In The News

Needing Students, Maine School Hunts in China

Abby Goodnough November 5, 2010
Growth can deliver economic revival. Though an anti-immigration stance enjoys populist success in some regions of the US, other politicians recognize that immigration contributes a quick budget recharge. Courting foreign students for education programs provides some of immigration's benefits with no permanent ties. A public schools superintendent in Maine hopes to balance his budget by...

How Speculators Are Crippling the Copper Industry

Jens Glüsing, Alexander Jung, Thomas Schulz November 4, 2010
Volatility in copper prices – and commodity prices more generally – is a product of financial speculation. Expansion of internet market trading, ravenous Chinese demand, and large financial firms looking to diversify portfolios contribute to demand. Copper is an essential component for cables, plumbing and electronic devices, and the limited nature of natural resources like copper piques the...

Shift in Washington Stirs Economic Jitters Abroad

Liz Alderman November 3, 2010
President Barack Obama had two years to turn around a struggling economy before the mid-term elections. Voters expressed dissatisfaction, shifting control of the US House of Representatives, one of two legislative bodies, over to the Republicans. Republican leaders signal that reducing unemployment and taxes are priorities. But global onlookers fear tax reduction will aggravate deficits, widening...

Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore

Robert H. Frank October 29, 2010
Widening income gaps erode a society’s strength, sapping optimism and innovation. In recent decades, the US joined the ranks of less developed nations as income growth is concentrated among top earners. Political economists hesitate to condemn opposition to taxes that contributes to the trend. Exorbitant spending by a wealthy few establishes new expectations and standards of one’s need, raising...

Chinese Bank Chief Urges Push Overseas

Jamil Anderlini October 28, 2010
Crisis provides opportunity, the old Chinese saying goes, and the Bank of China's chairman sees economic opportunities as banks of other nations struggle to recover. His comments could signal an end to a government ban on offshore mergers and acquisitions by Chinese financial groups, notes Jamil Anderlini for the Financial Times. The informal ban has been in place since 2007 as recognition...

Global “Chop Shops”: Slice, Dice and Outsource

Farok J. Contractor October 27, 2010
Manufacturing and IT firms slice their work into parts, much like the chop shops that collect old cars, breaking them down into parts for resale and higher profits. Mangers divide tasks, sending work to points of the globe where costs and skills are most efficient for each task at hand. Farok J. Contractor, professor of management and global business, analyzes trends underway in the once-...

G-20 Pledges to Avoid Devaluations in Push to Defuse Global Trade Tensions

Simon Kennedy, Eunkyung Seo October 26, 2010
Relatively low currency values make a nation's exports more attractive for global customers. Before global recession struck, the US and other nations protested artificially low values of China's currency. Heeding the warnings, China insisted on a gradual rise in value. To counter global recession and boost domestic spending, the US and others pumped currency into markets, essentially...