In The News

Indonesia Must Integrate with World to Advance

Hans W. Vriens March 14, 2003
While many countries experience large inflows of foreign direct investment, Indonesia has a net outflow of investment monies. In two recent rankings, the country appeared at the bottom of the barrel in terms of economic integration with the world. Despite the elation of some Indonesian intellectuals at their country's de-globalized status, writes consultant Hans Vriens, economic...

Does the “Hyper-Power” Have Feet of Clay?

David Dapice March 3, 2003
If you look past its formidable military machine, America is not as powerful as it seems. Tufts University economist David Dapice points out that the current view of the United States as a “hyper-power” fails to take into account the country's many economic vulnerabilities. A country that relies on over $1.3 billion in capital inflow each day to finance its import appetite may not be able...

China's Win-Win Globalization

Michael Yahuda February 19, 2003
Since the early 1990s, China has been making a concerted effort to integrate itself into the world economy and cultivate relations with its Asian neighbors, as well as the U.S., in order to promote stability and prosperity in the region. Michael Yahuda, professor of international relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science, explains how China's stance towards...

Bavaria and the Case for Free Trade

Timothy Guinnane February 13, 2003
The small state of Bavaria joined, in 1834, a pan-German free-trade area that preceded the formation of a unified Germany. Integration into Zollverein, as this area was called, hurt some Bavarians and benefited others. The author argues that the downsides to such integration – as with today's globalization – are comparatively short-lived. Today, critics of globalization from both developed...

Industrialised World Must Adapt to Rising China and India

Eisuke Sakakibara February 6, 2003
A former Japanese Finance Ministry official writes that like the industrialization of the late 19th century, the globalization of the last two decades has rapidly altered the world economy. China and India are poised to become important actors in the new economy, but for them to succeed, many things must fall into place. Industrialized nations, specifically Japan, must respond to the emergence...

A Better Life on the Production Line

Dan Roberts February 5, 2003
Since the mid-1990s, China’s leaders have thrown open their borders to virtually any multinational corporation that could inject millions of dollars into the nation’s economy. More importantly, these companies bring the information technology China so desperately craves. The cost of this foreign investment, however, is the establishment of a sweatshop industry that provides wealthy countries...

Investment Outlook Gloomy

January 13, 2003
Foreign investment stimulated a virtual goldrush in many Southeast Asian nations during the 1990s. But the crisis that struck the region in 1997 and 1998 led to large net outflows of money from many countries, including Indonesia. This editorial in Indonesia's Jakarta Post says that the largest Muslim nation in the world is still struggling to employ and feed its people 4 years after the...