In The News

Globalization Battle Plays Out in French Cheese Industry

Matthew Saltmarsh October 24, 2008
A great product can’t help but inspire others to follow suit. But as copies emerge, quality often declines, and such is the case with great cheeses produced and aged in France, according to traditional cheesemakers. Matthew Saltmarsh profiles Philippe Alléosse in Paris, who worries “industrial processes – from sourcing through production and distribution – are squeezing small farmers and...

The World's Most Utterly Failed State

October 10, 2008
Piracy is one of the oldest legacies of globalization; as goods are traded among increasingly connected peoples, others carve their place in the global economy by disrupting trade and stealing what they can on the high seas. Since the end of its "Golden Age" in the 1800s, piracy has taken on a largely nostalgic role in pop culture and travel attractions in the West, but remains a...

Why the Critics of Globalization Are Mistaken

Jagdish Bhagwati October 8, 2008
The centuries-old process of globalization – people in search of the best locations for their families, the best ideas for organizing daily life – has become an easy target in a more crowded world: workers fear factories and jobs relocating overseas, environmentalists worry about development shifted to countries with minimal enforcement, and savers fret about irresponsible spending and investment...

Don't Go There

Elizabeth Becker September 3, 2008
In an increasingly crowded world, travelers find it more difficult to find remote and natural settings. “Thanks to globalization and cheap transportation, there aren't many places where you can travel today to avoid the masses of adventure or relaxation-seekers who seem to alight at every conceivable site,” writes Elizabeth Becker for the Washington Post. The industrial nature of modern...

Nobel Laureates Say Globalization's Winners Should Aid Poor

Joellen Perry August 27, 2008
Some citizens accrue more benefits from open and free markets than other citizens, and growing income inequality has become a major issue in elections around the globe. Wealth among nations is evening out. Yet within some nations and communities, those that don’t use taxes or government programs to guarantee widespread distribution of benefits and opportunity, the lopsided effects of trade and...

New Energy Frontiers Expand Global Connections – Part I

Adriana Valencia August 14, 2008
Electricity is essential for any who care to participate in globalization, and huge numbers of the world’s rural poor still long for this basic tool at a time of tight supply and climbing prices. This two-part series examines two frontiers – the energy demands of the rural poor and the increasing supply of alternative-energy sources in the developing world. In the first article, Adriana Valencia...

China’s Rumble With Globalization – Part II

Jonathan Fenby July 24, 2008
Despite a turbulent history, China has enjoyed two decades of growth and self-confidence, boosted by diplomatic and business engagement with the rest of the globe. But China has only entered “the first generation of China's globalization,” described by Jonathan Fenby in this second article of a two-part series. Now entering its “second generation of globalization,” the world’s most populous...