In The News

Washington Post: Wall a Bad Investment

Heather Long January 9, 2019
Donald Trump insists that a formidable wall along the twisting US-Mexico border – about 1,900 miles in length– is the only solution to what he calls an immigration crisis. Economists argue the wall will do little to reduce illegal migration. Also, the wall “would hurt the U.S. economy because there would be fewer workers and lower output,” report three economists who modeled the wall’s impact, as...

PIIE: What is Globalization?

Melina Kolb December 26, 2018
Perhaps it is human nature as so many people take credit for their every success but blame others – trade, migration, technological advances and other facets of globalization – for their woes. The Peterson Institute for International Economics undertakes the task of reminding about the age-old processes of globalization, urging an understanding of the relative costs and benefits to avoid the...

Guardian: Tackle Climate or Face Financial Crash

Damian Carrington December 11, 2018
Some of the world’s largest pension funds, insurers, rating agencies and asset managers are heeding warnings from climate researchers to demand phase-out on all coal burning, reduced carbon emissions and introduction of carbon taxes. As ministers arrive for a UN climate summit in Poland, more than 400 investors signed a Global Investor Statement describing refusal to acknowledge climate change as...

Japan Times: Japan Plans for Foreign Worker Influx

November 7, 2018
Japan has an aging population due to low fertility rates and strict immigration laws. The nation’s median age is 46.9, second only to Monaco. Officials are overhauling regulations as Japan prepares to welcome 40,000 more foreign workers in April 2019 and hopes to curb abuses of the health “insurance system, which caps an insured person’s monthly payment of medical bills depending on age and...

Reuters: US Accuses China of LinkedIn Spy Campaign

Warren Strobel and Jonathan Landay September 5, 2018
Social media platforms are designed to gather data from users in order to promote connections. US counterintelligence chief William Evanina warns that Chinese agencies are using fake LinkedIn accounts “to recruit Americans with access to government and commercial secrets,” reports Reuters. “LinkedIn says it has 575 million users in more than 200 counties and territories, including more than 150...

Foreign Affairs: The Failures of Capitalism

Robin Varghese July 26, 2018
Wages for the poorer half of the population in Europe and the United States have had sluggish growth over the last 50 years, while corporate profits have soared. Karl Marx, philosopher and economist, had predicted that the nature of capitalism would lead to inequality, unemployment, stagnant wages and oligopolistic firms. While communist revolutions did occur in countries like Russia and China,...

Harvard Political Review: Globalization as Growth Opportunity

Victor Agbafe July 25, 2018
Large numbers of voters in developed economies blame globalization for the loss of jobs and reduced wages. Yet automation is increasingly more responsible for job losses while globalization still provides benefits and many companies rely on global markets for growth. “In many cases, globalization has increased the choices of goods and services available to consumers while also lowering their...