In The News

Outsourcing Debate - Part II

Nayan Chanda February 27, 2004
The outsourcing of white-collar jobs to India and other low-cost countries has become a sensitive issue for US voters. In the second article of a three-part series on outsourcing, YaleGlobal Editor Nayan Chanda makes the case that America's economic fears about outsourcing are driving politics this election year. Chanda observes that "blue-collar workers, long wary of outsourcing, have...

What Goes Around…

Thomas L. Friedman February 26, 2004
New York Times Columnist Thomas Friedman argues that while outsourcing may relocate American jobs to low-cost countries, it also creates jobs by stimulating export demand for American products. "Look around this office," an Indian call center owner remarked to Friedman, "All the computers are from Compaq. The basic software is from Microsoft. The phones are from Lucent. The air-...

Outsourcing Debate - Part I

Rafiq Dossani February 25, 2004
The steady outflow of jobs, especially white-collar ones from the US is emerging as a major issue in the US. In part one of our three-part series on the outsourcing debate two scholars explain the reasons. In recent years, US manufacturing jobs have declined as corporations looked for cheap labor overseas. Still, it was long assumed that service work would provide continued growth for the US and...

The Knowledge Economy

Mustafa Kamel El-Sayed February 25, 2004
How do poor countries advance social scientific research agendas to better their societies? Are their agendas set by their own self-determined needs or by the interests of outsiders? Since the end of the Cold War, says political scientist Mustafa Kamel El-Sayed El-Sayed, researchers dependent on foreign aid have less and less control over how the funds are used. In Egypt, funding from foreign...

Trade Is Not Bad For US Jobs

Martin Wolf February 24, 2004
Financial Times Senior Economist Martin Wolf defends outsourcing as a means for companies to improve productivity, just as free trade benefits businesses by giving them access to cheaper goods from the developing world. He argues that the only reason politicians are railing against free trade, instead of praising gains from innovation and productivity, is because they can use foreigners as...

A Fair Globalization: Creating Opportunities for All

February 24, 2004
A new report issued by the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization acknowledges that globalization's "potential for good is immense," but points to record unemployment levels as a sign that globalization has not met the majority of men and women's "simple and legitimate aspirations for decent jobs and a better future for their children." The...

Argentina Stuck on the Periphery of a Globalized World

Jean-Pierre Lehmann February 20, 2004
Although once renowned for its prosperity and rich culture, Argentina has seen its fortunes decline as it suffered authoritarian rulers throughout the 20th century. Democratic strides in the 1980s and 1990s did not bring success, either - the "liberal" leaders of those two decades implemented free-market policies that many blame for Argentina's current economic woes. Yet...