In The News

Swiss Franc Decision Should Be a Lesson for Euro Critics

Charles Hawley September 9, 2011
European economies, strong and weak, have their doubts about the continent’s common currency. Strong exporters like Germany are weary of bailing out spendthrifts, and spenders like Italy and Greece resent austerity measures imposed on them by their euro partners. Developing rescue packages is an ongoing challenge. But like it or not, Europe realized Tuesday that the euro and other European...

Argentina Acts to Protect Local Films

Jude Webber September 7, 2011
More often than not, protectionism represents desperation. The Argentine state film institute has begun imposing fines on foreign film, reports Jude Webber for the Financial Times. The extra fees, to be levied on films shown on more than 161 Argentine screens, are intended to curtail mass releases of Hollywood blockbusters, Webber reports, and collect revenues “to protect national filmmakers.”...

India Measures Itself Against a China That Doesn’t Notice

Vikas Bajaj September 6, 2011
India is in a race, comparing the pace of its economic development not with Western economic powers but with its neighbor, China, writes Vikas Bajaj for the New York Times. Comparisons on infrastructure, universities and armed forces are a constant feature in India's newspapers. But China does not share the same obsession, instead setting sights on surpassing the largest economy, that of the...

How Global Investors Make Money Out of Hunger

Horand Knaup, Michaela Schiessl, Anne Seith September 6, 2011
Traders, intent on making money, increasingly rely on products always in demand: food commodities. Record sums are being invested in commodities. “Agricultural commodities attract investors who are no more interested in grain than they were previously in dot-com companies or subprime mortgages,” explains a team from Spiegel Online. The result is fast-rising food prices, reports the UN Food and...

India’s Anti-Corruption Movement Wins – For Now

Ashok Malik September 1, 2011
Anna Hazare organized his public fast in New Delhi to strengthen anti-corruption legislation that was already winding its way through India’s parliament. Widespread public support, in particular among the middle class and youth, attracted immediate global attention and stunned India’s political establishment. After 12 days, the government capitulated, and Hazare ended the fast. But India’s...

Slouching Toward a Double-Dip, For No Good Reason

Robert Reich August 30, 2011
With the US on the verge of another recession, consumers hesitate to spend. The job crisis in the US has reduced revenues, adding to the debt crisis. Yet the US focuses on the wrong priority, slowing spending to ease a debt crisis rather than investing in programs to end the job crisis. Robert Reich, author and former US labor secretary, warns against shallow comparisons that equate US and...

Making the Desert Bloom

August 30, 2011
The North American Free Trade Agreement of 1994 gave Mexico great potential, but the country also became among the hardest hit in the Americas by the global debt crisis, notes the Economist. Some analysts urge ongoing diversification of trade partners to strengthen the economy: “The Inter-American Development Bank, the biggest lender in the region, describes a ‘two speed’ Latin America, in which...