In The News

The Real China Threat

Robert J. Samuelson August 21, 2008
Raw numbers and rankings often don’t reflect momentum, motivation or method. The US frets about a rising China, but such worry is misplaced, urges Robert Samuleson in his Washington Post column. The real concern is an unstable China, along with distorted trade and ruthless competition over natural resources. “The United States has seen a prosperous global economy as a means to expanding its power...

Olympic Cloud

Nayan Chanda August 19, 2008
Over the past three decades, China has transformed its economy from drab and close-minded socialism to a creative energy that embraces global integration, notes Nayan Chanda in his column for Businessworld. China’s long history demonstrates that isolationist thinking, fear and rigid conformity do not contribute to a prosperous strong economy, prepared to wrestle with global problems. With...

Shooting Ourselves in the Food

Ernesto Zedillo August 19, 2008
Food prices have risen sharply in recent months, contributing to poverty, protests and general insecurity. Blaming free markets for the crisis, though, is a mistake, contends Ernesto Zedillo director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, in his column for Forbes Magazine. Droughts and increased demand by growing Asian nations alone did not contribute to climbing prices. “To get the...

New Energy Frontiers Expand Global Connections – Part II

Alexis Ringwald August 19, 2008
Necessity is the mother of invention, and that holds true for a global economy that depends on a declining supply of fossil fuels. As a result, innovations in new alternative sources could emerge from fast-growing developing nations that lack fossil fuels and cannot afford the rising prices, suggests this YaleGlobal series. The second article of the series focuses on trends toward renewable...

Shock Absorber: US Retools Economy, Curbing Thirst for Oil

Justin Lahart August 18, 2008
As demand for oil surged and the world contended fleetingly with record-high prices, the US quickly adjusted: Companies develop new strategies to lower energy costs, and consumers turn to energy-efficient products. As the world’s largest user of energy products, the US can drive prices. “Whether this newfound energy austerity alters the fabric of American life in a lasting way will depend partly...

New Energy Frontiers Expand Global Connections – Part I

Adriana Valencia August 14, 2008
Electricity is essential for any who care to participate in globalization, and huge numbers of the world’s rural poor still long for this basic tool at a time of tight supply and climbing prices. This two-part series examines two frontiers – the energy demands of the rural poor and the increasing supply of alternative-energy sources in the developing world. In the first article, Adriana Valencia...

Obama’s Biofuels Policy Tension

Roger Harrabin August 13, 2008
Ethanol subsidies are popular among voters in the American Midwest, where farmers grow millions of acres of corn to produce the biofuel. It’s no surprise, then, that Barack Obama – as a senator representing Illinois – has embraced such subsidies. Yet while ethanol may be popular politically, it has proven disastrous as a matter of policy: Research suggests that producing ethanol creates more...