In The News

Why Taxation Must Go Global

Wolfgang Schäuble November 3, 2014
Citizens and businesses expect their governments to provide many programs – highways and other infrastructure, public health, and defense – but most despise paying taxes. “As a result of the growing pace and intensity of globalization and digitization, more and more economic processes have an international dimension,” notes Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany’s federal minister of finance. “As a...

Is the United States In or Out on Globalization?

Edward J. Reilly August 28, 2014
US political leaders are fretting about the need for tax reform as US companies purchase partners in tax-friendly countries, relocating their headquarters and tax base. The latest example is Burger King’s proposal to purchase Tim Hortons restaurant chain, based in Canada. The United States may be ambivalent on globalization, but there is no turning back, argues strategic communications consultant...

Long-Term Answer to Border Crises: Empower Women

Marisol Ruiz August 19, 2014
Policy proposals to end the flow of children streaming across the southern border of the United States too often focus on enforcement, including increased military presence along the border or warehouse-like detention centers in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras – the three nations that so many try to flee. Such proposals miss the major challenge behind many border crises, that is, minimal...

Banks Cash In on Inversion Deals Intended to Elude Taxes

Andrew Ross Sorkin August 6, 2014
Big investment banks are financing merger deals that encourage US corporations to relocate headquarters overseas to dodge US taxes. The banks anticipate “nearly $1 billion in fees over the last three years advising and persuading American companies to move the address of their headquarters abroad (without actually moving),” reports Andrew Ross Sorkin, editor of DealBook for the New York Times....

Turkey's Kurdish Buffer

Soner Cagaptay July 17, 2014
The rise of the self-proclaimed Islamic State, or IS or ISIS, in conjunction with the civil wars in Syria and Iraq, has put more pressure on both Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Kurds to work together. The Kurdish people are spread throughout Syria, Iraq, and Turkey. Before 2003, Kurds would have resisted working the Turkish government, which they regarded as oppressive. Kurdish...

China Backs Argentina's Position on Falkland Islands

Fiona Govan June 27, 2014
China has proposed a short-term solution of “dialogue” for the territorial fight between the United Kingdom and Argentina over the Falkland Islands, or the Malvinas as they are known in Spanish. Britain refuses to discuss the matter with Argentina. “In a referendum held in March 2012, 99.8 per cent of the islanders voted in favour of remaining a British Oversees territory,” reports the Telegraph...

Thai Junta Claims Support from China, Vietnam Amid Western Unease

Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Pracha Hariraksapitak June 6, 2014
After a coup in Thailand, China and Vietnam expect a quick return to normality. The West and Australia are less sure. Support from China and Vietnam, as well as among Thais, could extend the duration of the coup longer than expected. “In May, Thailand's consumer confidence index hit its highest level since January on hopes the military can bring the economy back from the brink of recession...