In The News

A Global Economy in Danger

Manu Bhaskaran May 21, 2012
The week’s global consultations are in order – a G20 Labor and Employment Ministerial Meeting convened in Mexico on employment policies; the G8 reached consensus on eurozone reforms at Camp David; NATO meets in Chicago to prepare for withdrawal from Afghanistan. The globe’s major economies are interconnected in so many ways, and the separate set of difficulties of each threatens ability to...

India’s Broken Schools, Cloudy Future

Julissa Milligan, Sadanand Dhume May 9, 2012
India’s preponderance of youth has long been considered a “demographic dividend.” But a broken education system fails to equip graduates for jobs in a fast growing economy. Thanks to lopsided emphasis on elite schools and neglect of early education, India has fallen behind in competency in basic skills, along with flexibility, creativity and passion for lifelong learning. The country prepares...

US Battle to Revive Manufacturing – Part II

Clyde Prestowitz April 13, 2012
Jobs remain a central concern for the US voters and the 2012 presidential campaign. Candidates of opposing parties, and even insiders of the Obama administration, debate whether government intervention, including subsidies for particular industries, helps or hurts companies. This YaleGlobal series analyzes the US effort to jumpstart manufacturing, and in the second article, Clyde Prestowitz,...

US Battle to Revive Manufacturing – Part I

Bruce Stokes April 11, 2012
As the US confronts stubborn unemployment and a shrinking industrial base, a battle is shaping up about reviving manufacturing. Running for reelection, President Obama has embraced manufacturing and export renaissance, even as free-market supporters find fault in what they call his “industrial policy.” In this two-part series, YaleGlobal examines the political and ideological implications of...

Through the Eyes of Asia’s Tiger Cubs

Mark L. Clifford February 20, 2012
Asia’s post–Cold War generation of young professionals have a decidedly optimistic outlook on the future – as revealed by the Asia’s Challenge 2020 essay competion organized by the Asia Business Council, Time magazine and the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. Mark L. Clifford, executive director of the Hong Kong-based Asia Business Council, co-authored...

In US, Every Four Years, Much Ado Over China

Edward Gresser February 15, 2012
Railing against China’s trade policies has long been campaign fodder in US elections, and a visit this week by China’s presumptive incoming president could turn up the volume. It’s an old pattern, observes trade expert Edward Gresser. The party out of power may rail against unfair trade practices – but once in office, US presidents quickly discover that campaign promises on China are tough to...

Tax Reform May Not Bring US Jobs Back

David Dapice February 3, 2012
Technology and ever-growing productivity – not outsourcing – are the main culprits behind declining jobs in the United States. The US president has proposed revising tax policy to encourage companies to apply growing profits to factories and research inside the US. But manufacturing is going the way of agriculture; fewer workers producing more. “Because of automation and technology, each factory...