of international food aid programs, the fairness of US import taxes, the ability of global trade to improve working conditions in developing countries, and the effects of specific trade agreement provisions on the US and global economies.
Dr. Lori Taylor, director of the Mosbacher Institute, said that having the Starr endowment has enabled the Institute to ramp up several trade-related activities, such as The Takeaway brief series and the Internships in International Trade Program. The Internship Program offers Bush School graduate students the opportunity to gain real-world experience in some of the most influential trade-related organizations, thus building their knowledge of the complex aspects of international trade and better preparing them for future careers in trade policy.
“Thanks to The Starr endowment, we have been able to expand our programming as well. We started the Mosbacher Conversations in Public Policy series,” Taylor said. “Our first Conversation was held on November 17, 2015, and featured Richard Fisher, formerly president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and a US trade negotiator. Being able to bring experts like Ambassador Fisher to the Bush School is a significant benefit to our students,” she added.
With assets of some $1.5 billion, The Starr Foundation is one of the largest private foundations in the United States. It was established in 1955 by Cornelius Vander Starr, an insurance entrepreneur who founded C. V. Starr & Co. and other companies, which were later combined into what became the American International Group, Inc. (AIG). Mr. Starr, a pioneer of globalization, left his estate to the Foundation, which makes grants in a number of areas, including education, medicine and healthcare, human needs, public policy, culture, and the environment.
