In The News

Wolfowitz Saga Exposes Structural Flaws of the World Bank

Devesh Kapur May 15, 2007
Reactions to the conflict-of-interest allegations against Paul Wolfowitz, president of the World Bank, have been muted: Europe won’t criticize Wolfowitz much for fear of losing its monopoly over the IMF; countries that depend on World Bank funding may regard the scandal as leverage against strict expectations about corruption within their borders; and up-and-comers such as India and China seek...

Calling India

Scott Kraft May 10, 2007
The word “outsourcing” may carry plenty of negative connotations in the US – but not when consumers are hunting for a good deal. Parents in the US, desperate to help their children achieve in an increasingly competitive global environment, seek tutoring services but don’t want to spend a lot of money. Using a voice-over-internet phone and an interactive computer “whiteboard,” a pupil in Beverly...

Save the WTO From the Doha Round

Ernesto Zedillo May 9, 2007
The World Trade Organization launched the Doha Round of negotiations to ease trade restrictions and reduce poverty. Attempts to revive the negotiations – stalled since summer of 2006 as the world’s wealthiest nations quarrel over how to end agricultural subsidies – continue to be stymied. The next development, predicts Ernesto Zedillo, director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization...

Investing: French Elections Test Attitudes Toward Globalization

Conrad de Aenlle May 8, 2007
Nicolas Sarkozy won election as president of France. Before the final vote, financial analysts pondered which candidate would produce the best financial climate for France. During the campaign, both candidates, socialist Ségolène Royal and conservative Sarkozy, had taken a firm anti-globalization stance – though globalization has enriched the French. French labor policies don’t wear well in a...

Capitalist Tools Needed for Future Globalism Ills

Robert J. Shiller April 23, 2007
Fears about displacement caused by economic globalization have been at the forefront of the French presidential campaign, as Nicholas Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal head for the final election round in May. The sentiment expressed in candidate Nicolas Sarkozy’s call to end “speculative capitalism” finds resonance in many parts of the world, as governments attempt to interfere with global free trade...

The Establishment Rethinks Globalization

William Greider April 19, 2007
As the US readies for the 2008 presidential election, corporate executives have divided into two camps for advising candidates on how to proceed with globalization: Supporting free trade without limits is Robert Rubin, former treasury secretary under President Clinton, and urging reform of corporate globalization and preservation of a range of skills is Ralph Gomory, a former IBM executive who...

French Voters Fear Globalization

Angela Doland April 17, 2007
As predicted, conservative Nicolas Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal captured the first round in the French presidential election that featured globalization as a central issue. According to a survey last year, 64 percent of the French view globalization as a threat to their nation’s commercial autonomy. Yet the election revealed varied perspectives: Some candidates favored globalization, but with...