In The News

Anti-Piracy Patrols Presage Rising Naval Powers

Brian Wilson January 13, 2009
The lawlessness arising from the poor desert nation of Somalia (estimated per capita GDP is $600) has forced the world to sit up and take note. With its coastal waters depleted by over-fishing, some Somalis have taken up piracy as a lucrative profession, using small boats and arms to hijack the rich cargo passing by through the Gulf of Aden, the avenue for most maritime traffic between East and...

Darwin’s Recessionary Tip: Act Like a Beetle

Jonathan Guthrie January 12, 2009
Darwin’s teachings on evolution, explained in “The Origin of Species,” may offer pointers and solace for those intent on handling global recession. In the Financial Times, Jonathan Guthrie suggests that both companies and species share the drive to survive and expand: “Companies and living organisms share the objective of generating surpluses, either of money or calorific energy. Repeated...

Mobiles Give Africa's Farmers the Chance to Set Out Their Stall

David Smith January 9, 2009
The African Medical and Research Foundation (Amref) and its partner Farm-Africa in Katine has developed a strategy that aims to empower the farmers of Katine in northeast Uganda by providing them with cell phones. Although cell-phone growth has exceeded initial estimates, Uganda still lags behind the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo where mobile subscriptions far exceed fixed-line...

The End of a Gilded Age

Harold James January 6, 2009
Waves of globalization are characterized by intense innovation, along with increased wealth, productivity and consumption, notes Princeton professor Harold James in an opinion essay for the Baltimore Examiner. Agriculture gave way to manufacturing, manufacturing gave way to services, and services gave way to online interactions, and James notes that “In each case, a dramatic crisis created the...

US and China Must Tame Imbalances Together

Michael Pettis January 6, 2009
With surging liquidity and massive trade imbalances, no one should have been surprised by the global economic crisis, because as finance professor of Peking University Michael Pettis explains, this has been the historical pattern. Pettis details the history of the crisis, starting in 1980s, when US policy encouraged securitization of mortgages, converting illiquid assets into highly liquid...

OPEC and the Prisoner's Dilemma

Kurt Zenz House December 25, 2008
The prisoner’s dilemma is a part of game theory. Two prisoners who committed a crime each have three options: Both cooperate and receive penalties; cooperate with the police while hoping the other does not do likewise and enjoy a reduced sentence; refuse to cooperate and hope the partner does likewise. The dilemma demonstrates how capitalizing on the personal interest, when participants do not...

Wheels of Recession

Nayan Chanda December 22, 2008
Intricate global links among industries and suppliers mean the failure of one industry can be devastating for many others around the globe. “Outsourcing and off-shore production have changed the ecosystem of auto production so dramatically that the fate of millions of jobs all over the world hinges on a decision in Washington,” writes YaleGlobal editor Nayan Chanda in his column for Businessworld...