In The News

India's IT Prodigals Return Home

Harsh Kabra May 2, 2005
"Brain gain" is booming in India as highly-skilled expatriates are returning home. A recent mini-migration of some 25,000 engineers, software designers, managers, and other professionals has taken place between the United States and India in the past four years. The numbers are still growing. The decision to uproot after decade or more of life in the US is motivated by a new land of...

Germany Profits from International Division of Labor

Patrick Welter April 29, 2005
Recent WTO announcements suggest that Germany is effectively handling with the forces of globalization to maintain a flourishing and beneficial trade position, writes F.A.Z. Weekly. Germany's exports have increased steadily, especially compared with other euro countries whose exports have declined due to the falling dollar. Though countries like China have seen dramatic leaps in their trade...

The Blurring Digital Divide

Patricia Yim April 28, 2005
Contrary to widespread commentary about a growing gap in IT capabilities between the developed and the developing world, many poorer nations are making great leaps in technology. The author, managing director for IBM Singapore, writes that IT skills are just as transferrable as any other intellectual asset, especially since recent years have seen the physical cost of digital technology decline...

Quietly Sprouting: A European Identity

Katrin Bennhold April 27, 2005
Recent debate over the ratification of the EU constitution indicates that the political unification of Europe may lag behind its cultural, educational, and economic unification. Today, many Europeans, from countries far in the west to newly-admitted EU member states in the east, admit to feeling more "European" than any distinct nationality. While strong associations with a home country...

In Search of Stealth

April 25, 2005
Today's business climate has spawned a globally mobile workforce. Instead of organizing around geographic regions, multinationals are structured around business units run by teams of globe-trotting executives. And as offshoring and cross-border joint-ventures grow in popularity, executives must spend more time on short-to-medium assignments abroad. This environment has created a new type of...

All That Gas

Alam Srinivas April 25, 2005
Across the world – in countries like China, the United States, and the European Union – reliance on foreign oil imports is increasing. At the same time, most experts expect the world's oil supply to decrease sometime in the near future, with supply peaking anywhere from 2007 to 2037. Brazil is the largest and lowest cost producer of ethanol, a more environmentally friendly substitute to...

Rising Dragon and the American Eagle – Part II

Robert Sutter April 22, 2005
Recent developments – including the high-profile visit by China's premier Wen Jiabao to South Asia – showing the rising profile of China have intensified a long-running debate in Washington. How does the growing power and influence of China affect the dominance that the United States has so far enjoyed in Asia? In the second of our two-part series, Georgetown University's China...