In The News

Temma Ehrenfeld April 29, 2008
The new world order born out of the fall of the Soviet Union triggered fundamental changes in the global economy, many out of the reach of government regulation. Italian economist and author Loretta Napoleoni, in an interview with Newsweek, defines this trend of trade in unregulated markets as the rise of “rogue economics” – including black market sales, poaching of fish or rare species, as well...
Ama Achiaa Amankwah April 28, 2008
Gender inequalities have long left African women outside the formal economy, forced to fend for themselves in informal trade while their brothers and husbands secured employment in the civil sector and state-owned enterprises. Yet the liberalization of African state economies and the elimination of many government-supplied jobs have pushed men out of the formal economy to compete with women....
Robert McMahom April 22, 2008
The presidential candidates repeatedly describe some voters as “real Americans” and “the lifeblood of this country.” Even for those voters, American” issues are international issues. Debates over NAFTA take center stage in industrial hotspots like Pennsylvania and Ohio, where steelworkers and other blue-collar communities harbor justifiable fears over how the trade deal has affected the US...
Eduardo Porter April 3, 2008
The United States has a long history of both racial diversity and racial discord – a history that has traditionally distinguished it from many nations in Europe. The US also distinguishes itself from Europe on another score, by not adopting the large-scale spending on social programs that characterize the modern European welfare state. Eduardo Porter in the New York Times suggests that these two...
Nayan Chanda April 1, 2008
China’s rise as an economic superpower since 1989 has justified Deng Xiaoping's open door policy. As the world’s second largest economy, China seeks to further strengthen global ties by hosting the Olympics. However, as China moves into the spotlight, the country is under extensive scrutiny and protest. Activists in Darfur wish China to end its support for the regime in the Sudan. Anti-...
John Reader March 27, 2008
Globalization delivers both problems and solutions, and parallels can be found in the Great Potato Famine of 1845-46 and the current subprime mortgage crisis. The fungus, after originating in Mexico and spreading throughout the US, attacked Europe’s potato fields in the mid-1840s and led to widespread famine. The crisis prompted Britain to dismantle bureaucratic and protectionist Corn Laws that...
Nayan Chanda March 25, 2008
With unemployment and foreclosures skyrocketing, trade deficit woes, more and more Americans are becoming protectionist. Most Americans agree that foreign trade is reducing the demand for American-made goods, resulting in numerous job losses. While there is no question that trade has played a role in shrinking manufacturing jobs, Nayan Chanda points out that "it is only a minor part of the...