In The News

Report Shows Darker Side of Globalization

Brian Love June 23, 2007
Lower costs of transportation, communication and other technology allow businesses to move to the most profitable points on the globe. Such relocations have contributed to rising economies in China, India, Russia and Brazil, with those four nations accounting for almost half of the world’s labor supply. In the meantime, wages as a percentage of gross domestic product have declined in most wealthy...

Discount Dentistry, South of the Border

Manuel Roig-Franzia June 20, 2007
Consumers who lack insurance for health care tend to make decisions based on price – and travel to neighboring countries known for low costs. US consumers who don’t have dental insurance head to Mexico, where prices are about one quarter what’s charged in the US. Costa Rica, Hungary and Thailand also offer low-cost dental havens. Some US consumers even decline insurance, because the premiums cost...

Fake Lipton Tea, Nescafe Leak Into EU, Hurting Unilever, Nestlé

Stephanie Bodoni June 19, 2007
Low costs in shipping and packaging allow counterfeiters to apply their skills beyond luxury goods to ordinary products, including tea, shampoo or soap. Some counterfeit toothpaste contained chemicals found in anti-freeze, and imitation teabags include sawdust or dyed wood chips. One factory in Pakistan with 20 people made a ton of counterfeit tea each day. With the internet easing ways to find...

Globalization in Every Loaf

Alexei Barrionuevo June 18, 2007
Ingredients for any processed food product, from bread to vitamins, can come from all over the world. “The lowering of trade barriers more than a decade ago has pushed food companies to scour the globe for more exotic – or the cheapest – ingredients to compete in a more global marketplace, not unlike automakers shipping in parts from all over,” writes Alexei Barrionuevo for the New York Times. A...

China's Conquest of Africa

Andreas Lorenz June 15, 2007
China is purchasing and investing in Africa’s natural resources and, in return, providing the continent with cheap consumer goods and a powerful trading partner. Not all Africans are pleased. Some, such as Michael Chilufya Sata, head of Zambia’s Patriotic Front, an opposition group, points out that the Chinese don’t have to pay taxes and warns voters that China could export dictatorship to Africa...

Megacities, Mega Dreams for a Connected World

Suketu Mehta June 14, 2007
Throughout the history of the world, cities have lured people for both cooperation and competition. Megacities of the modern era such as Bombay not only symbolize dreams and dashed hopes, they also pose an array of consequences for the interconnected world. The paradoxes are many, with disaster making way for renewal and today’s sacrifices and long-term planning delivering future promise, writes...

$12 Trillion Monster Threatens Globalization

William Pesek June 12, 2007
Some countries control great pools of wealth, building funds from oil or other natural-resource revenue, according to William Pesek, Bloomberg news columnist. But with funds growing by leaps and bounds, their owners look to make good use of these savings – and in the process could transform global financial markets. The funds together, many based in Asia, could outgrow the entire US economy by...