In The News

Environmental Woes Could Reverse Global Development

Christopher F. Schuetze March 20, 2013
Storms, fires, rising seas, floods and other consequence of climate change could plunge one third of the world’s population into extreme poverty by 2050, according to the 2013 Human Development Report, released last week by the UN Development Programme. On a more positive note, the report says, “Extreme income poverty has plummeted from 1990, when 43 percent of the globe’s population lived on the...

The World Wants Vancouverism – Shouldn’t Canada?

Doug Saunders March 5, 2013
The city of Vancouver touts its diversity, green initiatives, parks and mass transit and remains a popular destination for immigrants, who account for 40 percent of the metropolitan population. Vancouver has managed fast-growing urbanization with good planning that includes eliminating vast parking lots. “Vancouver has been remade dramatically, rendered into a thickly vertical city jammed with...

China-Myanmar Pipeline to Open in May

Jamil Anderlini, Gwen Robinson January 28, 2013
A gas pipeline extending from the Indian Ocean through Myanmar to Southwest China is scheduled to begin pumping before summer. “At present, about 80 per cent of China’s crude oil imports are transported through the strategically important Strait of Malacca, but the new oil pipeline is expected to reduce China’s reliance on that route by about one-third,” report Jamil Anderlini and Gwen Robinson...

Biggest Growth Story? Outside the US

Russ Koesterich January 21, 2013
The gridlock in US Congress, its reliance on last-minute, short-term fixes for well-documented problems, is reducing confidence, threatening credit ratings and low interest rates for borrowers, worrying investors and decreasing tax revenues. So far, opposing parties in Congress refuse to compromise on substantial reform of the US tax code or costly entitlement programs, especially costly health...

Laos Could Bear Cost of Chinese Railroad

Jane Perlez, Bree Feng January 8, 2013
China is financing a railway from Southern China to Laos, Thailand and Burma – “China considers it vital to its strategy of pulling Southeast Asia closely into its orbit and providing Beijing with another route to transport oil from the Middle East,” report Jane Perlez and Bree Feng for the New York Times. Laos is taking on tremendous debt for the project, and the bulk of trade benefits are...

Some Silicon Valley-Style Pioneers Head East

Saritha Rai October 3, 2012
Many Indians are wary of starting business on their own. With a poor economy in the West, many are giving up jobs in Silicon Valley to return home and organize their own startups. The emerging economy offers a huge test market along with low costs and dependable workers. The returnees offer “an unprecedented innovation boost,” reports Saritha Rai, but must first overcome “a seeming aversion...

Is Islam to Blame for Freedom Deficit in Middle East?

Riaz Hassan July 5, 2012
The fury of the Arab Spring, with widespread demands for freedom quickly followed by a re-emergence of authoritarian ways, has renewed debate about Islam and democracy in the Middle East, notes sociologist Riaz Hassan. Circa 1000 AD, the Middle East represented 10 percent of global GDP, as compared to Europe’s 9 percent – religious powers in both regions protected elites and the status quo. Seven...