In The News

The Noble Feat of Nike

Johan Norberg June 13, 2003
What really are the pros and cons of globalization? In this article, Johan Norberg, an advocate of globalization, uses the example of Nike in Vietnam to demonstrate the benefits of globalization. According to Norberg, in Vietnam Nike pays its workers three times higher than the minimum wage earned in state-owned enterprises, provides its workers free or subsidized meals, education, and training,...

Immigrant Horror Stories Leading Nation to Policy Change

Carlos Guerra June 12, 2003
Along the US-Mexico border, this year alone over 100 people have died while trying to illegally cross into the US. But the high death toll will not prevent yet more hopeful migrants from making this dangerous journey. Economic downturns like the current one often lead to calls for tougher immigration restrictions in the US, but, ironically, they also often coincide with an increase in flows of...

Time Running Out for Hub Strategy

Yoo Cheong-mo June 12, 2003
South Korean economists and government leaders hope to make the country a regional business hub for Northeast Asia, but such a lofty goal isn't easily achieved. A group meeting to explore ways to improve the country's prospects suggested the government should try to attract multinational companies by creating a more comfortable living environment for foreign executives and their...

Crisis Puts Burma Back in the Spotlight

David I. Steinberg June 11, 2003
The current flurry of interest in Burma occasioned by the arrest of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will likely wane, as it has so often in the past, before another episode thrusts it back to the world's attention. David Steinberg, a Burma scholar, says that such sporadic focus, accompanied by sanctions, has not made any change in the Burmese situation. He maintains that current policies...

North Korea Says It Seeks to Develop Nuclear Arms

David E. Sanger June 10, 2003
North Korea is a step closer to its goal of becoming a nuclear state, as it announced for the first time that it would develop nuclear weapons. This is at a time when the U.S. has organized some of its Pacific allies to track and inspect North Korean ships for weapons, drugs, and other illegal shipment. The question right now is what other countries should do once Pyongyang officially announces...

Contraband Is Big Business in Paraguay

Tony Smith June 10, 2003
Many are skeptical of Paraguay’s president-elect Nicanor Duarte Frutos’ promise to crackdown on the illegal production and trade of counterfeit products. Approximately one-fifth of the Paraguayan economy is fueled by unlawful cross-border trade with neighboring Argentina, Brazil, and Bolivia, from where the 'knock offs' – anything from fake Marlboro cigarettes to computer parts - are...

Latin Lands Don't Share Powell's Priorities

Larry Rohter June 10, 2003
At the annual conference of the Organization of American States, US Secretary of State Colin Powell tried to leave behind all ideological differences between the North and the South over the war in Iraq. Instead, he emphasized the current US position in Latin America – to allow more free trade through prospective treaties like the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA), and to pressure...