In The News

A Villain to Our Rescue

Robert J. Samuelson November 9, 2007
Politicians, activists and even some business executives in the West blame globalization for a lot of problems. But the US has benefited from foreign trade. “Contrary to popular opinion, the trade balance (deficit or surplus) barely affects total U.S. employment over long periods,” writes Robert Samuelson for the Washington Post. Some types of foreign competition do hurt some individual workers...

Using Chavez as Counterpoint, Bush Pursues Latin Trade Pacts

Steven R. Weisman November 7, 2007
In an effort to push new trade accords with Peru, Panama and Colombia through US Congress, President Bush has repeatedly insisted that these accords would strengthen democracy in the region and weaken the influence of Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez. Democrats, labor unions and advocacy groups – Bush’s main opposition to this agenda – are skeptical of rhetoric that makes free trade a synonym for...

Globalization With Arab Characteristics

Marcus Noland October 17, 2007
A young workforce can be a great economic asset. Yet Arab states, with booming populations, desperately need to increase employment opportunities for young adults. Foreign investment has stagnated, limited to oil and tourism as firms remain wary of weak intellectual property rights and uncertain political transitions. Meanwhile, state-dominated economies have failed to achieve linkages to outside...

India Getting on Board

Ernesto Zedillo October 15, 2007
India is a case study in how excessive government regulation, even with the best intentions, does little to eliminate poverty, according to Ernesto Zedillo, director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, in his column for Forbes. A heavy-handed approach – with strict limits on foreign trade, high tax rates and rigid rules for the labor market – disrupts both trade and innovation....

Inequality in India and China: Is Globalization to Blame?

Pranab Bardhan October 15, 2007
Globalization undoubtedly has many complex and unintended consequences. However, Pranab Bardhan, economist at University of California, Berkeley, argues that globalization cannot be credited as either an evil force responsible for rising inequality or a virtuous one behind falling poverty rates in the developing world. Conventional wisdom holds that notable increases in inequality and steep...

Outsourcing Is Too Wild to Fit Economic Theory

Andy Mukherjee October 9, 2007
Firms that consult and perform outsourcing work make use of all available space, time and labor. Global outsourcing is highly unpredictable and firms can perform projects from many locations, explains Andy Mukherjee for Bloomberg.com. Mukherjee provides an example: When Satyam Computer Services did one project for John Deere in Illinois, the firm rented nearby space, assigning 10 engineers to...

How Russia Lost the Moon

Sergei Khrushchev October 4, 2007
Sputnik’s launch 50 years ago marks a watershed event in human innovation. The Soviets anticipated success; for them, Sputnik was another marker in their continuous progression past Western technology. However, a little more than a decade later, the Americans became the first to reach the moon. Soviet efforts in the space race, argues Khrushchev, ultimately failed because of jealousy within the...