In The News

Bomb by Bomb, Japan Sheds Military Restraints

Norimitsu Onishi August 4, 2007
Step by step, Japan is abandoning its constitutional policy of maintaining no offensive military capabilities. From a soaring army budget to buying state-of-the-art equipment, Japan prepares a military build-up for a world anticipating threats from North Korea, China or terrorists. Participation in US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan complements Japanese ambitions for military power. Japan, by...

Kenyan Farmers’ Fate Caught Up in US Aid Rules

Celia W. Dugger August 2, 2007
US legislators debate a massive farm bill – estimated at more than $260 billion – which will fund loans, subsidies, conservation and many other agriculture activities over the next five years. The Bush administration has proposed allowing the purchase of up to $300 million worth of food in poor countries to quicken response times during times of emergency. The US often provides food aid to Africa...

Global Hot Spots

Adrienne Selko August 2, 2007
Success in strategic sourcing requires finding the global hot spots first. Getting established in a budding community builds connections and provides early access to eager workers. Goals for foreign investment vary immensely around the globe. Kenya is particular, wanting firms that will contribute to innovation; Vietnam extends its welcome to all sectors, especially those that contribute to...

Summer of Setbacks

Ernesto Zedillo August 1, 2007
Summer of 2007 may well be remembered for a string of bad financial news: increasing numbers of homeowners in the US struggling to pay home mortgages, the decline of the US dollar, and climbing oil prices as conflict and tension linger in the Middle East. Yet the world economy flourishes despite shocks in foreign exchange and the debt markets. Ernesto Zedillo, director of Yale Center for the...

Globalization Study Moves Past Rhetoric

David Wessel July 27, 2007
Corporations have long insisted that globalization delivers prosperity. But a report commissioned by the Financial Services Forum, an association of CEOs of 20 major financial firms, admits that most benefits have gone to a select few. International operations increasingly account for most sales and business conducted by multinational firms, writes David Wessel for the Wall Street Journal. But...

In Africa, Mortgages Boost an Emerging Middle Class

Michael M. Phillips July 26, 2007
A growing middle class in Africa requires housing, but political and economic instability often contribute to shortages. The wealthy can pay cash for homes, but financing home purchases is difficult in a country where only 16 percent of the population holds salaried jobs. In Zambia, the Lilayi project tackles the problem with a suburban development, funded by public and private investors, that...

On Paper It Is Writ

Nayan Chanda July 25, 2007
The prosperity and growth that comes with emerging economies in Asia have caused discomfort in Europe and the US. “The anxiety gripping US workers is a replay of countless such episodes in the millennial-long drama of globalization,” writes Nayan Chanda, editor of YaleGlobal Online, for Outlook India. “The word globalization is of recent origin, but the process of growing interconnectedness built...