In The News

Designing Fair Shares Prosperity in Asia

Chandran Nair May 31, 2012
Societies aiming for social progress have a few mechanisms: Governments can tax wealth and fund programs or NGOs; mandate a level of investment in beneficial programs, while giving companies and investors the benefit of choice; or impose few restrictions, hoping that companies and investors choose to strengthen communities on their own. Social investments can be piecemeal or far-reaching. With...

Tide Turns on Border Crossing

Miriam Jordan April 26, 2012
The reasons are many – demographics, recession, a rise in enforcement and hostility toward immigrants – but net immigration from Mexico to the US has plummeted to zero, reports Miriam Jordan for the Wall Street Journal. A decline in the Mexico’s birth rate has increased families’ wealth and reduced the need to immigrate in search for work. “Mexican families have fewer mouths to feed as the...

Can Social Media Campaigns End Child Labor?

Humphrey Hawksley February 10, 2012
Acts of intervention – with military action, aid and promotion of trade – have characterized international politics since the Cold War. Corporate intervention can now be added to the list of tools for alleviating poverty and encouraging development and education in impoverished nations. Social media and attention to global supply chains are exposing unfair labor practices, particularly child...

Tax Reform May Not Bring US Jobs Back

David Dapice February 3, 2012
Technology and ever-growing productivity – not outsourcing – are the main culprits behind declining jobs in the United States. The US president has proposed revising tax policy to encourage companies to apply growing profits to factories and research inside the US. But manufacturing is going the way of agriculture; fewer workers producing more. “Because of automation and technology, each factory...

Perceptions of Migration Clash With Reality, Report Finds

Caroline Brothers December 27, 2011
A global migration report outlines the distorted perceptions of immigrants and suggests that misinformation contributes to “harmful stereotypes, discrimination and xenophobia.” For example, the Italians in surveys assume that immigrants make up 25 percent of the population, when the true figure is 7 percent. Immigrants are wrongly scapegoated for unemployment, scarcity of public resources, crime...

Help Wanted: In Unexpected Twist, Some Skilled Jobs Go Begging

Ben Casselman December 6, 2011
Industries are struggling to hire skilled workers for welding, wiring, drill-rigging and machine-work, but such abilities may be vanishing in the United States. “Data show the skills gap doesn't exist in whole industries but in specific jobs, including certain heavy-duty blue-collar ones,” reports Ben Casselman in an article for the Wall Street Journal. The shortages have boosted pay rates...

Plugging the Brain Drain

Huang Shaojie December 5, 2011
A tough stance on immigration in the US could play into China’s hands and keep more talented Chinese workers at home. “The US quota system for skilled worker immigrants provides a maximum of 9800 ‘green cards’ a year to citizens of any one nation,” reports Huang Shaojie of China’s Global Times. More than 100,000 Chinese students study in the US, and of course, the quota system puts the world’s...