In The News

Mixed Blessings of the Megacities

Deane Neubauer September 24, 2004
"For the first time in human history, more people live in cities than do not," writes globalization scholar Deane Neubauer. Complex migratory patterns have led to a paradox within the world's most populous urban areas: While some residents live lavishly, reaping the benefits of global commerce, others are forced into impoverished conditions reminiscent of 19th-century...

The Great Reverse - Part I

Clyde Prestowitz September 2, 2004
There are those who argue that history is cyclical, while others prefer to conceptualize it as an ebb and flow. As the economies of China and India continue their dizzying growth, it seems that history is preparing to repeat itself. Economist Clyde Prestowitz, in the first of a three-part series, coins the term "The Great Reverse" in reference to the projected Asian-leaning shift in...

Baby Perks for Parents

Daniel Buenas August 24, 2004
The flipside of the myriad benefits enjoyed by economically developed countries is a general decrease in birth rates. When fewer children are born, a dwindling working class must support the elderly population’s increasing healthcare costs while maintaining economic output. Singapore is combating this trend by offering women incentives for childbirth: an additional month of maternity leave and...

Coping with World Population Boom and Bust – Part II

Joseph Chamie August 24, 2004
In a growing number of countries, average fertility rates have fallen below replacement levels, the numbers necessary to ensure stable population. While concerns about shrinking populations have arisen in the past, the issue now affects almost all regions of the world. In the second installment of a two-part series, UN demographer Joseph Chamie details governments' struggles to curb the...

Coping with World Population Boom and Bust – Part I

Joseph Chamie August 19, 2004
The world’s population - currently at 6.4 billion - has quadrupled over the past century. In the first of a two-part series, UN demographer Joseph Chamie says that the global population boom has been accompanied by revolutionary changes in life expectancy, fertility, population aging, and large-scale migration – issues that will fundamentally shape the politics of the next century. Even with...

A Question of Identity

Hasan Suroor August 17, 2004
The million-strong Indian community in Britain is expressing concerns over being lumped together with Bangladeshis and Pakistanis by media and government. The generic term “Asian,” they argue, obfuscates the facts when used to describe social problems such as honor killings or the Bradford riots, because most of the perpetrators were non-Indian. Hasan Suroor, the author of this opinion piece in...

Many Bay Area Immigrants Have Split Olympic Loyalties

Mark Emmons August 11, 2004
Sporting allegiance can be a telling indication of personal identity, particularly in such a multi-cultural place as the San Francisco Bay, where nearly one in three people was born outside of the United States. Such immigrants often wrestle with multiple identities in deciding whether to root for athletes from their native land, or nationals of their adopted country. In this article, Mark...