In The News

No Booze or Jokes for Googlers in China

Declan McCullagh January 27, 2006
By launching its search engine in China and following Chinese government censorship laws, Google has sparked controversy. But the controls seem more haphazard than just dictated by political consideration, according to a CNET News.com survey of the new search engine. Sites opposing the Communist government do not show up in Google searches, but can be reached through links and foreign-service...

A New Wrinkle for Globalization

Katrin Bennhold January 26, 2006
For its proponents and opponents alike, economic globalization’s greatest force is its disregard for the sanctity of national borders. Some analysts have forecasted that growing cross-border transaction will weaken the nation-state as we know it. Yet recent events suggest otherwise. While some nations empowered by natural resources like oil and gas have been flexing their muscles against...

Africa Hosts its First Major Anti-Globalization Forum

January 25, 2006
For the sixth time since 2000, NGO representatives, fair-trade advocates, anti-globalization protestors and activists of all kinds unite at the World Social Forum, this week in Mali. By tackling the problems of inequality, debt relief and trade realities that trouble the developing world, the forum serves as foil to the World Economic Forum, a meeting of the world’s economic elite, held...

Migration: Illegal But Integral to Economy

Sanjay Suri January 25, 2006
Europeans often blame illegal immigrants for a number of social ills, including high rates of crime and unemployment. Yet “people with irregular status” are the invisible bedrock for many social institutions in the developed world, suggests this article in Terraviva Europe. Without the work of illegal immigrants from Africa, Asia and parts of Eastern Europe in fundamental sectors like healthcare...

Europe’s Improving Economy Still Faces Some Hurdles Amid Global Competition

Marcus Walker January 24, 2006
With exports to the US, Asia, and oil-producing countries boosting corporate profits, Europe’s economy has attracted increasing optimism ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos this week. Wall Street Journal reporter Marcus Walker, however, warns us not to “count on Europe to float the global economy yet.” Cheap global competition—particularly from China and Eastern Europe—has inhibited...

Fearing Social Unrest, China Tries to Rein in Unbridled Capitalism

January 24, 2006
China’s economy continues to grow at more than 9 percent per year, and Beijing fears that a sudden crash would bring immeasurable consequences. Low consumer spending, government planners worry, would provide little cushioning for a slump. At the same time, distressed debt, a flimsy infrastructure, and increasing air and water pollution present further incalculable costs of China’s rapid...

Hong Kong As a Clue to the Future China

Michael E. DeGolyer January 23, 2006
Since China gained control of Hong Kong in the 1997 handover from Britain, international observers have wondered whether Beijing would allow the island to retain its separate identity. In many ways, Beijing has indeed followed its promise of "one country, two systems," recognizing that Hong Kong's property rights and entrepreneurial spirit do much to fuel the economic growth of...