In The News

In France, Discrimination on Upswing as Violence Smolders

Katrin Bennhold December 10, 2007
About 10 percent of France’s population is Muslim. Yet Arabs, even those armed with education degrees and solid experience, struggle to find work in the country. Researchers have documented the discrimination by sending out resumes with identical experiences, from applicants with French and Arab names. The French names attract more job offers than Arab names by a ratio of 20 to one. The research...

How the Next US President Might Deal With Trade

Edward Gresser December 6, 2007
With lifelong loyalty to a single company no longer the norm, fewer US businesses provide insurance and pensions for their laborers. At the same time, more firms replace US jobs with computers or low-cost labor abroad. As a result, Americans are anxious about jobs – and who will pick up the costs for their health care and retirement. In this context, candidates for US president on the right and...

Mexico Seeks a Lasting Share of Aerospace Boom

Joel Millman November 28, 2007
Mexico struggles to compete with low labor costs of Asian manufacturers, but has established a niche in manufacturing aerospace equipment because of location. Massive items that entail expensive transportation fees used to be manufactured in distant countries with highly skilled work forces, like Japan and Taiwan. But the Mexican government has invested in training programs for aerospace workers...

The Next Wave of Globalization: Offshoring R&D to India and China

Stephanie Overby November 27, 2007
Outsourcing accelerates globalization, spreading technology and skill transfer from advanced nations to less developed ones. Cheap labor represents potential talent, capabilities, and innovation. Employers praise US workers for superior communication skills and intuitive understanding of US businesses, but continue to shift technologically-demanding high-end R&D jobs to China and India. The...

The Battle of Beijing

Moisés Naím November 26, 2007
China is intent on using the 2008 Olympics as a stage to display the strength of its culture, organized political system and rising economic power. Activists on a range of issues, particularly human rights, are equally earnest, planning to use the Olympics as a platform for exposing flaws of China’s one-party authoritarian regime. State-of-the-art technology common among tourists – including cell...

Why We Trade

Russell Roberts November 19, 2007
Debates featuring US presidential hopefuls feature complaints about trade deficits, outsourcing and the competitive threat of China. Author and professor Russell Roberts, though, offers the reminder that promoting foreign open markets and a protected one at home is no better than mercantilism. All countries are wary about such a strategy and won’t stand for it. On the other hand, free trade...

Cosmopolitan Masala: Diversity Enriches Us All

Philippe Legrain November 16, 2007
There is growing opposition in many countries to immigration, viewed by some as costing government treasuries and diluting national cultures. Philippe Legrain, a British economist and former adviser to the director-general of the World Trade Organization, argues that productivity flourishes in culturally diverse cities and that people are willing to pay to live and work in such fertile...