In The News

The Rising Risk of a Hard Landing

Stephen Roach November 4, 2005
In 2005, America’s deficit will account for 70 per cent of the total deficit positions in the global economy, By contrast, it will take ten countries to account for 70 percent of the global surplus. While Washington wants to shift the blame, this disequilibrium is largely the result of a US economy short on savings, writes Stephen Roach, chief economist at Morgan Stanley. And because of the...

International Migration: Brain Drain or Brain Gain?

Caglar Ozden October 31, 2005
The surge in globalization since the end of World War II has been fueled chiefly by an international exchange of goods and capital rather than people. There are signs, however, that international migrants are playing an increasingly important role in globalization as the world enters the twenty-first century. What are the costs and benefits of this new wave of migration? The principal cost of...

How the West Came to Run Islamic Banks

Owen Matthews October 29, 2005
It may come as a surprise to some that when wealthy Muslims have millions of oil dollars to invest they are increasingly turning to subsidiaries of giant Western banks like Citigroup to manage their money. Attracted by oil money and the desire to participate in the Middle East’s fastest growth in a generation, Western banks have successfully established Islamic subsidiaries that are dominating...

The Fate of ‘Made in the USA’

Robert J. Samuelson October 28, 2005
The specter of declining industry has loomed over the USA in recent years. As the imperatives of free trade and globalization send jobs and factories across borders and beyond oceans, the American worker and the American CEO both recognize they’re in a bind. American manufacturing, once the hallmark of the nation’s booming business, now faces a tenuous future. Robert J. Samuelson, writing for...

Egypt Pushes to Modernize Industry

October 25, 2005
Egypt is investing US$35 million in its National Supplier Development Program in an effort to prepare its protectionist economy for gradually-increasing openness to international trade. The venture targets small- and medium-size Egyptian businesses supplying larger "mother companies" whose size and efficiency allow them to compete far more effectively in the global marketplace....

China Builds Its Dreams, and Some Fear a Bubble

David Barboza October 18, 2005
China is experiencing a building boom, the scope of which means that cities like Shanghai now dwarf New York in terms of skyscrapers and vast networks of upscale apartment complexes. As a result of its unprecedented construction sector growth, China is scouring the world for energy and natural resources so that its cities, 170 of which have more than 1 million people, can meet and surpass Western...

Chávez Moves Reserves Out of US Treasuries

Andy Webb-Vidal October 7, 2005
President Hugo Chávez has liquidated about half of Venezuela's US$30.4 billion holdings of US Treasuries, confirmed a director at the country's central bank. The bank director attributed the transfer to financial reasons: Venezuela's foreign reserves have benefited from high oil prices, and Chávez might have wanted to shift some of the winnings from securities to social programs....