In The News

How 6 Parts Nearly Delayed World's Biggest Airliner

Chana Joffe-Walt November 6, 2008
Manufacturing can’t always keep pace with new products and ideas, and that is the case for some giant ball bearings, a needed part for major aircraft as well as wind turbines, reports Chana Joffe-Walt for National Public Radio. After calling his supplier in Germany, a US engineer working on the Airbus A380 was surprised to learn that delivery of the custom ball bearings would take 18 months and...

A Spanish Blowout: The Iberian Giants of US Wind Energy

Mark Scott November 4, 2008
Because they enacted strict emissions limits early and their business models adapted, two countries have a head start in developing alternative energy from wind – Portugal and Spain. As a result of that head start and a global credit crisis, major wind-energy companies from Spain and Portugal are aggressively pursuing wind projects overseas, including the US. Small wind-farm firms in the US find...

The Global Financial Crisis: Lessons for the United States and China

Albert Keidel November 3, 2008
Some analysts in emerging economies make the mistake of assuming that the current global financial crisis reveals weaknesses in the political and economic systems of scientifically and economically advanced nations, notes Albert Keidel, senior associate with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Such systems are works in progress, and crises that emerge from mistakes, bubbles, the lack...

Financial Crisis Belies Myth of US Independence

Edward Goldberg October 30, 2008
Countries make the mistake of assuming that they can pick their way through globalization – that they can block products from other countries yet sell in those markets, or set rules for others to follow while intending to ignore those same rules at home. No community or country, as economic units, can escape financial decisions made thousands of miles away, argues Edward Goldberg, international...

Chinese Steelmakers Shiver, Indian Miners Catch Flu

Sumant Banerji October 30, 2008
Caution seeps throughout the global financial system, spreading crisis: In the West, homeowners struggle to pay mortgages, especially those of the high-rate, sub-prime variety; armed with less credit and confidence down, consumers in developed nations delay purchases of new cars and appliances. That has slowed steelmaking in China, which in turn has put a stop to purchases of iron ore from India...

Globalization and the New Nationalism Collide

Philip Stephens October 29, 2008
The global financial crisis has exposed mutual interdependence and the need for multilateral rules. Leaders like Gordon Brown, Nicolas Sarkozy and George Bush plan international meetings, including leaders from emerging economies, and talk of the need for international regulations. Contradicting the internationalist spirit is nationalistic talk – opposition to foreign investment, immigration or...

Underdevelopment and Aid: Search for a Right Balance – Part II

Edward Friedman October 29, 2008
Africa remains one of the poorest aid recipients of the world, enduring challenges of high rates of disease, inadequate infrastructure and power sources, as well as corruption and poor governance. This YaleGlobal series examines diverse approaches on foreign economic aid emerging from the West and China. In the second article of a two-part series, Edward Friedman, political science professor at...