In The News

The New Rules: Globalization’s Next Wave of Integration

Thomas P.M. Barnett January 21, 2010
The global recession, rather than setting back economic integration, is actually deepening it by making companies create tighter, vertical supply chains that cut out the middle-man, with companies buying direct from the producer. A major example of this is Wal-Mart, which is using its global size to negotiate directly with suppliers to reduce costs but also to ensure security of supply. To the...

Falling Dollar Pushes Manufacturing Out of Europe

Dinah Deckstein, Frank Dohmen, Dietmar Hawranek, Alexander Jung December 10, 2009
With the secular decline in the US dollar, some manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz that face rising costs and lower competitiveness are moving some production from Germany to the US. Normally, such companies hedge their exchange rate exposure through derivative contracts to protect them against rapid depreciation of foreign currencies. But such contracts become more expensive amid a sustained...

How Europe's Discarded Computers Are Poisoning Africa's Kids

Clemens Höges December 9, 2009
Twenty years ago, the international community drew up the Basel Convention in order to prevent developed nations from dumping their computer scraps in the developing world. Yet, the last two decades have shown that enforcing such a treaty is difficult. Some countries, such as the US, still haven't ratified the treaty; meanwhile, those who have, such as Germany, still struggle to abide by it...

Money Trickles North as Mexicans Help Relatives

Marc Lacey November 23, 2009
Mexicans immigrants in the US have long sent money back to their families, providing a vital source of capital to a country where almost half of the population lives in poverty. The global recession, and the consequent lay-offs has left many Mexican immigrants unemployed, leading to a 13.4 percent drop in remittances. Mexico is suffering too. But Mexican families are now combining funds to...

China in Africa: Soft Power, Hard Results

Loro Horta November 13, 2009
The recent second China-Africa summit in Egypt and Beijing’s pledge of $10 billion in loans to the continent has brought into focus China’s growing investment in Africa, The responses have been diverse, not only from international observers, but also from individuals in the region. Building upon interviews from a broad range of Africans, Visiting Fellow at Nanyang Technological Unversity Loro...

The Long March

Debarshi Dasgupta November 5, 2009
Indian construction projects are seeing an influx of Chinese laborers who are being paid more and treated better than their Indian counterparts. This has sparked resentment among Indian workers and led to scattered instances of violence. Curiously, many of the Chinese workers have entered on business visas designed for skilled individuals on short visits not intending to take up employment. Some...

Outsourcing Progress

Nayan Chanda October 28, 2009
If you thought outsourcing would take a hit from the financial crisis, think again. While certain sectors have seen double digit declines, other end markets are growing. What the final tally for the year might be is unknown, but the results thus far are somewhat counter-intuitive. Outsourcing’s resilience in the face of such financial and political strain – lawmakers across the globe have often...