In The News

A World Without Borders Makes Economic Sense

Michael A. Clemens September 16, 2011
Many of the world’s economies are still suffering due to the global economic crisis, and policymakers search for an elusive magic bullet. Michael A Clemens, writing for the Guardian, offers one possibility: increasing international migration. He describes the manmade barriers to economic mobility as the “single-biggest drag on the beleaguered economy,” and claims that even minor relaxation of...

Bridges to Somewhere

Justin Yifu Lin September 15, 2011
Following the financial crisis of 2008, the developed world still faces weak growth prospects and dim employment forecasts, and leaders in the US and Europe urge debt reduction. In this Foreign Policy article, Justin Yifu Lin of the World Bank makes a strong case for global infrastructure initiative, encouraging developed countries to invest billions of dollars on infrastructure projects at home...

An Amazonian Battle

Joe Leahy August 31, 2011
After slowing of deforestation in recent years, conflict has returned to the Amazon rainforest with increasing fights between conservations and farmers. Farmers are pushing for a law granting amnesty for illegal logging before 2008 and claim that the host of environmental laws that reduced deforestation created uncertainty for investors. Environmentalists are worried about undermining...

Ethiopia “Using Aid as Weapon of Oppression”

August 29, 2011
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations describes the seven nations – Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, the Sudan and Uganda – of the Horn of Africa, as one of the most food-insecure regions in the world. A team of journalists from the BBC and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism traveled through Ethiopia, posing as tourists, and discovered communities allegedly...

China Comes to Thailand

Richard S. Ehrlich August 3, 2011
China’s size and increasing economic might at times could be intimidating for other nations in Southeast Asia, including Thailand, despite their complex connections since ancient times. “Beijing is simultaneously increasing its military and cultural influence in Thailand, trying to wean Bangkok away from Washington and other foreign governments while expanding China's own reach southward,”...

India Must Tread Carefully in Africa

James Lamont May 31, 2011
Since the mid-17th century, spurred by colonialism, Indians have crossed the Indian Ocean for jobs and trade in the nations of eastern and southern Africa. Yet once-isolated China quickly caught up during the past two decades, forming deep connections over commodities trading, economic development and political summits, explains James Lamont in the Financial Times,. During a May trip to Ethiopia...

No Need for Speed

Charles Kenny May 27, 2011
Communication technologies, including cell phones and social media, increase awareness and connections to resources. A UN panel addressing broadband inclusion concluded that the technology is an essential infrastructure that could reduce poverty. Funding fiber-optic cable for broadband in developing nations may speed connections, but not be the fastest route to eliminating poverty, contends...