In The News

On a Tiny Island, Catchy Web Name Sparks a Battle

Christopher Rhoads April 5, 2006
Domain names ending in dot.nu – “nu” meaning “now” in Swedish – sell like hot cakes in Sweden. The rights to operate dot-nu domain names, accorded to the US-based entrepreneur Bill Semich in the late 1990s, have earned him financial success. Semich has applied some of his newfound profits to the impoverished South Pacific island of Niue, via the provision of free wireless internet to the citizens...

Don't Give Up on WTO, Fix It

Richard G. Lipsey April 4, 2006
Contrary to what its most adamant critics maintain, the World Trade Organization (WTO) is a primary defense for poor and oppressed nations against exploitation from powerful nations and companies. Economist Richard G. Lipsey traces how the international institution that regulates trade emerged from policies facilitating globalization during the latter half of the 20th century. The WTO does not...

IT Mergers Have Feds Flailing Against Tech Globalization

J. Nicholas Hoover April 4, 2006
The US Department of Defense aims to scrutinize any foreign entity that wants to buy US information-technology (IT) firms. Before Canada-based Nortel Networks purchased government-contractor PEC Solutions, it had to set up a separate subsidiary and allow the Defense Department to monitor e-mails. Election-year politics in the US could lead to more intense scrutiny. In particular, the government...

For People and Planet

Al Gore April 3, 2006
Current business practices take little account of environmental costs, and such neglect will impose huge costs and decreased standards of living for future generations. Too many businesses, investors and consumers continue to act as though natural resources – oil, minerals, clean water – are unlimited. Sustainable development could be the driving force of industrial and economic change over the...

World Bank Concerned Over India’s Economic Growth

March 31, 2006
World headlines celebrate India as a globalization success story, but the nation’s rapid growth could invite more headaches than benefits. The problem with India’s growth is its narrow focus, reports economist Priya Basu. A large part of the country’s GDP centers on information technology and software, while manufacturing and agriculture lag. Inadequate infrastructure also poses a challenge, with...

Does Globalization Help or Hurt the World’s Poor?

Pranab Bardhan March 31, 2006
As debates over economic globalization rage, one writer ponders whether “expansion of foreign trade and investment” influences the world’s poor. Author Pranab Bardhan notes that the answer is neither a simple yes or no. By certain measures, the level of extreme poverty has lessened worldwide, but that doesn’t necessarily correlate with globalization and could be the result of some domestic...

We Need Alexander Hamilton

Ernest C. Hollings March 30, 2006
Ernest Hollings, former senator of South Carolina, relies on early American history to compare the government and corporate approaches to trade. The second bill to pass through US Congress, in 1789, was a 50 percent tariff on all trade, which according to Hollings, allowed the US to develop its manufacturing and reduce dependence on Europe. Other presidents managed trade to nurture specific...