In The News

Privatization vs. Democracy

Salah Hemeid October 13, 2003
The chief US Administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, recently announced that Iraq's state-owned industries will be sold off to private investors in an effort to boost the country's struggling economy. The new policy also allows for 100 percent foreign ownership of all industries except for oil, which will remain under government control for the time being. Iraqis view their oil reserves as...

Why Does One Country Draw More Investment Than Another?

David Dollar October 10, 2003
Why do some developing countries enjoy the highest growth rates in the world while others flounder? The World Bank set out to answer this question by comparing four developing nations - China, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh - that have grown at strikingly different rates. Though these countries were equally under-developed at the beginning of the 1990s, China’s economy has since soared, while...

Overseas Job Shift Affects Office Market

Terry Pristin October 8, 2003
The offshore outsourcing trend in the United States has claimed another victim: the market for commercial real estate. As firms transfer more back-office operations to low-wage countries, the already sluggish demand for office space in the US has slumped considerably more. "It's just going to take longer to get the numbers down to palatable percentages," said Dale Anne Reiss,...

Sushi Rice, California's New Gold Rush

Kay Rentschler October 8, 2003
California is joining the ranks of world class rice producers. Though southern growers have long monopolized the U.S.’s domestic rice industry, California has become second only to Thailand in exports of premium rice. Sacramento Valley is one of only three microclimates in the world, including Japan and Australia, where the high-quality, small grain japonica rice flourishes. This rice...

US Business Interest in Singapore Triples Due to FTA: US Officials

October 8, 2003
Terrorist attacks and activity in Southeast Asia have not deterred American businesses from venturing into Singapore, according to the US ambassador to that city-state. In the past year, US small- and medium-sized businesses have been setting up shop in the country at a quick pace, Ambassador Frank Lavin said. Last month, the US and Singapore signed a free trade agreement (FTA) set to take...

Asians Fear Rising US Protectionism

Michael Richardson October 3, 2003
On the eve of the annual summit of Asia-Pacific nations, many Asian countries are expressing worry over US trade policy, says Michael Richardson, a visiting senior research fellow at the Institute of South East Asian Studies in Singapore. US President George W. Bush will be welcomed at the APEC (Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation) conference later this month in the midst of what will likely be...

Globalization Hurts USA

John Sweeney October 2, 2003
With the US economy in a slump, American labor leaders are calling for a change in US trade policy. John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, the largest union in America, argues that globalization, at least as it relates to trade policy, has failed both working Americans and poor workers in developing countries. Because world trade agreements encourage American manufacturing companies to take...