In The News

The Great Leap Backward?

Elizabeth C. Economy September 7, 2007
China has become a leading polluter in the world, with its citizens suffering from air pollution, decreasing supplies of potable water and reckless development. Consumers around the world buy inexpensive goods from China, but do not pay the true costs. The country has environmental laws, but businesses and local leaders ignore them in order to increase jobs and profits. The nation is capable of...

India's Lower Castes Seek Social Progress in Global Job Market

Emily Wax September 5, 2007
For 3000 years, India operated with a caste system; from birth, Indians understood their status and role in society. Prohibited by law, the caste system remains a source for discrimination in India. By law, the public sector and public universities set aside a percentage of jobs for people born into the lowest castes, and activists encourage similar affirmative-action programs within the private...

Blue Skies for Globalization?

Richard Aboulafia September 4, 2007
At times, global trade seems to make more enemies than friends. Politicians tend to hear from constituents who fear outsourcing and job cuts rather than workers who benefit from foreign investment and trade. International teamwork is essential for complex fields like the aerospace industry, argues Richard Aboulafia in the Star-Telegram. US air carriers account for less than 10 percent of all...

Skilled Immigrants? No Thanks

Michael Sauga September 3, 2007
Most developed nations have loosened immigration policies in the competition for skilled labor. But not in Germany. Employers want skilled workers, but the government adds obstacles to hiring immigrants, regardless of education or skill, even as thousands of highly trained Germans leave for jobs abroad. “Ironically, just as the German economy embarks on its strongest boom in years, the country...

The Tale of Globalization’s Exiles

Richard Lapper August 30, 2007
Media and government reports focus on hedge funds and other mechanisms of finance that move money around the globe. But individuals also shift funds, including small amounts sent in envelopes or by wire, from immigrant workers in wealthy nations to poor relatives back home. For some poor nations, the total of such remittances outweigh foreign aid or revenues earned from leading agricultural...

Chinese Seek to Buy a US Maker of Disk Drives

John Markoff August 27, 2007
The US must confront and reconcile several realities: China has massive reserves of cash and actively pursues foreign investment; second, debt burdens the US government and its citizens, slowing their investment pace; and third, neither government trusts the other with sensitive industries. Reports that a Chinese firm has expressed interest in purchasing Seagate Technology, a US maker of disk...

US Action on Free Trade Is Left Hanging

Peter G. Gosselin August 27, 2007
The two major parties in the US are at odds on many issues, but actions and agendas of both in recent months reveal growing mistrust for a global economy and global competition. In recent years, the developed world has steadily lost manufacturing jobs to developing nations with few environmental protections. Wages remain stagnant, and many workers claim they have not experienced globalization’s...