In The News

Guestworkers: Hard To Turn Off Flow

Jagdish Bhagwati February 25, 2013
Hispanics, about 17 percent of the US population, represented just 10 percent of voters in the nation’s 2012 presidential election, but soundly rejected harsh proposals on immigration, including rigid enforcement and no amnesty for those already in the country illegally. Since the election, both Republicans and Democrats recognize the need for prompt immigration reform, reducing illegal entry and...

Horsing Around the Global Food Chain

Nayan Chanda February 18, 2013
Regulators in Britain tested the DNA of meat in packaged lasagnas, labeled as beef, and discovered some containing more than half horsemeat. Fast, convenient, affordable frozen and processed meals – often marketed to the poorest consumers – have complex supply chains with many subcontractors for the many ingredients, explains Nayan Chanda, YaleGlobal’s editor. Intense competition and lingering...

Parts for F-35 Would Evade Export Ban

Kyodo February 12, 2013
Japan is a global technology leader, yet has banned export of parts that might contribute to aggravation of international conflicts. Exceptions to bans in place since 1967 and 1976 have been made for the United States, an ally, and to allow Japan to participate in joint-weapons development for humanitarian purposes and promotion of international peace, reports Kyodo, the nonprofit cooperative...

Foxconn Union Heralds End of Cheap Era

David Pilling February 12, 2013
The ability to vote is generally suspect in China. But Foxconn, the world’s biggest contract manufacturer of electronics, will allow its million-plus workers to vote for 18,000 representatives, reports Financial Times columnist David Pilling. The Fair Labor Association, based in the US, will monitor the process. “[The] intention may not be to give his workers the wage-bargaining power that often...

Tort and Technology

January 24, 2013
Activists can use the US judicial system and the Alien Tort Claims Act to shame all sorts of multinational corporations from cooperating with authoritarian governments that violate international law. For example, a dozen Chinese citizens joined a suit against Cisco Systems, based in California, in 2012 for selling technology that allows the Chinese government to track dissenters online. “The...

Research Rewrites Global Trade Data

Chris Giles, Claire Jones January 22, 2013
Cars made in one country include parts from all over the world. Labels could end up being larger than products if companies went into detail about the origin of every ingredient and component. Still the labels would be more accurate and could transform perceptions of trade deficits, according to a joint study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Trade...

Put Doomsday on the Schedule

David Dapice January 7, 2013
Americans, like most citizens all over the world, resent paying taxes, but are fond of government programs that allow health care, education or science to flourish. The US is overextended, living beyond its means, and Congress is divided over how to ease the climbing debt: Liberal Democrats want to tax the rich, while conservative Republicans aim to reduce spending that help citizens. Congress...