In The News

Is France on Course to Bid Adieu to Globalization?

Pierre Haski July 21, 2011
The French have long been critical of globalizing forces that disrupt their nation’s economy or threaten their identity. Calls for démondialisation, or deglobalization, has emerged as a leading issue in the French presidential campaign. Intense opposition to engagement with the world builds among the left and right, along with alarm about the global debt crisis, structural youth unemployment and...

States Cannot Put Globalization Genie Back in Bottle

Jack Radisch July 8, 2011
Nations cannot escape globalized risks, explains Jack Radisch, OECD policy analyst, for Public Service Europe. “For many risks, the frontline of protection is a well-functioning regulatory environment,” he writes. Governments must set priorities before investing in prevention strategies. Risk analysis is required, and he notes that costs of the 2008 credit crisis triggered by subprime mortgages...

China's “Wealth Drain” – New Signs That Rich Chinese Are Set on Emigrating

Xin Haiguang June 20, 2011
More than half of wealthy Chinese, those with assets of more than 10 million yuan, hope to emigrate, according to a 2011 Private Wealth Report on China, published by China Merchants Bank and the consulting firm Bain & Company, as reported by Worldcrunch. In another survey, 12 percent of Chinese described themselves as “thriving” and 71 percent as “struggling.” Underlying goals of wealthy...

No Big Mac In Lao Idyll

Nayan Chanda June 6, 2011
With careful planning, cities connect with the world and maintain cultural diversity. In his column for Businessworld, Nayan Chanda explores Luang Prabang, the former royal capital of Laos: “The town also shows how pre-industrial economies can be integrated into a world of jet planes and high-speed Internet, while maintaining its old world charm.” Designated a Unesco World Heritage site in 1995,...

Bound to Fail

Bo Ekman May 31, 2011
No nation can successfully block out the physical or intangible cross-border challenges imposed by others. Immigrants, disease, radiation, trade in natural resources or radical ideas like democracy leap and bound across borders. With global interconnectedness in so many areas, governance at the national level has become but a quaint endeavor. Any political, economic, military or spiritual system...

US Sours on Globalization

Nayan Chanda May 25, 2011
One concern trumps all others for Americans: a lack of jobs. Resentment is high about the high unemployment rate, ongoing layoffs, declining wages and rising costs even as multinational corporations earn record profits and hire low-cost labor in emerging markets. More US job openings are in retail and the service sector than manufacturing. Americans target their ire at globalization and market...

Battle Pits Cocoa Speculators Against Chocolate Makers

Hauke Goos, Ralf Hoppe May 3, 2011
In recent years, many forces influence cocoa trading prices, including attempts by speculators to corner world markets. “Speculators act as accelerants – and the smaller the market, the easier their game,” report Hauke Goos and Ralf Hoppe for Spiegel Online. Cocoa is among the smallest commodities markets, requiring only £7 billion to buy an entire year's harvest, and a few financiers can...