In The News

Brexit Blues in Central Europe

Joji Sakurai July 28, 2016
Europe's opponents of immigration may be triumphant about Brexit, but the crowing won’t last long in countries that depend on the European Union for technical advice, aid, trade and foreign investment that allowed them to outperform the European Union as a whole. “To hear the rhetoric, one might assume that ‘Huxit’ or ‘Czexit’ – departures by Hungary or the Czech Republic – may be around the...

It’s Just a Stealth Reform

Nayan Chanda July 25, 2016
The Indian government is promoting textile and garment production to restore the country’s manufacturing prowess while also slipping in labor reforms. “By highlighting subsidies and higher wages for workers while increasing the hiring and firing power of employers the government has adopted the tactic of stealth reform,” writes Nayan Chanda, founding editor of YaleGlobal Online, in his column for...

A Quarter Century of Market Reform Leaves India Richer With Wider Inequality

Dilip Hiro July 12, 2016
India opened to the world in 1991 with its New Economic Policy that embraced economic liberalization and privatization. The policies lifted India’s GDP, but also widened the gap between rich and poor, explains Dilip Hiro, author of 36 books including “The Age of Aspiration: Power, Wealth, and Conflict in Globalizing India.” Services have climbed, contributing to a growing economy boosted by the...

Sweating in the Park or in the Factory: Beyoncé’s New Sports Wear Company and Respect for Human Rights

Aleydis Nissen July 6, 2016
Critics are harsh on celebrities that launch clothing lines sourced from factories with sweatshop conditions and underpaid workers. Beyoncé launched a sports clothing brand in a joint venture with Topshop. Media reports soon followed with interviews of workers in Sri Lanka complaining about long hours and low pay. “Whether the accusations are true or untrue, it may be argued that a major...

Guess What Else Climate Change Hurts? Globalization

Eric Roston June 15, 2016
Multinational corporations rely on supply chains, and climate change could disrupt the efficiency. Weather-related disasters from flooding, droughts and wildfires cost billions of dollars in damage. “Manufacturing these days involves facilities in multiple countries, each of which has a sequential role in taking raw materials a step closer to being finished products,” reports Eric Roston for...

The Rise of Manufacturing Marks the Fall of Globalization

Rebecca Keller June 10, 2016
The many parts of complex machinery are sourced for now from multiple countries. “Over the past century, finished products made in a single country have become increasingly hard to find as globalization – weighted a term as it is – has stretched supply chains to the ends of the Earth,” writes Rebecca Keller for Stratfor. She points out that automation, robotics and computerization will gradually...

India’s Education Deficit

Nayan Chanda May 30, 2016
Education, acquiring an ability to combine and apply knowledge and skills, is a driving economic force for the 21st century, suggests India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The country must do more to prepare and employ its citizens, with more than half under the age of 30. “To employ its emerging young population, the country needs to create nearly a million jobs a month,” writes Nayan Chanda,...