In The News

Arab Nomads, "Not Pro-Anything," Also Suffer in Darfur

Stephanie McCrummen April 19, 2007
Analysts often categorize the violence in Darfur as a conflict between the nomadic Arabs and agricultural Africans of Western Sudan. The victims of the violence, however, belie an overly simplistic division. Intermarriage, commerce and other contacts have long entwined identity throughout the region, but drought, land shortages and government support for the Janjaweed militias, which are guilty...

The Establishment Rethinks Globalization

William Greider April 19, 2007
As the US readies for the 2008 presidential election, corporate executives have divided into two camps for advising candidates on how to proceed with globalization: Supporting free trade without limits is Robert Rubin, former treasury secretary under President Clinton, and urging reform of corporate globalization and preservation of a range of skills is Ralph Gomory, a former IBM executive who...

Managing Globalization: Has It Hurt US Workers?

Daniel Altman April 18, 2007
Workers in the wealthy nations like the US are not losing jobs to immigrants or outsourcing, suggests globalization analyst Daniel Altman in “The International Herald Tribune.” However, intense competition among global labor markets, along with rising health-care costs in the US, could be keeping the lid on wages. “The largest cost isn't those who lose their jobs but those who have lower...

India’s Skills Famine

James Surowiecki April 18, 2007
Entrepreneurship in India has captured the attention of onlookers around the world. But despite many success stories, the world’s second most populated nation has run into a big challenge – a shortage of skilled workers. Education opportunities are limited, with only 10 percent of Indians pursuing higher education and 30 percent of the population labeled as illiterate. Yet “India’s impressive...

Romania, a Poor Land, Imports Poorer Workers

Matthew Brunwasser April 16, 2007
Foreign investors appreciate Romania for its low labor costs. But once Romania joined the European Union as of January 1, 2007, many of its young, skilled workers moved away to Europe’s wealthiest cities. As a result, some employers – especially those in small dreary factory towns – confront ongoing labor shortages. One factory manager in Bacau solved the problem by contacting an employment...

Accord Key to Sustainable Economic Development

Lee Jun-kyu April 11, 2007
The US and South Korea have finalized negotiations on a free-trade agreement, which must be ratified by legislatures in both nations. Meanwhile, opponents in both countries organize, complaining that free trade could disrupt the economies of either nation, increasing income gaps or competition for specific sectors. Opponents in South Korea in particular fear that their nation could become a mere...

Poor Nations to Bear Brunt as World Warms

Andrew C. Revkin April 2, 2007
Global warming is a form of aggression imposed by rich countries on the poor, according to the president of Uganda. Africa accounts for less than 3 percent of the carbon emissions that trap greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, leading to a steady increase in global temperatures, a rise in sea levels and a shift in precipitation from the equator toward the poles. Developing nations contributed more...