In The News

Schröder Condemns Job Offshoring as Unpatriotic

Bertrand Benoit March 23, 2004
Outsourcing, a vital component of global capitalism, appears to have met a staunch new critic in Germany. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder says Germany companies who move work to Eastern Europe and Asia are "unpatriotic". The cheaper labor of these regions, however, offers a strong economic incentive for German companies trying to compete globally. Nonetheless, says this article,...

Laissez Unfaire

Arindam Mukherjee March 11, 2004
Globally, the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is very much in vogue, but India is rethinking its rush to keep up with trends. At present, there are some 250 FTAS globally, a figure that is likely to increase dramatically in the near future. India has made many strides in this area, signing, or committing to sign, various multilateral as well as bilateral agreements. Currently, it is in the process...

Stop Intervening: Greenspan

March 4, 2004
In what many consider an unusual display of criticism, US Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan claimed that Japan's currency market interventions – aimed at preventing the yen from falling against the dollar – will no longer be sustainable. The accumulation of dollar reserves must eventually end, he said, and argued that Japanese intervention has kept the dollar higher than it...

Can the ADB Resurrect Itself?

Pana Janviroj March 2, 2004
The Asian Development Bank (ADB), beset by poor results and politicization, needs to reform. It has been overshadowed by the World Bank and been mired by its own factional infighting, says this article in The Nation. Based originally in Manila, the ADB now plans to open a satellite office in Bangkok. This could be the change it needs. Far from inter-office rivalry, the satellite will help oversee...

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...

Staring Into the Mouth of the Trade Deficit

Elizabeth Becker February 21, 2004
Five years ago, the Northwestern city of Seattle made news when anti-globalization protests shut down a meeting of the World Trade Organization. Now, the city is back in the center of a national storm over trade imbalances and job loss. Seattle, the most trade-dependent city in the United States, earns more per capita from trade than any other area in the country. Yet with the US trade deficit at...

Argentina Stuck on the Periphery of a Globalized World

Jean-Pierre Lehmann February 20, 2004
Although once renowned for its prosperity and rich culture, Argentina has seen its fortunes decline as it suffered authoritarian rulers throughout the 20th century. Democratic strides in the 1980s and 1990s did not bring success, either - the "liberal" leaders of those two decades implemented free-market policies that many blame for Argentina's current economic woes. Yet...