In The News

Immigrants Become Hostages As Gangs Prey On Mexicans

Joel Millman June 12, 2009
The September 11 attacks and tough economic times have created new twists on labor smuggling. As a result of 9/11, authorities have cracked down on illegal border crossings between the US and Mexico. The higher cost and risk to sneak across the border attracted larger criminal gangs, driving out the smaller labor smugglers that once facilitated such crossings. But the gangs themselves found that...

Globalization's Ugly Side: Sex Slavery

John Boudreau June 11, 2009
In the grim side to globalization, scores of young girls from Vietnam are being transported across national borders to serve as sex slaves in countries like China and Cambodia. The traffickers prey on the daughters of poor, often illiterate families who are oblivious to the danger or consequences of human trafficking. These girls, often lured by false promises of profitable employment, are only a...

The End of the Globalization Debate?

Edward Gresser June 2, 2009
The Obama administration’s first four months suggest the team is pro-trade and anti-protectionist – all to the positive, according to Edward Gresser, director at the Progressive Policy Institute. But lurking in the background are protectionist measures being promoted by various interest groups with the support of a range of politicians. Such measures call for the re-opening of the debate on the...

Declining Immigration Slows Asian, Hispanic Growth

Hope Yen, Thu May May 14, 2009
Prior estimates of when minorities would overtake majorities in the US have been altered thanks to changes in immigration trends. Policies enacted after the Sept. 11 attacks are part of the cause for the change, but analysts surmise that the economic meltdown has had an effect as well. The US may no longer appear to be the land of opportunity for immigrants. Yet, while the inflow of people has...

Japan Pays Foreign Workers to Go Home

Hiroko Tabuchi April 24, 2009
After allowing low-skilled laborers of Japanese descent from South America to work there for years, Japan is offering them pay packages and incentives to return to their home country with only one condition: don’t come back. The policy – meant to stem rising unemployment – is related to the slump in Japanese manufacturing that has been exacerbated by the global financial crisis. Many academics...

Wall Street Still Finds Ways to Hire Foreigners

Robin Sidel April 15, 2009
Wall Street banks that have received money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, “TARP”, are employing innovative methods to work around some of the migrant labor restrictions: relocating workers to international offices. One of the stipulations of TARP is that recipients prove that they have tried to hire American workers for the same job and that foreigners aren’t replacing US citizens when...

The G-20 and the Future of Capitalism – Part III

Pranab Bardhan April 3, 2009
In the third part of our series on the G-20 and the Future of Capitalism, Berkeley economics professor Pranab Bardhan suggests perhaps much to the chagrin of its naysayers, capitalism is here to stay. But chastened by the crisis, it is likely to take on a much milder form. Financial asset growth will slow; producers rather than traders will resume precedence; and financial regulation will...