In The News

US Law’s Positive Impact on Africa

Humphrey Hawksley July 10, 2012
With the sentencing of a Congolese warlord at the International Criminal Court, whose charges included employing child soldiers, the wheels of justice turn in Africa. Another unexpected source, too, is helping Africa. The Dodd-Frank Act was designed to reform the US financial system after the 2008 credit crisis, explains Humphrey Hawksley, BBC News correspondent, and Section 1502 addresses so-...

Time to End Fuel Subsidies?

Will Hickey June 7, 2012
Subsidies distort markets and discourage development of substitutes. Subsidies for fuel are especially problematic, because energy is a backbone of any economy. In terms of energy production and consumption, the world is an uneven playing field in terms of reserves, taxes, regulations, public versus private ownership and income availability. An abrupt end to fuel subsidies would crush the poorest...

Illegal Immigrants in Greece

Andreas Ulrich June 5, 2012
Greece is a favorite point of entry for immigrants seeking to begin new lives in Europe. About 100,000 arrive per year from Iran, Syria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Africa – far more than attempt to cross borders in central European states like Germany. The immigrants are unpopular in the troubled economy, and Greece is stepping up security and border patrols. With so many willing to...

Children of China's Future – Part II

Karen Eggleston, Jean Oi, Scott Rozelle, Ang Sun, Xueguang Zhou March 14, 2012
Inequality has many forms, most with insidious and tragic consequences for children. This two-part series examines the opportunity gap for children of wealthy urbanites in China and those of the rural poor. In the second and final article, Karen Eggleston and a team of faculty members and researchers with Stanford University focus on the plight of China’s rural poor and an 8-year-old boy. Like...

Elites Loot Africa While Foreign Debt Mounts

James K. Boyce, Léonce Ndikumana February 27, 2012
Too often, borrowed monies are salted away from Africa’s most impoverished nations to offshore banks through inflated contracts or kickbacks. The complexities and bank-secrecy laws of the international finance system, combined with a lack of enforcement, assist such transfers, contend James K. Boyce and Léonce Ndikumana, authors of Africa’s Odious Debts: How Foreign Loans and Capital Flight Bled...

India’s Dilemma: Faster Growth or Poverty Alleviation?

T.N. Ninan February 22, 2012
Fast growth from globalization can produce uneven results, enriching some citizens and leaving others behind. Balancing poverty removal and fast growth becomes more difficult when politicians have to worry about their constituents, notes Indian journalist T.N. Ninan. He uses battles in India over food subsidies, designed to eliminate hunger, and an employment guarantee program as examples of the...

Can Social Media Campaigns End Child Labor?

Humphrey Hawksley February 10, 2012
Acts of intervention – with military action, aid and promotion of trade – have characterized international politics since the Cold War. Corporate intervention can now be added to the list of tools for alleviating poverty and encouraging development and education in impoverished nations. Social media and attention to global supply chains are exposing unfair labor practices, particularly child...