In The News

Who's Your Big Brother? NAFTA, the EU, and International Trade and Development

May 7, 2007
Economic integration schemes have a powerful impact on growth in developing nations, reports Gerald McDermott, Lazlo Bruszt and Vanesa Sanchez in a paper “International Integration Regimes as Development Programs: A Comparison of EU and NAFTA Accession Processes” for Knowledge@Wharton, an online business publication of the University of Pennsylvania. Economic indicators suggest that European...

Filler in Animal Feed Is Open Secret in China

David Barboza May 4, 2007
Since it joined the WTO in 2001, China has come under increasing pressure to crack down on manufacturing of counterfeit and illegal goods within its borders. Beyond intellectual property concerns, safety fears are becoming increasingly prominent amid criticism of China’s lax enforcement against counterfeiters. Tales of fake medicines on US shelves and faithful replications of name-brand cars on...

Eastern Europe Becomes a Center for Outsourcing

John Tagliabue April 30, 2007
Be careful what you wish for, goes the old saying. People in Western Europe once grumbled about immigrants from Eastern Europe seeking work. But instead of people moving about, more Western European firms shift jobs to Eastern Europe, reports journalist John Tagliabue in “The New York Times.” The global outsourcing market is worth almost $400 billion this year. Eastern European nations like the...

EU-US Summit: Hands Across the Ocean

José Manuel Barroso April 27, 2007
Despite persistent fears in the West about emerging competition from developing economies, a more immediate concern for Americans and Europeans is their own trade relationship. While the people of the European Union and the US together make up barely 10 percent of the world's population, bilateral business between the two accounts for fully 40 percent of all international trade. That is why...

China-Japan: Cautious Steps Across the Divide

Wenran Jiang April 26, 2007
While the Japanese invasion of China more than 60 years ago continues to cloud relations between the two Asian powers, recent diplomatic interactions also signal a beginning of reconciliation. With the rise of a new prime minister in Japan, Shinzo Abe, the two sides saw an opportunity to reverse the animosity that his predecessor had engendered with annual visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, where...

Perverse Incentives

April 26, 2007
Unfortunately, when some companies know that a chemical or product is about to be banned, they push it off onto unsuspecting customers in other countries. Or, if companies anticipate being paid not to produce a certain chemical, they boost production to capture high returns in the short run. Unfortunately, some firms take advantage of international treaties like the Kyoto Treaty, violating the...

From Old World to Real World

Steven Pearlstein April 26, 2007
Advocates of globalization, free trade and outsourcing admit that jobs shift to low-wage developing nations, but promise eventual benefits for the developed world. Producing goods at a lower cost abroad reduces prices, translating into more money for Western consumers to purchase more products. A common strategy for keeping jobs in the developed world is to provide high levels of education and...