In The News

Globalization – A Setback

Fahed Fanek August 28, 2009
Globalization, once hailed as the solution for economies seeking to grow through free-markets, has suffered a setback in the current crisis. Many countries have enacted inward-looking policies that threaten to reverse globalization or foster protectionism. Meanwhile, some countries less open to the world seem to have weathered the storm better than the rest, challenging the notion of the benefits...

A New Path for Japan

Yukio Hatoyama August 27, 2009
Yukio Hatoyama, the leader of Japan’s Democratic Party and potential prime minister if his party wins the election, holds a skeptical view of the benefits of globalization. Human and environmental costs are discounted in favor of economic value. “People are simply personnel expenses,” with the global economy destroying “traditional economic activities” – e.g., agriculture – and communities. Such...

Linguist’s Preservation Kit Has New Digital Tools

Chris Nicholson July 28, 2009
Languages have faced extinction throughout history. Often, it is the evolutionary forces of greater interconnectedness through trade and war that lead to the dominance of one spoken tongue. From Greek to Arabic to English, the language of traders has frequently become the lingua franca. This has led to a decline in the usage of other languages as individuals connect speaking a particular language...

A Retreat From Global Banking

Floyd Norris July 24, 2009
Globalization seems to be receding in the world of banking not because the banks themselves have turned inward, but because governments are now more local in focus. Moreover, the desire or need to find a scapegoat for the crisis has also chipped away at globalization’s edifice: the Federal Reserve and the Treasury in the US have had to defend in Congress their actions during, rather than their...

Globalization From Inside Out

Jason Lim July 22, 2009
Korean politicians are fond of claiming that Korea’s cutting-edge technology industry will be the engine of its success in the global economy. However, managing editor of the Korea Policy Review Jason Lim contends that relying on the ability to churn out the latest in high-tech gadgets is no recipe for long-term success in a globalized world. Instead, he argues, Korea should focus on training its...

We Are All Africans

Nayan Chanda July 21, 2009
Racial discrimination is perhaps the most superficial of all prejudices. And this is borne out not simply by an examination of the causes, but also by the scientific data surrounding our common ancestry. Both maternal mtDNA and paternal Y-chromosome show that everyone carries genetic code of African origin. Humans’ differing physical features – blonde or black hair, round or slanted eyes – are...

Overseas, Under The Knife

Arnold Milstein, Mark D. Smith, Jerome P. Kassirer June 16, 2009
Relaxing on the beach isn’t the only reason to go abroad these days. Increasingly, Americans are traveling to foreign countries for “medical tourism” – electing to receive hospital treatment in a foreign country. The majority of medical tourists seek lower-cost medical procedures due to poor or no insurance coverage in their home country. But the deep discounts on medical care in foreign...