In The News

The Administration’s Budget for Global Poverty and HIV/AIDS: How Do the Numbers Stack Up?

Lael Brainard February 24, 2003
The Bush Administration’s announcement of new funding for global poverty and HIV/AIDS has led to much rejoicing in many parts of the world, but it has also met with skepticism in some quarters. The Washington-based Brookings Institution offers an in-depth quantitative analysis of the offer and the establishment of the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA). The report summary presented here says...

Power to the Privileged

Amy Chua January 7, 2003
A central theme of global integration in recent years has been the spread of free markets and democracy. Yale professor Amy Chua argues that these features of globalization can create serious problems in countries where economic levers lie in the hands of an ethnic minority. She gives the example of Venezuela, where a president elected by the poorer section of society and the majority ethnic...

Strict International Patent Laws Hurt Developing Countries

Amy Kapczynski December 16, 2002
In 1998, 39 pharmaceutical companies filed a lawsuit against South Africa. They hoped to stop the government from producing the generic drugs that would have made treatment affordable for the country's AIDS victims. A public outcry ensued, and critics accused pharmaceutical companies of valuing profit over human life. Although these same companies were eventually pressured into dropping...

The Next Africa?

Nicholas D. Kristof December 10, 2002
Argentina has preceded its South American neighbors in one of the worst financial crises the continent has ever seen. Its once-prosperous inhabitants are scrounging for food and collecting recyclables to make a living, and Argentina is poised to become the next Africa, Nicholas Kristof writes. Tumultuous political situations and falling per capita income are leaving the people Venezuela, Brazil...

Thais Urged to Spearhead Vaccine Drive

Arthit Khwankhom November 21, 2002
Global health concerns rank high on the agendas of many governments. Many of the tropical diseases prevalent in developing countries, however, are under-researched by large pharmaceutical companies because there are few profits to be made from producing drugs for people in poor regions. But in Southeast Asia, not all are despairing over the lack of interest by large pharmaceutical companies....

Will de Soto’s ideas work in Thailand?

Nophakhun Limsamarnphun November 17, 2002
In the age of almost instantaneous information exchange, ideas can travel around the world with only the click of a mouse. From South America to Southeast Asia, poor people around the world face similar problems. Now Thailand's Prime Minister is considering taking up an anti-poverty scheme developed by the Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto. If his idea proves as effective as it promises...

War On ‘Blood’ Diamonds Ramped Up

Ursula Owre Masterson August 21, 2002
Civil war has ravaged countries like Sierra Leone and Angola for decades. These conflicts, as much about money as about politics, often center around one of the African continent’s most precious resources: diamonds. Rebel groups often sell the gems to developed countries and use the profits to fund their fighting. After years of benefiting from the cheaper stones, Western governments, led by...