In The News

The New Colonialism: Foreign Investors Snap Up African Farmland

Horand Knaup, Juliane von Mittelstaedt August 4, 2009
Expected population growth coupled with stable to dwindling agricultural land supply has led many an analyst to forecast an optimistic picture for agricultural investment for many years to come. The world needs more food. Throw in the high grain and food prices in 2008 with the resulting occasional food riot and both governments and investment funds catch a glimpse of what the future could look...

The China Barrier

Nayan Chanda June 26, 2009
In the world of ideas, globalization inhabits a happy realm where goods, capital, and people flow freely, guided by the over-arching force of utility maximization. But the real world is much more jagged. Labor flows face consistently higher friction than idealized. And capital, when supplied by a government-owned corporation, has also faced substantial roadblocks. While the reasons oft-cited for...

In Thrall To A Glittering Prize

Nick O’Malley June 10, 2009
As a result of the global economic downturn, demand for at least one product increased: gold. As in past periods of uncertainty, with the drop in the stock market, investors turned to gold as a safe, more reliable store of value. This demand, combined with gold jewelry’s popularity among the new middle classes in China and India, took the price of the yellow metal to a new all-time high. With...

The EU Can Ignore Eastern Europe at Its Own Peril

Katinka Barysch April 17, 2009
At the G-20 meeting and subsequent media commentaries, focus has been on the travails of the European Union. But Eastern Europe is often lost sight of in the expression of cautious optimism about the EU economy weathering the storm. The former Soviet bloc countries, cautions analyst Katinka Barysch, are still at risk from the financial crisis with serious negative consequences for the West. Many...

Asia's Fear of a Weak America

Philip Bowring October 17, 2008
East Asia has been the site of many "economic miracles" of the past half-century. Starting with Japan's post-World War II boom, continuing through the "Asian Tigers" and China, successes led to speculation that this is to be the "Pacific Century," as noted by columnist Philip Bowring in the International Herald Tribune. Yet those successes relied on the US...

Pink Floyd's Money Travels Long Way to Mongolia

William Pesek October 6, 2008
Natural resources can be a boon to a nation's economy – just ask landlocked Botswana, which enjoyed tremendous growth, thanks to its diamond deposits. However, abundant minerals, gas, and oil can hinder a country's economic progress, if governments over-invest in such booming industries at the expense of building manufacturing or agricultural sectors. Without a diversified, bustling...

Financial Troubles Humble US

Bob Davis September 29, 2008
A credit crisis combined with immense US government, corporate and personal debt has left the country with a cash-flow problem. The Bush administration and US Congress present a $700 billion government rescue for flailing financial institutions, but that plan depends on someone purchasing US Treasury bills to pay the bill. If foreign investors were to reject such Treasury notes, interest rates...