In The News

Indian Techies Out, Teachers In

Siddhharth Srivastava September 18, 2003
American tech workers have been claiming that Indian immigrants are stealing their jobs ever since the tech bubble of the 1990s burst. Amidst this controversy, the fact that Indians are increasingly filling American teaching positions has widely gone unnoticed. With a shortage of instructors to the tune of over 700,000, however, this influx of professional labor is far more welcome. Indeed,...

China Joins the Global Economy - Part Two

Deborah Davis September 17, 2003
In part one of this 2-part series, David Zweig explained the processes by which China joined the global economy. In part two, China scholar Deborah Davis discusses the prospects for China's continued economic growth. While incomes have improved and everyone's boat has risen, Davis says, so has the country's once-low income inequality. Increased differences in wealth, as well as...

As China Gallops, Mexico Sees Factory Jobs Slip Away

Juan Forero September 3, 2003
The search for profit drives companies to look for the lowest production costs possible, and that search is taking more and more American companies from factories in Mexico to factories in China. America's southern neighbor received a boom in employment after the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement in the 1990s, but China's rise as a supplier of cheap labor is now...

Oh for Babies to Boost the Economy

Eddie Lee August 26, 2003
Are large families passé? In most developed and rapidly developing countries this increasingly seems to be the case. Across Europe, fertility rates have dropped well below replacement level – so low in fact that Germany will have to import half a million immigrants a year to keep the working-age population stable. A similar phenomenon is occurring in Singapore where the government is resorting...

Coping With the Newest Threat to Global Health - Fat

Derek Yach August 26, 2003
Obesity is as great a threat to global health as malnutrition, says Derek Yach, the Representative of the Director-General of the WHO. One billion people -or one out of six --are overweight worldwide - the same number as are malnourished - and some 300 million of those are clinically obese, leading to a global rise in chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes....

Japan's Neglected Resource: Female Workers

Howard W. French July 25, 2003
Inequality in Japan's workplace is not only keeping Japanese women down, but also Japan itself. With population decline threatening huge labor shortages and possible economic collapse, it would seem Japan might be eager to tap into an underutilized segment of the population. Indeed, many experts maintain that expanding the role of women in the workplace could be the best stimulus for Japan...

Take Mexico Instead

Abdel-Moneim Said July 21, 2003
If colonial ambitions are really the reason America invaded Iraq, why did it choose such a far-flung and relatively resource poor country, asks Egyptian political scholar Abdel-Moneim Said. Why not invade Mexico or Canada? They're closer, wealthier, and just as poor a military match for the superpower. According to Said, America would have every reason to invade these countries if it only...