In The News

Making Globalization Work for All

Jeffrey D. Sachs October 2, 2004
When world leaders met at the UN’s Millennium Assembly four years ago, they laid out ambitious proposals to alleviate global poverty, hunger, disease, and illiteracy. Yet in spite of a rhetorical commitment to development, says economist Jeffrey Sachs, rich nations like the US have been unwilling to commit the necessary aid. Much of the developing world is experiencing rising poverty and needs...

The Price of Free Trade - Part II

Tom Fawthrop October 1, 2004
Instituted some 30 years ago, the international Multi-Fiber Agreement (MFA) set export quotas on all textile manufacturing nations. Some poorer countries, like Bangladesh and Cambodia, received larger quotas, which enabled them to attract foreign investment and sharply boost their earnings. Artificially protected from competition, they built their developing economies around the textiles...

States Pressing for Right to Set Shopping Hours

William Pratt October 1, 2004
Most Americans take for granted that they can stop by their local mini-mart anytime, day or night. Now, some German officials want their citizens to enjoy the same simple convenience – but not on Sundays. The idea of allowing stores to stay open 24 hours a day, six days a week represents one of the latest plans aimed at unlocking the legal padlock on German store owners. This effort, led by the...

Outsourcing Finds Vietnam

Keith Bradsher September 30, 2004
Three decades after the fall of Saigon, Vietnam remains one of the world's poorest nations. But steadily, it is becoming the next participant in the global shift of jobs to developing nations. Strong mathematics education and a loyal workforce have attracted a handful of firms to the country. Low wages are another primary draw: Recent finance graduates make little more than unskilled...

The Price of Free Trade - Part I

Mustafizur Rahman September 29, 2004
Instituted some 30 years ago, the international Multi-Fiber Agreement (MFA) set export quotas on all textile manufacturing nations. Some poorer countries, like Bangladesh and Cambodia, received larger quotas, which enabled them to attract foreign investment and sharply boost their earnings. Artificially protected from competition, they built their developing economies around the textiles...

Fifty Dollar Oil

September 29, 2004
Forecast violence in the Niger Delta recently startled an already jumpy oil market. The double-punch of this insurgency and other negative news has brought the cost of oil in the United States close to US$50 per barrel, the highest price recorded to date. Why the extraordinary spike? Oil traders may be partially to blame. Opec nations, who import in foreign currency, may have difficulty...

Where Did All the Jobs Go? Nowhere

Daniel W. Drezner September 29, 2004
The issue of outsourcing has figured quite prominently in US electoral politics this year. Despite the headlines and political rhetoric, points out political scientist Daniel Drezner, outsourcing is really a minor issue, accounting for less than one percent of mass layoffs last year. Technological innovation has a far larger impact on the American job market, though few pundits argue that...