In The News

April 4, 2007
People who want to join the global economy must do more than learn about it from home. Germany has a shortage of qualified information-technology personnel – and must outsource such jobs to India. As a result, more Germans travel to India for internships and jobs. Likewise, Indian firms are starting businesses in Europe. Germany faces some big hurdles in any attempts to welcome firms and workers...
David Wessel April 3, 2007
Global trade is suspect among some in the West because of globalization’s implied dichotomy of winners and losers. Fearing displacement of North American jobs, many US workers have little faith that globalization delivers wide-scale benefits. Citizens rally around globalization efforts more readily when combined with simultaneous investments in improving foreign relations, argues journalist David...
Ben Arnoldy April 2, 2007
Growing numbers of US students want to learn Mandarin, but a dearth in resources makes this a trying feat. While federal funds pour into guest visa programs for foreign teachers, critics say this is not enough to strengthen disorganized language-education programs throughout the US. Other school districts look to immigrant populations as potential wellsprings of language educators. However, many...
David Wessel March 30, 2007
Free trade and free movement of labor has long enriched the US, but analysts increasingly point out that neglect of the nation’s science, education and manufacturing base could limit future prosperity. The US public took little notice when unskilled jobs moved overseas – but some economists predict skilled jobs, any that can be accomplished via the internet, will soon follow. Fast-paced...
Simon Tisdall March 29, 2007
Tossing insults back and forth is not the typical protocol for future working partners. Officially, Turkey remains a candidate for EU membership. Yet analysts ponder the likelihood for accession, after the EU did not invite the potential partner to the 50th anniversary celebration of the signing of the Treaty of Rome and after a columnist summed up Turkish sentiment by writing that the EU has “...
Andrew Cassel March 28, 2007
Japanese chefs, Norwegian engineers, Canadian fishermen and quirky American consumers combined over the past four decades to develop a new cuisine, one that shows how taste can be as powerful an agent of globalization as trade ministers and CEOs. Sasha Issenberg’s new book, “The Sushi Economy,” explores the history of sushi – the bite-sized combination of sticky rice and raw fish that became a...
Nöelle Lenoir March 27, 2007
Twice France initiated historic treaties with other nations in Europe and twice France backed away from its own proposals. Nöelle Lenoir, France’s former minister of European affairs, compares France’s 1954 rejection of the treaty to establish a European Defense Community with the 2005 referendum rejecting the EU constitutional treaty. “Those in France who opposed the EU constitution succeeded...