In The News

The Limits of Transparency

Jacqueline Best March 18, 2005
After the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis, critics chalked up the catastrophe to a lack of transparency in the region's business practices. The concept has since then become the latest Holy Grail in global finance reform. Yet because of inherent power structures built into the concept, transparency is an unhealthy obsession, argues Jacqueline Best. Besides being an oversimplified solution,...

Street Protests by Poor Push Bolivia to the Brink

Jo Tuckman March 15, 2005
Bolivia's already faltering economy stands on the cusp of a potentially crippling nation-wide strike. Organizing against economic exploitation at the hands of a minority elite of European descent, ethnically indigenous organizers have already blocked important highways for weeks, disrupting trade in some regions. Leaders of the movement claim that those in power have indiscriminately signed...

Two Fed Officials Offer Different but Upbeat Views on Debt

Edmund L. Andrews March 11, 2005
The soaring US deficit, estimated at over US$600 billion last year, has been a source of debate among economic analysts. According to The New York Times, the nation's total foreign debt equals more than one-fifth of the total economy. And while many observers fear the increasing indebtedness could eventually lead to global economic disaster, two senior officials at the US Federal Reserve...

The Year of Africa's Economic Turnaround?

Amarnath Singh March 8, 2005
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the economies of 30 African countries, as well as the continent as a whole, are projected to grow at a relatively high rate this year. However, Africa's nations still face many obstacles to becoming market miracles. Many remain paralyzed by poverty, AIDS, bad governance, high development and infrastructure costs, and social instability....

"We Don't Need Any Partners in Germany"

Carsten Knop March 4, 2005

Leveraging the Dragon: Toward "An Africa That Can Say No"

Chris Alden March 1, 2005
China is extending its economic influence to every corner of the world, and natural-resource-rich Africa is no exception. Between 2000 and 2003, China-Africa trade volume increased from US$10 billion to US$18 billion. However, some fear that this bilateral relationship is not built on equitable terms. According to economist Chris Alden, Africa's trade deficit with China has increased...

A Prescription for Marxism

Kenneth Rogoff February 11, 2005
In an era of free trade and free markets, some wealthy countries may soon be forced to embrace more centralizing, socialistic policies on healthcare. Aging populations are driving the cost of healthcare upwards. Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff argues that the growing expense of the health sector will call for the introduction of a bit of socialism in rich liberal democracies. He argues that...