In The News

What About the BRICs?

John Frankenstein August 13, 2009
In the current financial crisis, the world has pinned its hopes on Brazil, Russia, India, and China – known as the BRICs – to lift the global economy out of its funk. And while some of these countries may have more positive growth prospects than the developed world, there’s more to economic strength than GDP and stock market indices, according to Professor John Frankenstein. Indeed, on many...

Cambodia Has to Cope With its Global Connection

Anne-Laure Porée August 11, 2009
Once the poster child for the benefits of globalization, Cambodia is now being asked to cope with its darker side in the aftermath of the financial crisis. The four pillars of the country’s economy – tourism, garment-making, construction, and agriculture – are feeling the global pinch in their various ways, writes journalist Anne-Laure Porée. Tourism is down thanks to the global stay-at-home...

China to the Rescue: Growing Out of the Financial Crisis

Joergen Oerstroem Moeller July 28, 2009
The global financial crisis is far from over, and Joergen Oerstroem Moeller argues for a stimulation in global demand. Unfortunately, the big drivers of demand growth in the past – primarily the US, but also Japan and Europe – each face major hurdles sufficiently large to suggest they won’t be the engines of growth in the immediate future. So Moeller recommends looking to China. Critics counter...

Oil or Trees? Germany Takes Lead in Saving Ecuador's Rainforest

Jess Smee July 1, 2009
Yasuni National Park protects the Ecuador’s rainforest and is one of the most bio-diverse places on earth. Ecuador’s largest known oil reserves, worth an estimated $6 billion, also happen to lie underneath the park. Oil is a key product for Ecuador, producing around a third of the nation’s income. The Ecuadorian government has pledged to leave the oil untapped if the international community...

Can Governments Till The Fields Of Innovation?

Steve Lohr June 24, 2009
Innovation has long been seen as the product of hard work, luck, belonging to the private sector. But governments around the world are now trying to accelerate and influence domestic innovation. Several countries now have governmental leaders or even whole departments designed to spur growth through innovation. Much of the governments’ presence in the field of innovation deals with attempting to...

Capitalism’s Future Lies in Networks and Cooperation

Farok Contractor April 20, 2009
In the past, adversarial competition and in-house design and production typified the climate and model for business success. Today, that climate has changed, according to management professor Farok Contractor. Cooperation and networks are the new tools for success in the global economy for a whole host of reasons. First, many projects are so large that one company cannot possibly shoulder the...

Pipe Made in India Incenses Illinois Town

Louis Uchitelle April 16, 2009
A steel town whose factories are idled is not likely to welcome steel pipe from India in its backyard. And from the citizens’ initial reactions in an Illinois town, it’s not hard to see how a grassroots protectionist campaign could find strong support. But, as this article details, the issues are much more complex. First, the US has been importing 20 percent or more of its steel needs for the...