In The News

Southeast Asian Democratization in the Era of Globalization

Roy Voragen January 16, 2008
Anticipating the consequences of globalization is one way of adapting to the rapid change. Increasingly, individuals acquire wealth not so much through hard work or innovation than by predicting globalization’s intricate twisting paths. Cities and citizens in the developed nations, while they complain about globalization, are better prepared for adapting to the effects than citizens in developing...

Europe Takes Africa’s Fish, and Boatloads of Migrants Follow

Sharon LaFraniere January 15, 2008
Huge industrial trawlers, most from Europe, push through waters off the African coast, efficiently scraping sea beds clean of fish. Such nonselective industrial fishing has devastated fish populations and habitat, destroying a livelihood and encouraging more African fishermen to use their boats to assist fellow Africans in fleeing their homelands for work in Europe. Governments throughout Africa...

The Challengers

January 15, 2008
The world is making way for the ambitions, innovations and confidence of multinational companies based in emerging economies, reports the Economist. Examples include Tata Group, owner of Tata Motors, which just released a tiny fuel-efficient car that costs a mere US $2500; Embraer of Brazil, the world's third-largest aircraft company; and Wipro, Infosys and Tata Consulting Services, which...

Stop the World (and Avoid Reality)

Alan S. Blinder January 14, 2008
The US was long the most open and competitive economy in the world. But candidates for US president, both Democrats and Republicans, respond to voters’ desire for a time out from international engagement, a mood labeled “Stop the World Syndrome,” by economist Alan Blinder in an opinion essay for the New York Times. The attitude stems from frustration over the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as...

In Singapore, A Local Switzerland for Asia's Wealthy

Wayne Arnold January 11, 2008
Singapore’s authoritarian order and highly regulated environment attracts foreign investors who value banking secrecy. Coupling a pro-business stance with amenities that appeal to the wealthy, Singapore has become a haven for private banking. While suppression of free speech and artistic expression is bothersome, Wayne Arnold reports for the International Herald Tribune that internal security...

The Globalization Backlash: Is America Slouching Towards Protectionism?

Gabor Steingart January 11, 2008
During their lifetimes, American adults have watched manufacturing jobs move from northern states to the south and then overseas, as auto, textile and now computer manufacturers chase after workers willing to work for low wages. Toshiba shifted a plant from Tennessee to Mexico, where workers assemble computers with parts from China for $8 per day. “Americans wouldn't have such a hard time...

Can the Midwest Regain Its Economic Clout?

Richard C. Longworth January 9, 2008
Achieving economic stability requires a strategy that does not neglect global markets or trends. In the US, the Midwest region has been devastated by companies shifting manufacturing operations first to southern states, paralyzing debt among farmers, followed by globalization with its shift of factories and jobs to low-wage countries. “Of course, an economic revolution as disruptive as...