In The News

Shared Pasts, Different Futures

Abdel-Moneim Said August 19, 2005
Often, examining the past sheds light on events of the present. It is in this vein that Abdel-Moneim Said, in Al-Ahram Weekly, explores a crucial issue: "Is jihad a reaction to colonial oppression?" Using China's turbulent history as a basis for comparison, Said finds that violence is not always the only viable response to such oppression. Indeed, from the Opium Wars to forced...

World Is Heading for Oil Price Shock

George Magnus August 16, 2005
Global oil prices have been gradually approaching record levels. While many analysts believe the implications of this increase are minor, there may actually be cause for concern. Increasing demands for energy, particularly from China and India, highlight a growing supply problem. The global supply of oil is not going to run out, per se, but producers will likely struggle to meet the increased...

How France Can Win From Offshoring

Tony Blanco August 15, 2005
The debate over benefits of outsourcing centers to companies and to a country’s economy versus its cost to displaced workers at home, has heated up in France. As France struggles to compete in the global economy, the authors suggest that it should strive to take full advantage of outsourcing. They recommend several tactics that could derive similar benefits from outsourcing, while minimizing...

Is Iraq War Fueling GCC's Economic Boom?

Emilie Rutledge August 12, 2005
Since the US-led invasion of Iraq in March, 2003, all six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states have experienced high levels of economic growth, and the price of oil has doubled. Although the "Iraqi factor" can partly account for this upward trajectory in the price of oil, Emilie Rutledge writes that the unprecedented rise in global demand and lack of spare capacity are the more...

CAFTA's Close Call A Warning to US Policy Makers

Edward Gresser August 9, 2005
Passing both the Senate and the House by slim margins, the approval of CAFTA – a free-trade agreement linking the US with the five Central American states and the Dominican Republic – was a narrow victory for the Bush administration. CAFTA will only have a marginal effect on the US economy – so why such a close vote? As Edward Gresser writes, the new initiative addresses protected goods such as...

Why "Made in China" Is Good News for the US

Andrew Leonard August 5, 2005
US trade with and investment in China continue to rise, along with the American trade deficit. One of the few areas in which the US still enjoys a trade surplus with China is the microchip industry – traditionally a Silicon Valley specialty. However, China, intent on catching up, is training engineers and providing incentives to foreign investors in hopes of developing a strong microchip industry...

To Soothe Anger Over Subsidies, US Cotton Tries Wooing Africa

Scott Kilman August 5, 2005
Jim Butler, deputy undersecretary at the US Department of Agriculture, was greeted with fanfare when he visited Mali, pledging US support to help increase the productivity of cotton farming there. The United States has recently taken an interest in "helping" West African cotton farmers produce more effectively, but the motivation may be more just benevolence. As developing nations...