In The News

A New Consensus on Free Trade

Gene Sperling March 1, 2004
During the Clinton presidency, “globalization with a human face” was the motto that underlined US trade policy. Today, under pressure from the outsourcing debate, both the Bush administration and the Democratic candidates are pushing to close the doors on open markets. Gene Sperling, director of economic programs at the Center for American Progress and national economic adviser during the Clinton...

Outsourcing Debate - Part III

David Dapice March 1, 2004
Despite the political debates over outsourcing that are emerging in this US presidential election year, the economic story is quite simple. In the final installment of a three-part series on outsourcing, economist David Dapice says that outsourcing allows hundreds of thousands of people in developing countries like Vietnam the chance to earn wages, pull themselves out of poverty, and - in turn...

Balancing Reactions

Gihan Shahine March 1, 2004
Across the Mediterranean from France, Muslims and Christians alike are showing their distaste for the new French ban on "conspicuous" religious symbols in the schools. French politicians have decided that Muslim headscarves, Jewish yarmulkes, and "large" Christian crosses have no place within its secular schools. Muslim and other religious activists disagree. To truly live...

Outsourcing Debate - Part II

Nayan Chanda February 27, 2004
The outsourcing of white-collar jobs to India and other low-cost countries has become a sensitive issue for US voters. In the second article of a three-part series on outsourcing, YaleGlobal Editor Nayan Chanda makes the case that America's economic fears about outsourcing are driving politics this election year. Chanda observes that "blue-collar workers, long wary of outsourcing, have...

The Knowledge Economy

Mustafa Kamel El-Sayed February 25, 2004
How do poor countries advance social scientific research agendas to better their societies? Are their agendas set by their own self-determined needs or by the interests of outsiders? Since the end of the Cold War, says political scientist Mustafa Kamel El-Sayed El-Sayed, researchers dependent on foreign aid have less and less control over how the funds are used. In Egypt, funding from foreign...

Trade Is Not Bad For US Jobs

Martin Wolf February 24, 2004
Financial Times Senior Economist Martin Wolf defends outsourcing as a means for companies to improve productivity, just as free trade benefits businesses by giving them access to cheaper goods from the developing world. He argues that the only reason politicians are railing against free trade, instead of praising gains from innovation and productivity, is because they can use foreigners as...

U.S. Payrolls Change Lives in Bangalore

SARITHA RAI February 22, 2004
As more and more Indian youths pour into the country's big cities like Bangalore to find jobs outsourced from the developed world, they are earning more and are becoming increasingly influenced by western culture. With 54% of country's population under the age of 25, says this article, the gradual cultural change of this generation is likely to lead changes to the larger Indian society...