In The News

Armenians Struggle for Health Care and Medicines

Monika Mkhitaryan, Onnik Krikorian August 5, 2009
Faced with unemployment and lower remittances in the current global economic slowdown, Armenians face a vicious health care cycle. Since the country’s independence in 1991, the government has created numerous healthcare programs which generally succeeded in providing for the health needs of its people. About half of the total expenditure on health is financed through the private sector, of which...

The New Colonialism: Foreign Investors Snap Up African Farmland

Horand Knaup, Juliane von Mittelstaedt August 4, 2009
Expected population growth coupled with stable to dwindling agricultural land supply has led many an analyst to forecast an optimistic picture for agricultural investment for many years to come. The world needs more food. Throw in the high grain and food prices in 2008 with the resulting occasional food riot and both governments and investment funds catch a glimpse of what the future could look...

US Immigration Policy Likely to Boost Population

Joseph Chamie July 30, 2009
Demographic trends, often ignored by policymakers, are clearly linked with the US’ immigration policy. If Congress and the Obama administration plan to implement an effective immigration policy, they need to understand how over time it will affect the country’s population figure. As demographer Joseph Chamie notes, policy makers should start by asking how large should the US’ population be....

China to the Rescue: Growing Out of the Financial Crisis

Joergen Oerstroem Moeller July 28, 2009
The global financial crisis is far from over, and Joergen Oerstroem Moeller argues for a stimulation in global demand. Unfortunately, the big drivers of demand growth in the past – primarily the US, but also Japan and Europe – each face major hurdles sufficiently large to suggest they won’t be the engines of growth in the immediate future. So Moeller recommends looking to China. Critics counter...

A Retreat From Global Banking

Floyd Norris July 24, 2009
Globalization seems to be receding in the world of banking not because the banks themselves have turned inward, but because governments are now more local in focus. Moreover, the desire or need to find a scapegoat for the crisis has also chipped away at globalization’s edifice: the Federal Reserve and the Treasury in the US have had to defend in Congress their actions during, rather than their...

Mining Giants Are Forced To Lessen Global Ambitions

Robert Guy Matthews July 23, 2009
The recent decline in commodity prices along with greater government intervention has led mining companies to slow projects in emerging markets. Last year Guinea, unsatisfied with the pace of an iron ore project, stripped miner Rio Tinto of its rights to develop the reserves. Rio Tinto then decided that the project was unfeasible and started to withdraw from what was to be a $6 billion investment...

Insight: The Perils of De-Globalisation

Joe Quinlan July 23, 2009
The recent economic data suggest that the fallout from the financial crisis has abated and is nearing a bottom thanks, in part, to stimulus measures taken by countries around the globe. Yet, according to the author, it is these very stimulus packages that may undermine the global economy in the long run. By filling stimulus plans with “buy local” mandates, the US and other wealthy nations could...