In The News

Sleepy City Has High Hopes, Dreaming of High Tech

David Rohde November 20, 2003
The sleepy farm state capital of Chandigarh may soon become the "technology hub of northern India." In recent years, tens of thousands of jobs have flooded to India from the US and Europe as high tech companies, attracted by cheap, qualified labor, transfer their call centers en masse. India's "first tier" technology hubs, including cities like Bangalore and Bombay,...

China Wary as US Puts Lid on Textile Imports

Edward Alden November 20, 2003
The US can now import only limited quantities of brassieres, knit fabrics, and cotton dressing gowns from China – much to the relief of the US's domestic textile industry and to the ire of Chinese officials. Washington implemented the quotas in response to growing pressure from the US textile industry, which has lost 316,000 jobs in the past two years. Officials in the industry echo the...

Superpower Dream Behind China's Heavy Industry Push

Guo Shiping November 19, 2003
Beijing's recent decision to invest in the development of heavy industries in northeastern China is not only an economically strategic move, says Chinese economist Guo Shiping. While heavy industry is a necessary backbone to long-term growth, Guo says, the shift away from a single-minded focus on light industry and service sectors will also better prepare China for true superpower status....

The World Must Keep its Nerve over Kyoto

Michael Grubb November 13, 2003
The global response to climate change has reached a crossroads now that the US has rejected the Kyoto Protocol. Instead of capping emissions, President Bush has decided in favor of investing billions in research on technologies such as carbon sequestration, which involves storing carbon dioxide emissions. Creating environment-friendly technologies is admittedly integral to halting climate...

The New Leviathans

Nayan Chanda November 12, 2003
One of the major agents of globalization - the multinational corporation - has been alternately portrayed as global villain and global economic booster. In "Global Inc.", a new "atlas of the multinational corporation" by Medard Gabel and Henry Bruner, companies with an extensive global reach are subjected to a more objective critical eye. In this review article, Nayan Chanda...

Harvesting Poverty

November 11, 2003
A rift is splitting the American farm lobby, separating those farmers that can prosper on their own and those that rely on subsidies, this editorial in The New York Times argues. This rupture has been catalyzed by the proposal to cap the amount individual farmers can receive in government aid, a move supported by many smaller farmers but feared by their larger counterparts. Currently, the...

US Loses WTO Steel Appeal

David Roeder November 11, 2003
A trade war could erupt if US President Bush fails to accept a World Trade Organization ruling that American steel tariffs are illegal. The EU and Japan said they would impose as much as $2.3 billion in sanctions on U.S. products including tobacco, fruit juice, and frozen peas unless Bush complies with the WTO ruling. Bush originally ordered the steel tariffs 20 months ago in order to give the...