In The News

Sars-Free Asia Goes All Out to Woo Tourists Back

Paul Zach June 26, 2003
Jubilation is filling Sars-free Asian streets now that the WHO has issued the affected countries a clean bill of health and lifted travel warnings. City governments from Beijing to Taipei are sparing no expense on mass celebrations, encouraging people to go out and spend. Locals and even foreign businessmen have responded en masse, eager to join the colorful celebrations. However, amidst this...

Citizenship Doesn't Entitle You to a Job

Chua Lee Hoong June 25, 2003
In recent years, more and more multinational companies have relocated their factories to countries that provide cheap blue-collar labor. However, as the competition for jobs becomes fiercer in countries experiencing recession, white-collar jobs are also being exported. In Singapore, those affected by this new trend include airline pilots, lawyers, engineers, and accountants. In this article in...

Jury Still Out on Kuala Lumpur's Drive to Free Manufacturing Sector

Eddie Toh June 24, 2003
As China rises up to become the most attractive location for foreign direct investment (FDI), many countries in the Asia-Pacific region are seeing declines in FDI. In response to the sharp fall, Malaysia has decided to fully liberalize its manufacturing sector by allowing foreigners to own 100% of their new operations. Through this new policy, Kuala Lumpur hopes to prevent some multinational...

Europe Set to Begin Digital Tax

Bob Tedeschi June 23, 2003
Unlike traditional trade transaction, e-commerce conducted online across national borders creates new tax issues that can be confusing. As Europe's number of internet users grows and overtakes the US and Canada, the European Union (EU) is scheduled to begin a new value-added tax plan, which will levy taxes on all imported goods and services purchased over the Internet. Foreign companies,...

Unreformed, Unrefined, Unrepentant

June 20, 2003
The 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis seriously disrupted many economies in the Asia-Pacific region and impeded global economic growth. Governments and international institutions have since tried to draw lessons from that nightmare. In this article in The Economist, the author says that there is still much to be learned and dealt with, including Thailand's current problems with its taxation...

Carmakers Around World Are Turning to India for Parts

Saritha Rai June 20, 2003
India’s auto parts industry is finding new success as global carmakers struggle to find low-cost, high-quality parts. It is these two qualifications that give India, with its cheap skilled workers and locally produced raw materials, an edge over other developing economies. But although the industry is growing rapidly within the country, problems remain. Competition from other South Asian...

Making Trinkets in China, and a Deadly Dust

Joseph Kahn June 18, 2003
The negative effects that unbridled capitalism can have on workers in developing countries raises the hackles of many anti-globalization activists. This New York Times article describes the severe diseases that Chinese workers have developed in the dreadful working environment of a jewelry company that exports its products to the US and other Western countries. To the author, these scenes...