In The News

India’s Reverse Diaspora

Steven L. Raymer December 5, 2008
Indians still move abroad to work or study, but increasing numbers of restless immigrants are now turning to their ancestral land for opportunity. “By several estimates, between 50,000 and 60,000 information-technology professionals alone have returned to India from overseas since 2003, most to the suburbs of New Delhi, Hyderabad and especially Bangalore, the nexus of what Indians call their...

The Forgotten Virtues of Free Trade

Frank Trentmann December 1, 2008
As an economic recession sweeps the world, the countries that have benefited most from free trade have now become wary. “Free trade is far from perfect, but the alternatives are worse,” insists Frank Trentmann, professor of history, in an essay for Project Syndicate. “Protectionism is bad for wealth, bad for democracy, and bad for peace.” Nations may attempt to protect a few select industries,...

Obama’s Global Tryst

Nayan Chanda November 24, 2008
President-elect Barack Obama enters office as the globe confronts grave economic crisis. He must continue supporting free trade, but at the same time assist hundreds of thousands of Americans who struggle with job loss, falling home prices and foreclosures, and immense economic uncertainty about health care, energy and other resources. At the same time, Obama must manage two wars, one he promised...

The Limits of Growth – Part II

Chandran Nair November 24, 2008
Governments pursue rapid growth as a path to prosperity, and policymakers generally depend on markets to reveal and control problems. In the second of this two-part YaleGlobal series on the limits to growth, Chandran Nair, founder of the Global Institute for Tomorrow, points to parallels between the global economic crisis and climate change. Both challenges are rooted in the pursuit of excessive...

A Sea of Unwanted Imports

Matt Richtel November 19, 2008
Even as US automakers plead for government bailout funds, millions of dollars worth of foreign cars pile up at US docks. US Dealers decline the new vehicles because of a global credit crunch and consumer wariness about job loss. Japanese and German car companies resort to leasing space in US ports, and “They are turning dozens of acres of the nation’s second-largest container port into a parking...

Economic Crisis Could Push Reform in China

Zhiwu Chen November 12, 2008
Economic crisis can be a time of opportunity, particularly if political leaders are savvy enough to use the down period to introduce needed reforms. Zhiwu Chen, finance professor with the Yale School Management, offers such a blueprint for China. An economic stimulus package announced this week by the Chinese government, aimed at building infrastructure, is only a first step. Chen also urges the...

As China's Losses Mount, Confidence Turns to Fear

Ariana Eunjung Cha November 5, 2008
A global credit crisis has prompted consumers worldwide to slow spending, leading to shuttered factories in China. Leaders of China, like those throughout the world, worry that economic crisis could trigger political instability and demands for change. Growth in the domestic national product, whiles till approaching 10 percent, has been slow by Chinese standards. The government has acted...