In The News

China Turns a Corner as Spending Takes Hold

Andrew Batson April 13, 2009
Recent data suggests that China’s economy may have bottomed: crude oil imports are up; steel mills are importing record amounts of iron ore; and the Shanghai Composite index is up over 32 percent year to date. It would appear Beijing’s stimulus program is having an effect. The fact that China remains partially a command economy has allowed the stimulus program to take effect more quickly...

China Vies to Be World’s Leader in Electric Cars

Keith Bradsher April 3, 2009
China’s plan to become the world leader in electric cars may not reduce pollution as much as reallocate it. While greenhouse gas emissions would decline by roughly 19 percent, according to a McKinsey study, if electric cars replaced gas-powered ones in China, such emissions would shift from car exhausts to power plants – in other words from the city to the country. But pollution reduction is only...

Wheels of Recession

Nayan Chanda December 22, 2008
Intricate global links among industries and suppliers mean the failure of one industry can be devastating for many others around the globe. “Outsourcing and off-shore production have changed the ecosystem of auto production so dramatically that the fate of millions of jobs all over the world hinges on a decision in Washington,” writes YaleGlobal editor Nayan Chanda in his column for Businessworld...

Emerging Economies to Reap From Global Crisis

Dani Rodrik December 19, 2008
Because of the global economic crisis, emerging economies will gain more power in global institutions, as the crisis has diminished both financial and political influence for the US and Europe. Emerging economies like South Korea, Brazil, India and China command a greater share of the global economy, and the developing nations must prepare for their new role, advises Dani Rodrik, political...

A Question of First Things First

Clive Crook December 9, 2008
The ancient proverb of finding opportunity in crisis sounds wonderful, but the follow-through can be problematic. Transition staff working for US President-elect Barack Obama hope to enact health care reform and a clean-energy policy. But an economic crisis may not be the time to take on grand new initiatives, suggests Clive Crook, in an essay for the Financial Times. The Obama administration...

When Chocolate Is a Way of Life

Jill Santopietro November 20, 2008
The Quichua people of Ecuador are no longer simply cultivators of cacao, transforming their role into manufacturers and owners, by forming their own cooperative known as Kallari. “Chocolate making has always been less common in cacao producing countries than it has been in Europe, where the technology to create chocolate bars was developed and where such a luxury could be more easily afforded,”...

Fierce Democratic Struggle Shapes Globalization

Salil Tripathi November 19, 2008
The world watches in amazement as India, with about one-sixth of the world's population and great diversity, chalks up impressive economic growth. Large-scale changes as India develops, though, are not wrought without friction. In recent decades an entrenched bias has favored city growth, argues journalist Salil Tripathi, while two-thirds of the country's billion-plus people remain...