In The News

China Ascendant – Part I

Bertil Lintner April 25, 2008
Athletes and Chinese guards bearing the Olympic torch cut a swath through those supporting and protesting a rising China. In this series, YaleGlobal examines the impact of China’s ascendancy. China’s economic growth has given it new resources which, when doled out internationally, have the power to shift diplomatic allegiances. In Southeast Asia, China relies on a strategy of giving below-market...

World Banker and His Cash Return Home

Jason DeParle March 24, 2008
Remittances, once treated as an insignificant rounding error, eclipse the world’s combined foreign aid by threefold. A migration scholar with the World Bank, Dilip Ratha, calculated the magnitude of remittances and brought them to the world’s attention. Critics suggest that “behind every remittance is a separated family” and argue that remittances contribute to consumption rather than development...

India’s Forgotten Farmers

Tarun Khanna March 7, 2008
Can India’s burgeoning economy lead to prosperity for all of its citizens, urban and rural alike? Thus far, India’s economic growth has been concentrated almost exclusively in urban centers, while rural areas remain largely mired in appalling poverty. Since 70 percent of India’s population lives in rural communities, the vast majority of Indians find themselves cut off from their nation’s...

On the Cusp of Economic History

Katrin Bennhold January 23, 2008
Increasing inequality both among and within nations has contributed to a troubling global economic outlook. The days of easy globalization may be over, writes Katrin Bennhold for the International Herald Tribune, in reporting on concerns expressed at the World Economic Forum in Davos. “Signs of a protectionist backlash are multiplying as worries about climate change, the rise of state-run...

In Singapore, A Local Switzerland for Asia's Wealthy

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...

Canada's Aid Seeded China Dam

Ian Johnson January 2, 2008
Environmental and human-rights activists around the globe criticize the world’s largest hydroelectric dam, Three Gorges Dam in China, for its displacement of more than a million people and environmental devastation. Yet governments and companies of the West provided assistance that allowed the controversial project to proceed. “In the midst of a domestic political crisis, the Canadian government...

It’s Too Late for Later

Thomas L. Friedman December 18, 2007
People worldwide, even those in the least developed nations, are fully aware of the causes and dangers associated with global warming. “‘Later’ was a luxury for previous generations and civilizations,” writes New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. The planet’s transforming before our eyes – polar ice melting at faster rates, tides moving higher along coastlines and the population of some...