In The News

Mauritania Calls for Help on EU-Bound Migrant Flood

Ahmed Mohammed March 20, 2006
More than 1000 Africans have died in the first four months of 2006, trying to reach the EU and the economic opportunity it represents. Increasing numbers of desperate migrants flee Africa in crowded and small fishing canoes, called pirogues, from Mauritania to the Canary Islands and the coast of Spain. Police intercepted a record 400 Africans in a single day, crowded into nine boats. In 2005...

The Poor Get Richer

Geoffrey Colvin March 17, 2006
Educators and politicians have long argued that a college degree provided substantially more income than the high-school degree. Now that income gap is showing small signs of closing; between 2000 and 2004, the income of high school graduates rose 1.6 percent, and the income of college graduates dropped 5.2 percent. The reason is disturbing, with the changing demands of a global economy, reducing...

One-Time Highways to Growth Take a Toll on the Japanese Economy

Yasuyo Yamazaki March 16, 2006
Japan's economy faces enormous challenges in the years ahead. It must both continue to compete with other fast-growing economies, like China, while finding a way to support and replace its aging work force. A critical challenge for Japan is how to handle the fast-graying population and the attendant health and retirement costs. By far the most problematic of such issues is the enormous...

That Good Education Might Not Be Enough

Peter G. Gosselin March 15, 2006
During a trip to India, US President Bush met with a group of talented Indian business students, and used the occasion to dispense advice to young Americans about pursuing an education to compete in the global marketplace. By now, everyone knows that because of lopsided wages, living costs and health care benefits across the globe, the students from India can work for less income than their US...

Anxious America – Part II

Susan Froetschel March 14, 2006
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. In the second part of this series, Susan Froetschel examines how closing of the door, out of US security concerns, only encourages research and development efforts overseas. The US is building barriers to science within its borders – with security restrictions and limits for professional visas, combined with decreased federal R&D funding as a...

Low Costs, Plentiful Talent Make China a Global Magnet for R&D

Kathy Chen March 14, 2006
The number of foreign-invested R&D centers in China has more than tripled since 2002. Analysts once downplayed China’s potential in the R&D area for purposes other than studying the Chinese market because of weak patent protection. Yet more corporations, including Proctor & Gamble, Microsoft and Motorola, are taking the risk and developing basic research and new products in China. A...

Immigration Shakeup Will Bar Most Unskilled Workers From Outside EU

Alan Travis March 13, 2006
A new points-based immigration system – based on aptitude, experience, age, and shortages in the labor market – will go into effect in 2008, the biggest shakeup in British immigration law in 40 years. The plan assumes that low-skilled help can be found within the EU, and an advisory board will determine annual quotas for occupations that have a shortage of workers. According to the new system,...