In The News

The Cracks in Europe’s Expanding Empire

Mikhail Gorbachev July 26, 2005
The referendums on the EU constitution in France and the Netherlands shocked the European elites, reflecting a deep chasm dividing the ideologues and the public. The rapid expansion of the EU has caused widespread anger among citizens of the “Old World,” whose are afraid of losing their jobs to the influx of cheap labor from eastern Europe. Speculating that two separate systems in eastern and...

Toyota, Moving Northward

Paul Krugman July 25, 2005
When Toyota decided to build a new assembly plant in Canada's Ontario, despite being wooed by many American states, they opted for a location with a publicly funded health care scheme as well as high-quality public education. The idea that big government can actually help attract global business is a commonplace in Canada, but is anathema to most American decision makers. If more businesses...

The World Is Still Round

Robert J. Samuelson July 21, 2005
The onslaught of globalization seems to be the issue on everyone's minds today: If proponents like New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman are to be believed, national borders are becoming irrelevant as constant improvements in transportation and communications transform the world into a single market. Contradicting Friedman's thesis, however, Newsweek columnist Robert J. Samuelson...

France Grapples with Globalization

Sushma Ramchandran July 19, 2005
Facing increased pressure from analysts to rethink its economic policies, France is grappling with threats to its traditional way of life as a result of globalization. Although the French are accustomed to a relatively high standard of living, the government is being urged to reduce its huge subsidies, which support education and provide safety nets for the unemployed. In a country with an...

A Passage from India

Suketu Mehta July 12, 2005
Author Suketu Mehta moved to America from India as a teenager with the expectation that it would bring him and his family economic prosperity. As he writes in The New York Times, future generations of Americans may find themselves trying to travel in the opposite direction, as more US companies move jobs to India. In a sense, India's gains from outsourcing are the rewards of decades of hard...

Dubai’s Kerala Connection

Steve Raymer July 12, 2005
In recent years, Dubai has reinvented itself as a bustling multicultural capital for education and business. A driving force behind this extreme makeover is the hundreds of thousands of unskilled South Asian workers – predominantly from India – who flock to the city every year. These blue-collar workers – whom Steve Raymer calls the "invisible foot soldiers of globalization" – are an...

Chinese Quotas Kill the Pain but Not the Problem

Elliot Schrage July 6, 2005
In response to US and European manufacturers' fears of their low-cost Chinese competitors, the European Commission has pressured China to re-impose quotas on clothing and textiles exports. But these measures, like the currency revaluations favored by the Bush administration, will do little to solve the problem at hand. Instead, commentator Elliot Schrage suggests that a healthy trade...