In The News

Leveraging the Dragon: Toward "An Africa That Can Say No"

Chris Alden March 1, 2005
China is extending its economic influence to every corner of the world, and natural-resource-rich Africa is no exception. Between 2000 and 2003, China-Africa trade volume increased from US$10 billion to US$18 billion. However, some fear that this bilateral relationship is not built on equitable terms. According to economist Chris Alden, Africa's trade deficit with China has increased...

China Shows the Way in a Quota-Free Market

Linda Lim February 21, 2005
The recent end of the textile quota regime introduced freer trade to the global market. Predictably, nations who stood to lose market share - mostly to China - have cried out in anguish. According to Linda Lim, restricting Chinese exports is a short-sighted and ineffective strategy: "One would do better to learn from Chinese example of smart investment and management to thrive in a...

Dealing with a Declining Dollar – Part II

David Dapice February 9, 2005
If today's US budget deficit raises concerns, then tomorrow's projections should sound an alarm, writes economist David Dapice. As the United States descends further and further into debt – by several trillion dollars over the next ten years – the value of US currency will decline. Should a worldwide "run on the dollar" result, shockwaves would resonate throughout the global...

How Globalization Train is Overrunning Nigeria

Etim Imisim January 27, 2005
A member of the World Trade Organization for the past ten years, Nigeria should be well-situated to reap the benefits of free trade. Yet thanks to a set of domestic and international factors, the country may even be sliding backwards. In an interview with Nigerian newspaper This Day, development expert Bankole Olubamise argues gloomily that much has gone afoul in Africa's most populous...

China's African Safari

Paul Mooney January 3, 2005
Since the 1960s, China has been rather consistent in offering assistance to African countries in agriculture, heavy industries, and infrastructure development. In recent years, Sino-African trade has enjoyed particularly rapid growth. As Paul Mooney reports, many African leaders, regarding China as a reliable friend who has suffered the similar imperialist aggression by Western powers, welcome...

South America Seeks to Fill the World's Table

Larry Rohter December 12, 2004
Though the United States remains the world's largest exporter of agricultural goods, it faces a stern challenge from Brazil. Agriculture has boomed in Brazil in recent years thanks to market-friendly economic policies and increasingly sophisticated methods of cultivation. Many Brazilian farmers have settled what has been termed Brazil's "untapped frontier" – its vast tracts of...

The Patent Controversy

Rajeev Dhavan December 10, 2004
As India's Parliament rushes through the Third Patents Amendment, the important social justice and equity issues are being ignored, says the author in India’s newspaper, The Hindu. The pressure to pass this law before January 1, 2005 came from the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the US, which hold the implicit threat of retaliation and non-compliance under WTO provisions. However, argues...