In The News

For Many in U.S., Money Talks Even as Jobs Walk

David Streitfeld May 6, 2004
Recent public debates on outsourcing appear to have borne little fruit or changed consumer behavior in the United States. Eighty bills regulating and restricting outsourcing of American jobs to countries with cheaper labor have been introduced in the U.S Congress and state legislatures. None has passed so far. At the same time, almost half of the Fortune 500 companies have moved at least some...

The Hollowing-Out of Hollywood

Christina Klein April 30, 2004
The blockbuster "Kill Bill" films exemplify the increasingly global nature of Hollywood, and not solely because of director Quentin Tarantino's heavy incorporation of foreign stylistic elements, writes media scholar Christina Klein. Like a growing number of Hollywood productions, both "Kill Bill Volume 1" and "Volume 2" relied heavily on offshore labor. While...

Inflows to the East are a Problem Too

Luke Allnutt April 20, 2004
While Western Europe worries about droves of people pouring across their borders from the newest members of the European Union, immigration into Eastern Europe goes unnoticed. But there are already signs that countries such as the Czech Republic, Slovenia, and Hungary are shifting from states of net emigration to ones combining emigration, immigration, and transit, according to a recent survey by...

Looking for a Villain, and Finding One in China

Eduardo Porter April 18, 2004
A couple years ago, economists warned that China was exporting deflation to the US. Now that is over, but many still see China as the problem. To some, China is a big cause of inflation, and economists, businessmen and politicians have blamed it for every economic woe. "China is choking off the profits of American companies with its hunger for commodities pushing up the price of raw...

Outsourcing, Turned Inside Out

Ken Belson April 11, 2004
While most Americans today have heard about and many already been alarmed by the outsourcing of jobs overseas, some others might not be as worried; those include the employees of South Korean semiconductor company Samsung in Austin, Texas. The company just announced that it would pump another $500 into its Texas plant, adding an additional 300 jobs to its 700-people workforce. Samsung is not...

R & D: India's New Star Industry

Swaminathan S. Anklesaria Aiyar April 10, 2004
American multinational companies are setting up research and development (R & D) centers in India, participating in a new trend in the contemporary era of global capitalism - the outsourcing of production activities.. No longer content to only look overseas for low-wage service sector jobs like call centers, large US corporations are tapping into the technical expertise and specialized...

World Trade Growth Picks Up Speed

April 5, 2004
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is reporting a 4.5 percent increase in trade in 2003, up 1.5 percent from their original cautious estimate. The gains are due, analysts say, to the partial recovery of the American economy and very strong growth in Asia and the post-Soviet states. China alone saw a 40% increase in merchandise imports and a 35% increase in exports. Numbers for 2004 are looking...