In The News

Silicon Sweatshops: An illness in Suzhou

Kathleen E. McLaughlin March 19, 2010
A large number of workers at a plant in China that makes components for Apple products have become sick from handling a chemical used to clean the glass screens for products like the iPod and iPhone. The company doesn't have the necessary permits to use the chemical, n-hexane, but continues to do so to shave a few seconds off its production time. Apple, meanwhile, refuses to answer questions...

Steelworkers Say Reactors Overseas Will Cost Jobs

Matthew L. Wald and Keith Bradsher February 23, 2010
President Obama is pushing nuclear power as a new source of energy and as a way to create jobs for Americans, offering loan guarantees to make it happen. Now, however, labor unions are protesting the move because they say that much of the material for new reactors will come from overseas, reducing the potential for US job growth. The trouble is that since the Three Mile Island reactor accident in...

Google’s Lesson: Innovation Has to Be Accompanied by Reliability

Rob Knake and Adam Segal February 22, 2010
The most important lesson of the Google vs. China may not be about Internet censorship, but rather the importance of security and the reliability of products. As Council of Foreign Relations fellows Rob Knake and Adam Segal write, two tensions highlight the main obstacles in maintaining security and reliability amid the globalized model of innovation spanning geography and time. Shifting research...

Globalization: After the Recession

Justin Lin January 6, 2010
While some developing country leaders may decry globalization as exploitation by a different name, World Bank economist Justin Lin argues that the world is far too integrated today for any one country to turn its back on globalization. Indeed, for developing countries to benefit from globalization they must learn from the lessons of history, particularly when it comes to employing the principle...

Falling Dollar Pushes Manufacturing Out of Europe

Dinah Deckstein, Frank Dohmen, Dietmar Hawranek, Alexander Jung December 10, 2009
With the secular decline in the US dollar, some manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz that face rising costs and lower competitiveness are moving some production from Germany to the US. Normally, such companies hedge their exchange rate exposure through derivative contracts to protect them against rapid depreciation of foreign currencies. But such contracts become more expensive amid a sustained...

Is a US Brain Drain on the Horizon?

Vivek Wadhwa December 8, 2009
While a second Great Depression may have been averted, the unintended consequences of the Great Recession are just beginning to be felt. One such effect is reverse migration. As noted immigration researcher Vivek Wadhwa reveals, many foreign-born workers in high-tech industries are returning home or contemplating such a return. The reasons for this are many, including better economic prospects or...

China ”Wants to Set Up Factories in Africa”

Tania Branigan December 7, 2009
China’s relationship with Africa has been criticized as one focused solely on procuring natural resources. But Beijing is trying to improve this image by potentially moving lower-value manufacturing facilities to sub-Saharan Africa in possible partnership with the World Bank. In the process, this step may help African states develop a manufacturing base and improve their economies. But Africa...