In The News

Lump Together and Like It

November 10, 2008
The statistics on urbanization worldwide are startling – in the past 30 years alone, urban populations have gone from 1.6 to 3.3 billion people, while the next 30 years project additional growth of 2 billion people. The scale and speed of urbanization today is unprecedented in history, with projections of 2 billion slum-dwellers in 2030. Developing countries like Egypt, with more than 18 million...

Brazilian Beef Purchase Is Challenged by the US

John R. Wilke October 22, 2008
Brazil’s JBS Inc. seeks to expand its beef operations into the US, but the US Justice Department, joined by 13 states, is challenging its purchase of a US firm. Concern centers on reducing competitors in the US beef market from five to three, rising food prices and lower prices paid to US cattle farmers. Confronting hikes in food prices, some in US Congress press for more scrutiny of the...

Development Doesn't Require Big Government

William Easterly October 9, 2008
Pain from the US financial crisis is spreading globally, with leadership in developing countries often blaming free-market failures. The free market is under attack worldwide: Honduras’s president deems its laws "demonic" and the Brazilian head of state suggests its speculation causes the "anguish of entire peoples." Economist and author William Easterly traces this strong...

Green View: Testing Metal

October 3, 2008
Consumers take products like aluminum for granted but resent the smelly, unsightly smelters that produce the product. As a source of cheap clean geo- and hydropower, Iceland has attracted aluminum smelters. Yet increasingly, Icelanders question whether they should sacrifice their landscape for the good of the planet – with some suggesting that global consumers could do more to conserve products...

More Than Half of US Drug Safety Studies Never See the Light of Day

James Randerson September 23, 2008
Before taking a prescribed medicine, patients assume that the product has undergone rigorous testing, with researchers proving it safe and effective. Of the world’s 20 largest pharmaceutical firms, more than half are in the US, and so global consumers depend on the US Food and Drug Administration to regulate drugs and report safety concerns. A survey conducted by a team at the University of...

Is Mexico the New China?

Rafael Rivero, Sara Miller Llana September 17, 2008
With uncertainty in oil prices and rising labor costs in Asia, Mexico is luring manufacturing jobs away from China. US companies seek manufacturers close to US markets, an attempt to curb transport costs. Chinese workers also demand protections and higher wages. An emphasis on public and worker education also attracts jobs: Mexico has emphasized worker education, which complements value-added...

Globalization and Politics

Nayan Chanda September 17, 2008
Faced with a battered American economy and a five-year high unemployment rate, US presidential candidates tend to slip into anti-trade mode. Piling blame on foreigners is convenient and attracts votes. But the US has misidentified the source of its economic woes, suggests Nayan Chanda in his column for Businessworld. Outsourcing is just one side of the coin of globalization; on the flip side,...