In The News

Asia Matters for America

Satu Limaye June 28, 2011
US workers and politicians rail about jobs lost to Asia. But Asian-US interactions in education, immigration, investment, tourism and trade produce US jobs and income, explains Satu Limaye, director of the East-West Center in Washington. He created Asia Matters for America, an online map that relies on US government data to show exports, as well as their growth and percentage of total trade,...

False European Hopes of a Chinese Savior

Jonathan Holslag June 28, 2011
Europe courts China with hope of financial rescue. “Europe’s economy is now sufficiently damaged that China alone can never do enough to help it recover,” writes researcher Jonathan Holslag for the Financial Times. “To put it bluntly, why should we expect Chinese companies to create jobs in Europe when our own ones stumble under the weight of high wages and taxes? And why should we expect our...

Growing Economies, Rising Problems – Part II

Uri Dadush, William Shaw June 23, 2011
The global economy is expected to triple in size by the year 2050, and much of the growth will come from emerging economies, which were viewed not long ago as impoverished and backward. This YaleGlobal series examines the consequences of the changing global economic order. While developing nations accrue more economic power, thanks to their large populations, they’ll remain relatively poor, note...

Latin America Ponders Role of the Renminbi

Joe Leahy June 23, 2011
Latin America anticipates China’s rise as the world’s top economy, but is uncertain about the Chinese currency. During the last decade, trade between the two regions increased fivefold and Chinese direct investment into Latin America increased by twentyfold, reports Joe Leahy for the Financial Times. Many Latin American firms are unfamiliar with the renminbi, Leahy writes, adding “For Brazil’s...

Change in China Hits US Purse

Jon Hilsenrath, Laurie Burkitt, Elizabeth Holmes June 22, 2011
For more than a decade, US shoppers enjoyed low prices on clothing, electronics and other products, thanks to China’s low-cost labor and its government keeping the value of its currency low. But the days of discounted prices are coming to an end as Chinese workers demand higher wages, the value of the Chinese yuan rises and new consumer demand throughout China leads to rising prices for cotton,...

How the Euro Became Europe's Greatest Threat

June 22, 2011
Ordinary Europeans are losing patience, wondering if more bailouts can possibly stem the crisis once and for all. A handful of finance ministers scramble to contain the damage, preventing the Greek crisis from spreading and forcing cuts in valued social programs in nations where citizens did not overspend. The euro’s founders did not envision such a crisis or the political fury over a huge...

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...