In The News

More 'Can I Help You?' Jobs Migrate From U.S. to India

Amy Waldman May 11, 2003
Due to advances in global media technologies, the public and the private sectors in the United States are increasingly subcontracting services to countries with cheap labor. Contractors for the State of New Jersey arranged for telephone operators in Bombay, India to handle calls from the state's welfare recipients. These telephone operators are paid by a US-based company, owned by an...

Early Globalization and the Slave Trade

Robert Harms May 9, 2003
While many are aware of the "triangular" slave trade among Europe, Africa and the Americas in the 18th century, few people realize that Asian-European trade was also instrumental in sustaining the exchange of human slaves. For example, French ships carrying European goods to Asia returned with cowry shells and Indian textiles valued by West Africans. On the African coast, traders...

Thai-Malaysian Pipeline: Project Set for Completion in 2005

May 7, 2003
A controversial gas pipeline stretching from Malaysia to Thailand is set to be completed by 2005, if we can believe the contractors in charge. The project has been opposed by Thai villagers whose property it will traverse, and whose Muslim communities would face substantial economic and cultural change if it is completed. If all goes as planned, the pipeline's construction will bring in...

Capitalism Sputters to Life Across Iraq

Maureen Fan May 6, 2003
In the wake of the US-led war in Iraq, free-market capitalism seems to be all the rage. Daily fluctuations in prices and a lack of social order, however, are leaving some Iraqis underwhelmed by their newfound economic freedom. Without proper police protection or market-setting authorities, both consumers and vendors are experiencing the pains of unregulated exchange, profiting on one day and...

America's Broadband Dream is Alive in Korea

Ken Belson May 5, 2003
According to a vision of Internet technology, one would be able to watch television programs, attend training workshops, sing karaoke, shop, and play interactive games – all of it online. Although Internet has changed patterns of consumption and sociality in the US, it has not yet realized its full potential. But that is not to say it has not happened anywhere. South Korea is a remarkable...

Anglosphere: Limits to Globalization

James C. Bennett May 3, 2003
In this essay James C. Bennett addresses the limits of globalization. According to Bennett, amongst the enduring benefits of globalization are innovations in travel, world economy, and medical and technological breakthroughs. However, Bennett argues against a universal paradigm for globalization because globalization often occurs between nations and economies that are similarly positioned in...

It’s Time Businesses Got Back to Business

Klaus Schwab May 2, 2003
Many years ago, the business of business was business. Now, argues Klaus Schwab, president of the World Economic Forum, companies have been saddled with a host of social responsibilities, like fighting poverty and protecting the environment, that should be the purview of governments. Instead of focusing on these responsibilities, Schwab says, business leaders "must re-embrace the wealth-...