In The News

Imagined in America

Thomas L. Friedman October 24, 2011
China and the US are enmeshed in an unsustainable trade relationship with no quick fixes. Often on the losing side, the US considers protectionist measures, such as a bill just approved by the US Senate allowing targeted tariffs if China balks at revaluing its currency. “China is spending tons of money manipulating its currency downward and, in the process, creating domestic inflation and a real...

Mongolia Opens Doors for Foreign Investment

Steven Borowiec October 21, 2011
Foreign investment in Mongolia’s mining sector – coal, copper, gold and more – is fueling rapid growth. Like other developing nations, Mongolia wrestles with how to control the development and spread wealth throughout a dispersed population of 2.7 million in sustainable ways rather than passing it on to a handful of elites or creating a welfare state, explains journalist Steven Borowiec. He...

Foreigners' Sweetener: Buy House, Get a Visa

Nick Timiraos October 21, 2011
"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.” So goes the silent call from the Statue of Liberty, symbol of US immigration, in the 1883 poem by Emma Lazarus. But the modern plea is for wealthy immigrants willing to bail the US out of its teeming troubles, including a housing market in decline. Two Senators, including...

Japan in a Post 3/11 World – Part II

John Berthelsen October 7, 2011
Disasters present new beginning and perspectives with the need to build anew. Whether vowing to rebuild and replicate or relocate, those reviving Japan will strive for security and improvements. This YaleGlobal series explores the transformative effects of spring’s earthquake-tsunami on Japanese politics, energy policy and business. The disaster has prompted Japanese manufacturers to scout Asia...

With Growing Confidence, India Pursues Mergers Abroad

Vikas Bajaj October 6, 2011
With India removing protectionist shackles, its businesses are no longer content with large market shares in the country and now seek a global reach, reports Vikas Bajaj in a blog for the New York Times. In the last year and a half, Indian companies have spent more money on outbound mergers and acquisitions than foreign companies have spent on Indian deals, according to one accounting firm....

Chinese Policies Put Squeeze on the Banks

Steven M. Davidoff October 5, 2011
Whether US investment banks and private-equity firms can continue global financial domination depends on their success in Asia, particularly China, contends Steven M. Davidoff in the New York Times. Globalization was historically good for Wall Street’s financial firms, but now to prosper they must pursue business in Asia. He identifies a major shortcoming for US firms – not competing “at all for...

Burma Delivers Rebuff to China

Bertil Lintner October 3, 2011
Ever since the brutal Burmese suppression of democracy movement in the late 1980s, China has emerged as the principal backer of the military regime that renamed the country Myanmar. Sanctioned by the West, the military regime depends on China for trade, arms supplies and infrastructure aid. Now a presidential announcement suspending the Myitsone Dam project on the Irrawaddy River, a joint...