In The News

World Hunger, The Crisis Inside the Economic Crisis

Sonni Efron March 16, 2009
The global economic crisis and its reduction of wealth overshadow the plight of those hit hardest: “This is a disaster for the bottom billion, the one out of six humans living on less than $2 a day,” writes Sonni Efron for the Los Angeles Times. Wealthy governments have donated to UN food programs, but long-term causes of food shortages – hoarding, speculation, war, export controls, population...

Guadeloupe Riots Turn Paradise Into War Zone

Lizzy Davies February 20, 2009
Some economic patterns are troublesome: A stunning locale captivates visitors, a tourism industry emerges, land prices skyrocket as foreign investors compete, until local residents can no longer afford to live in their own community. On the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, more than 70 percent of people live in government housing, a global economic downturn has diminished tourism, and a...

For Russia's Migrants, Economic Despair Douses Flickers of Hope

Michael Schwirtz February 16, 2009
Russia has the second largest immigrant population the world, after the US, once inviting workers from former Soviet republics to construct luxury hotels, office buildings and homes amid a decade-long oil boom. A drop in world oil prices hit the emerging economy of Russia, striking its migrant workers particularly hard. Employers withhold wages, and the government sets quotas on jobs for...

Whose Resistance?

Amr Hamzawy February 2, 2009
The plight of the Palestinian people fuels Muslim ire, boosting the popularity of non-state militants and non-militant religious groups alike. As a result, the Palestinians are sometimes seen as more symbol than humanity. Amr Hamzawy, with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, points to a decline of humanitarianism in the region, on the part of a brutal occupying force and on the part...

US and China: Grappling Over Economic Rescue – Part I

Xu Sitao January 30, 2009
Trade imbalances, fueled by overproduction and saving in Asia, too much consumption and debt in the West, have compounded the harsh global recession. Analysts in the US and elsewhere in the West floundering for a remedy have focused on China’s trillion-plus dollar surplus and suggest that an increase in Chinese domestic spending might ease the global pain. This two-part YaleGlobal series suggests...

Battle in a Poor Land for Riches Beneath the Soil

Lydia Polgreen December 29, 2008
Africa's natural resources – oil, diamonds and now uranium – immediately invite conflict among factions. Increased energy needs of emerging economic giants like China and India, as well as the rising interest in nuclear power as an alternative energy source due to climate change, increase global demand for uranium. On paper, increased trade profits would seem a huge benefit to Niger, one of...

Lucrative Piracy Business Thrives Off Somali Coast

November 20, 2008
Piracy represents a major source of income for the desert nation of Somalia, fragmented politically and lacking any central authority since the early 1990s. The nation on Africa’s eastern coast is desperately poor, with a per-capita GDP of $600. Poaching of fish stocks has stripped coastal waters, and years of conflict have left plenty of weapons in Somali hands. So some Somalis, armed with...