In The News

Protectionism Hurts US Schools

Amity Shlaes March 7, 2004
In America's 'panic' over outsourcing, says this opinion piece in the Financial Times, education is a key factor that has received little attention. For too long, says Amity Shlaes, the US public education system has been coddled and protected from competition. American students' poor showing on international educational assessments is the result of decades of decline. The...

Outsourcing Is Becoming a Harder Sell in the U.S.

Eduardo Porter March 6, 2004
While white-collar American workers fret over the possibility that their jobs will be outsourced and politicians call for more restrictions on offshoring, even some US business owners fear that outsourcing may ultimately be to their detriment. According to a recent study, 80 percent of senior executives believe that outsourcing is good for the global economy. Yet only 58 percent of American...

Hungary Eager and Uneasy Over New Status

Mark Landler March 5, 2004
Poised to join the European Union (EU) in May, Hungary anticipates a larger share of the global trade pie. During the 1990's Hungary served as a "backdoor to Europe" for U.S companies, and now it hopes to market this role to Chinese companies that wish to sell to Europe – they could avoid costly import duties by producing all or a large part of their products within the expanded...

Growing Vulnerability of Seaports from Terror Attacks

Michael Richardson March 5, 2004
Global trade is heavily dependent on shipping, with hundreds of port cities worldwide offering open doors to goods from other countries. Unfortunately, writes Michael Richardson, this same openness allows terrorists the possibility of bringing into the target country devastating means of attack – from high-explosives to radiological bombs, even nuclear devices. Al-Qaeda used a cargo vessel to...

It Must Be Something in the Water

Gamal Nkrumah March 3, 2004
The Nile River Basin of Africa marks one of the poorest areas of the world. Population numbers are unsustainable with the current water resources and are only expected to grow. With too many people competing for too little water, the Nile River has become a bastion of controversy. Downstream lies Egypt, the most well-developed of the nations and the one that takes the most water. Upstream,...

A New Consensus on Free Trade

Gene Sperling March 1, 2004
During the Clinton presidency, “globalization with a human face” was the motto that underlined US trade policy. Today, under pressure from the outsourcing debate, both the Bush administration and the Democratic candidates are pushing to close the doors on open markets. Gene Sperling, director of economic programs at the Center for American Progress and national economic adviser during the Clinton...

Outsourcing Debate - Part III

David Dapice March 1, 2004
Despite the political debates over outsourcing that are emerging in this US presidential election year, the economic story is quite simple. In the final installment of a three-part series on outsourcing, economist David Dapice says that outsourcing allows hundreds of thousands of people in developing countries like Vietnam the chance to earn wages, pull themselves out of poverty, and - in turn...