In The News

India: Poverty Retreats with Globalization’s Advance

Baldev Raj Nayar February 1, 2007
As globalization gained speed during the latter part of the 20th century, so too did India’s integration with the world economy. Baldev Raj Nayar, emeritus professor of political science at McGill University, counters critics who suggest that globalization has increased instability or poverty. By opening the door to multinational firms, India strengthened and diversified the country’s economy. He...

Democrats Give Bush the Business on Trade

Peter S. Goodman February 1, 2007
To avoid petty special-interest confrontations, the US Congress can extend authority to the president to negotiate trade deals. Congress retains final approval, voting yes or no on deals negotiated by the president. But a Democratic Congress at odds with the Republican president has demanded guarantees on labor and environmental protections in any future negotiations. Otherwise, Congress will...

Rich Man, Poor Man

January 25, 2007
As the complexity of the global marketplace increases, top executives and the wealthy have seen a dramatic rise in compensation while average workers confront the pain of labor outsourcing and stagnant wages. This irony has sparked a renewed urge towards protectionism and redistribution that puts free-trade principles at risk. Rather than the government piling up obstacles for globalization or...

Africans Ponder Globalization Pros and Cons

Stephen Mbogo January 24, 2007
A debate is underway among anti-globalization activists attending the annual World Social Forum, held this year in Nairobi. The activists have traditionally expressed concern about how unrestricted trade and development can disrupt environmental protection, education, health care or culture in developing nations. But global interactions also provide opportunity and innovation, argue Africans who...

The Great Unbundling

January 23, 2007
The model of comparative advantage built on the works of Adam Smith and David Ricardo has rarely been challenged as the predominant rationale for international trade. With individual tasks of all sorts increasingly shipped overseas, some economists seek new theories to explain the logic behind the offshoring of services. Gene Grossman and Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, for example, have labeled...

Globalization’s Unequal Discontents

William H. Overholt January 23, 2007
Sometimes globalization is a mechanism that levels playing fields and sometimes it is a bulldozer. Throughout history, globalization has often enriched business owners and risk-takers, while doing little for ordinary workers. In recent years, the modern workforce has gradually included more workers from China, India and other emerging nations, and that global competition has stagnated wages for...

The False Promise of Financial Liberalization

Dani Rodrik January 22, 2007
Free capital flow over the past 15 years was supposed to help developing nations, writes Dani Rodrik, political economy professor with Harvard University, with excess funds moving from wealthy nations to worthy projects around the world, smoothing out boom-and-bust cycles and decreasing corruption. However, Rodrik points out that the developing nations with the most successful economies – China,...