In The News

Seoul Unfazed by U.S. Move Against Piracy

Kim Min-hee January 10, 2004
Washington's efforts to protect the intellectual property rights of Hollywood and the American music industry have yet to meet with success in South Korea. Claiming that South Korea's government has not done enough to prevent copyright infringement, the US government has placed Korea on its Priority Watch List. South Korea's high internet saturation has meant that millions of...

How to Reduce Poverty: Lessons from China

David Dollar January 6, 2004
Conventional economic wisdom holds that foreign investment and trade boost economic growth and help alleviate poverty in developing countries. So why is it that some countries that seem quite open to the outside world are stagnating economically? David Dollar, Director of Development Policy at the World Bank, writes that a comparison of economic conditions in several Chinese cities points to...

Sugar, Textiles Sour on CAFTA Deal

Jane Bussey December 19, 2003
US trade negotiators had no sooner finished closing a deal with four Central American countries when US textile and sugar industry representatives began crying foul. The Central American Free Trade Agreement would result in sugar industry job losses in the US, say its critics, and permit Chinese, Mexican, and Canadian textiles assembled in Central America to enjoy favorable import rules when...

Tensions Between Globalization, Backwardness

Riad al-Khouri December 18, 2003
For the Middle East to move forward economically and politically, says this article in Lebanon's Daily Star, states in the region must embrace principles of efficiency and inclusivity. Rather than fight against the tide of globalization, the author suggests, the Middle East must jump on the bandwagon, work to strengthen itself internally, and fortify its position in the global economy....

'Hasten Slowly' in Reviving the Doha Round

Ernesto Zedillo December 12, 2003
Reviving the Doha Round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) after the debacle in Cancun will not be possible if negotiators pretend that nothing has happened. Ernesto Zedillo, former President of Mexico and Director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, argues that further trade talks will only be useful if the participating countries recognize the lessons that should have been...

Self-Inflicted China Syndrome

Ernesto Zedillo December 11, 2003
In the US, China-bashing seems to have become a popular pastime for some politicians of late. But claims of China 'stealing' American jobs are un-founded, says Ernesto Zedillo. "Chinese exports have not, in general, displaced American goods in global markets," Zedillo writes. "Rather, China's world market share has grown at the expense of other labor-abundant...

Lesson in Protectionism

December 9, 2003
US President Bush recently ended import tariffs on foreign steel in order to avoid retaliatory sanctions by the European Union. But during the period of tariff protection, the US steel industry restructured itself. Many firms closed down or were taken over, says this editorial in India's Business Standard, which increased productivity and resulted in the first large public offering by any US...