In The News

Sushi Rice, California's New Gold Rush

Kay Rentschler October 8, 2003
California is joining the ranks of world class rice producers. Though southern growers have long monopolized the U.S.’s domestic rice industry, California has become second only to Thailand in exports of premium rice. Sacramento Valley is one of only three microclimates in the world, including Japan and Australia, where the high-quality, small grain japonica rice flourishes. This rice...

Africa's Betting Public Lures Foreign Investors

Marc Lacey October 7, 2003
People across the world's poorest continent are gambling their limited incomes on scratch-off cards and lotto tickets. As countries ease betting restrictions to encourage economic growth, foreign companies have begun investing in Africa's new blossoming industry. "The African market is a relatively small part of the world market," one British investor noted, "but it...

Brown Tries to Put EU on Growth Path

Larry Elliott October 7, 2003
France, Germany, and Britain agree: The EU must embrace capitalism to create new jobs, foster investment, and boost economic performance across the continent. A letter drafted by British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown with his French and German counterparts will seek to persuade Europe to reform its welfare state framework. Europe, the letter argues, needs to implement supply-side...

Asians Fear Rising US Protectionism

Michael Richardson October 3, 2003
On the eve of the annual summit of Asia-Pacific nations, many Asian countries are expressing worry over US trade policy, says Michael Richardson, a visiting senior research fellow at the Institute of South East Asian Studies in Singapore. US President George W. Bush will be welcomed at the APEC (Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation) conference later this month in the midst of what will likely be...

Tough Struggle at Sea

September 30, 2003
Women are increasingly manning the world's ships, yet they continue to face discrimination. According to a new study published by the International Labor Office, women currently represent between 1 and 2 percent of the world's 1.25 million seafarers, serving on some 87,000 ships. Even in the Philippines – the world’s largest supplier of seafarers to the global merchant fleet – only...

Can Rich Countries Stem the Outflow of Jobs?

Eddie Lee September 23, 2003
Last month, the United States lost 93,000 jobs, many of them in the service sector. This commentary in Singapore's Straits Times attributes this job loss to outsourcing by developed world companies. In an effort to cut costs, many companies are hiring workers in developing countries since they are willing to work for far less than their counterparts in the US and Singapore. As the...

No Good Reason to Dance

Ernesto Zedillo September 22, 2003
In the latest round of WTO talks, the chasm between 'developed' and 'developing' nations over agricultural subsidies proved too large to cross in only one week. The Cancun meeting has thus been largely declared a failure. Ernesto Zedillo, Director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization and former president of Mexico, says that this difficulty should be taken as a...