In The News

Time to Cut the Knot

July 9, 2008
Ideally, the US would possess its own energy sources, thus ensuring energy independence and stability. Unfortunately, a dependence on fossil fuels leads to drilling around pristine beaches and using technologies that exacerbate global warming. During a presidential- election year, politicians are less willing to take a firm stance on environmental protection – and pursue any short-term measures...

Indian Investors Enter the Caribbean

Loro Horta July 8, 2008
Following the footsteps of China, Indian firms have been investing in the Caribbean nations, building infrastructure in exchange for the opportunity to purchase natural resources. Foreign direct investments represent a large slice of the Caribbean economic pie; China and India could effectively determine the speed and direction of some nations’ growth, explains analyst Loro Horta, visiting...

Chinese Checkers

Nayan Chanda July 7, 2008
Producer and consumer countries can’t expect to escape unscathed if economic problems strike one or the other as a maze of complicated challenges confront the global economy: The subprime mortgage crisis battered global banks; businesses have trouble finding credit; consumer spending has slowed; and energy prices are on the rise. Giant sovereign wealth funds based in Asia and the Middle East came...

A Self-Inflicted Wound

Jacob F. Kirkegaard July 1, 2008
The US, long home to many of the world’s most highly skilled workers, could soon be scrambling for replacements. Baby boomers are starting to retire, and their high education levels will be missed. Since the baby boomers emerged in the work force, the US became complacent about its public-education system. As a result, young American workers increasingly struggle to compete with skilled foreign...

Waiting For Obama: The First Global Election

Derek Shearer June 23, 2008
With the George W. Bush presidency coming to a close, global observers anticipate greater international engagement from the US. Students in countries like Syria, Peru and Bolivia are particularly amazed that the US voters might possibly select minority Barack Obama, whose father was an immigrant and whose name is not traditionally European, explains Derek Shearer, a former ambassador to Finland...

This Global Show Must Go On

Tyler Cowen June 12, 2008
Living standards have improved immensely throughout the world since 1990, largely due to open trade and globalization. But ordinary observers and intellectuals increasingly express concern about the speed of globalization and suggest that applying some controls could ease climbing commodity prices and inflation. Slowing the global economy would be a challenge, argues economist Tyler Cowen for...

Falling Behind: Globalization and Its Discontents

Henry A. Kissinger June 3, 2008
An emerging global economy and accompanying systems have prompted some countries to cling to power and display nationalistic tendencies. “The basic premise of globalization is that competition will sort out the most efficient, a process that, by definition, involves winners and losers,” writes Henry Kissinger in an opinion essay for the International Herald Tribune. Even occasional losers are...