In The News

How to Reduce Poverty: Lessons from China

David Dollar January 6, 2004
Conventional economic wisdom holds that foreign investment and trade boost economic growth and help alleviate poverty in developing countries. So why is it that some countries that seem quite open to the outside world are stagnating economically? David Dollar, Director of Development Policy at the World Bank, writes that a comparison of economic conditions in several Chinese cities points to...

Rethinking Globalization: Nirvana or Armageddon?

Yanuar Nugroho January 5, 2004
Globalization has been promoted and denounced by people around the world, but who is right? Yanuar Nugroho, Director of Business Watch Indonesia, writes that those arguments miss the point, because the processes of globalization are inevitable and unstoppable. To make globalization work for all, he argues, we must develop a people-centered globalization that focuses on pulling the world's...

The Likely Surprises of 2004

Moises Naim December 29, 2003
The Iraq war may have dominated headlines, but it was not the only significant geopolitical event of 2003. Moises Naim, the editor of Foreign Policy Magazine, reminds us that while moving forward in 2004 we cannot overlook the fundamental changes that occurred in 2003 within the European Union, the global trading system, the American and Chinese economies, and Russia. As a new year begins, the...

Deflating Bush's China balloon

William Pesek Jr. December 17, 2003
The Bush Administration is pressuring China to float its currency, the yuan, instead of pegging it to the US dollar. Administration officials argue that the yuan is currently undervalued and is thus hurting the US economy. This week, Alan Greenspan, the US Federal Reserve chairman, said that a rise in the relative value of the yuan would have little effect on US employment, as companies would...

'Hasten Slowly' in Reviving the Doha Round

Ernesto Zedillo December 12, 2003
Reviving the Doha Round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) after the debacle in Cancun will not be possible if negotiators pretend that nothing has happened. Ernesto Zedillo, former President of Mexico and Director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, argues that further trade talks will only be useful if the participating countries recognize the lessons that should have been...

Anti-Americanism: Causes and Characteristics

Andrew Kohut December 10, 2003
A series of public opinion surveys conducted by the Pew Global Attitudes Project in various countries has found unprecedented levels of anti-American sentiment around the world. Majorities express unfavorable opinions of the US, not only in Western Europe and the Muslim world but also in countries like Brazil and Russia. Even in Britain, the United States' most trusted European ally, 55...

An Ohio Town Is Hard Hit as Leading Industry Moves to China

Joseph Kahn December 7, 2003
Like many small industrial towns, Bryan Ohio has a few big employers. When one of them – the Ohio Art Company – decided three years ago to move its signature product line, the "Etch A Sketch" toy, to China, the community felt both the loss of 100 jobs and the loss of a community symbol. Etch A Sketch models used to decorate the town, but no longer. Due to "ineluctable laws of...