In The News

Europe's New Protectionism

June 30, 2005
The European Union has begun to acknowledge that China's growing exports pose a new challenge to its economy. However, there is a growing divide amongst EU countries as to how to deal with China and the globalizing world as a whole. One path is that espoused by Tony Blair, who advocates increasing the competitiveness and quality of European economies while retaining free trade. The other...

Name Goods in China but Brand X Elsewhere

David Barboza June 29, 2005
Chinese businesses, with the encouragement of their government, have embarked on a worldwide label buying spree, purchasing internationally well-known brand names. Chinese bids to acquire prominent American companies such as Maytag and Unocal demonstrate that China is eager to make its top companies more competitive by allowing them to access international markets as well as their domestic...

Art from China Displays Dreams and Doubts

Caroline MacKinnon June 23, 2005
Chinese identity has undergone major changes in the past several decades as the country has altered its social, cultural and economic landscape. Recently, seventeen Chinese artists exhibited work dedicated to exploring the theme of Chinese identity at the Rufino Tamayo Museum of Contemporary Art in Mexico City. Photographer Xing Danwen showed work that portrayed the similarities in urban...

Europe in Disarray – Part I

Jean-Pierre Lehmann June 21, 2005
The French and Dutch rejection of the European Union constitution and last week’s collapse of the EU budget talks have exposed the deep division hidden so long behind rhetoric. Among other things, the European disarray highlights Europe’s problem with economic restructuring that globalization calls for. In a two-part series, YaleGlobal examines the reasons for the EU’s current troubles and its...

Free to Take Exceptions to "Free Trade"

Gregory Clark June 17, 2005
A top economic advisor to the Japanese government, Gregory Clark, argues that globalization and free trade do not always add up to global prosperity. Infant industries have historically benefited more from national trade protection than they have under free trade. The idea that protectionist measures only reward inefficient sectors and do not improve them in the long term is a crucial tenet of...

The World in the iPod

Andrew Leonard June 8, 2005
The iPod, one of Apple's most successful products is not "made" by Apple at all. Apple designed the product, but the components are assembled in China by two Taiwanese firms. This Salon.com article takes a broad view of PortalPlayer, the company that developed the essential iPod microchip, examining the pattern of globalization and outsourcing in the technology industry. The...

Why the Globalization Fund is a Bad Idea

Arnaldo Abruzzini June 3, 2005
The European Commission plans a Globalization Adjustment Fund, hoping that money and a united front can prepare displaced workers for new and better jobs. But this author suggests that the fund sends the wrong signal, that globalization represents more danger than opportunity. By subsidizing jobs, the fund could offer short-term palliatives but not long-term economic reforms sorely needed in many...