In The News

India Calling

Anand Giridharadas December 2, 2008
Immigrants tend to flow from poorer nations to wealthier ones, but on second thought, perhaps attitudes are more attractive than wealth. Indians moved to the West, escaping India’s constraints in the 1970s. But India’s economy has since enjoyed ample growth and its politicians matured, enacting policies that focused on privatization, liberalization and globalization. In recent years, the...

The Limits of Growth – Part II

Chandran Nair November 24, 2008
Governments pursue rapid growth as a path to prosperity, and policymakers generally depend on markets to reveal and control problems. In the second of this two-part YaleGlobal series on the limits to growth, Chandran Nair, founder of the Global Institute for Tomorrow, points to parallels between the global economic crisis and climate change. Both challenges are rooted in the pursuit of excessive...

A Sea of Unwanted Imports

Matt Richtel November 19, 2008
Even as US automakers plead for government bailout funds, millions of dollars worth of foreign cars pile up at US docks. US Dealers decline the new vehicles because of a global credit crunch and consumer wariness about job loss. Japanese and German car companies resort to leasing space in US ports, and “They are turning dozens of acres of the nation’s second-largest container port into a parking...

Fierce Democratic Struggle Shapes Globalization

Salil Tripathi November 19, 2008
The world watches in amazement as India, with about one-sixth of the world's population and great diversity, chalks up impressive economic growth. Large-scale changes as India develops, though, are not wrought without friction. In recent decades an entrenched bias has favored city growth, argues journalist Salil Tripathi, while two-thirds of the country's billion-plus people remain...

Not a Bad Weekend’s Work

November 17, 2008
The Group of 20 meeting of world leaders did not offer solutions on the global economic crisis, but did produce a detailed plan for financial reform, including reviving the Doha Round on trade and pledging to avoid protectionism. “This was the first time that the leaders of all these rich and emerging economies – which between them represent almost 90% of global GDP – had gathered for an economic...

Industrial Policy Puts Global Cooperation at Risk

Patricia Wruuck November 14, 2008
Leaders gathering in Washington DC for a G20 summit to discuss the global financial crisis recognize that a global response is required. Any new financial architecture also requires international cooperation – even as the economic slowdown increasingly triggers calls for protectionist measures at the domestic level. For example, US carmakers clamor for government aid to resolve problems – such as...

Economic Crisis Could Push Reform in China

Zhiwu Chen November 12, 2008
Economic crisis can be a time of opportunity, particularly if political leaders are savvy enough to use the down period to introduce needed reforms. Zhiwu Chen, finance professor with the Yale School Management, offers such a blueprint for China. An economic stimulus package announced this week by the Chinese government, aimed at building infrastructure, is only a first step. Chen also urges the...