In The News

Nayan Chanda January 22, 2008
The speed and frequency of today’s travel has placed individuals at risk to the spread of many infectious diseases. As Nayan Chanda points out, governments facing these challenges should be more vigilant than ever to avoid future epidemics. Full cooperation with the WHO must also be achieved. In an interconnected world, it is important everyone recognizes that our health and well-being is...
Jennifer 8. Lee January 18, 2008
Fortune cookies are popular in Chinese restaurants the world over, everywhere but China. Japanese researcher Yasuko Nakamachi theorizes the absence is because the cookies originated in Japan, as evidenced by references in Japanese literature and art decades before the early 1900s. California restaurants with Japanese owners introduced the dessert between 1907 and 1914, reports author Jennifer Lee...
Wayne Arnold January 11, 2008
Singapore’s authoritarian order and highly regulated environment attracts foreign investors who value banking secrecy. Coupling a pro-business stance with amenities that appeal to the wealthy, Singapore has become a haven for private banking. While suppression of free speech and artistic expression is bothersome, Wayne Arnold reports for the International Herald Tribune that internal security...
Choe Sang-Hun January 9, 2008
For centuries, parents in the agrarian economy of South Korea favored male children. But government campaigns and increasing work opportunities have led to a gender ratio that demonstrates a reversal in the preference for males and perhaps even a new appreciation for female children. Adult males, with the help of their wives, were once expected to care for aging parents. In recent decades, women...
Nayan Chanda January 5, 2008
This column for Businessworld in India explores the many facets of globalization manifested in all aspects of life. By exploring the interconnections of the globalization forces, columnist and YaleGlobal's editor Nayan Chanda hopes to build better understanding, pointing to the dangers and opportunities. Like it or not, humanity is bound together by invisible threads of connections born of...
Jared Diamond January 3, 2008
The average citizen of a wealthy nation consumes at a rate 32 times that of the average citizen of a poor nation, and a rising human population will present major problems if people consume at levels on display in the wealthiest nations. High consumption levels exacerbate environmental devastation, resource shortages, waste and other social problems. Citizens of the poorest countries are fully...
Stacy Teicher Khadaroo December 24, 2007
US education experts suggest that the nation’s children fail to keep pace with the top international students. A globalizing economy means that today's kindergarten students will eventually compete for jobs or work on teams with peers from around the world. The challenge awaiting teachers is how to best prepare young students. While pupils in China and India achieve high scores on science...