In The News

Kerry's Solution to Offshoring

Sam Zuckerman March 27, 2004
Under the US tax system, companies that produce goods abroad wait until the capital reenters the country to pay taxes. According to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, this "tax holiday" structure has led to an increase in foreign investment at the expense of domestic business. In an effort to rebuild domestic industry and bring back jobs, Senator Kerry has proposed to...

Cashmere Moves on, and Scotland Feels a Chill

Allan Cowell March 27, 2004
For decades, the Scottish Borders region has sustained an active cashmere industry, producing lusciously soft scarves and sweaters for high-end consumers. Now, however, Chinese textile manufacturers are displacing Scottish producers from large swaths of the market. Chinese producers "are having their day as far as manufacturing goes," says one industry analyst, "and they have the...

Europe vs. America's Operating System

Grant R. Mainland March 26, 2004
"Europeans and Americans talk trade or antitrust when the real issue is the legitimacy of American power," writes Grant Mainland, a research specialist at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. In this commentary, Mainland compares Microsoft's monopoly position in software to the US monopoly on global military power. Just fined US$613 million under European antitrust...

Schröder Condemns Job Offshoring as Unpatriotic

Bertrand Benoit March 23, 2004
Outsourcing, a vital component of global capitalism, appears to have met a staunch new critic in Germany. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder says Germany companies who move work to Eastern Europe and Asia are "unpatriotic". The cheaper labor of these regions, however, offers a strong economic incentive for German companies trying to compete globally. Nonetheless, says this article,...

An Outsourcing Giant Fights Back

Saritha Rai March 21, 2004
Azim Premji, the founder of one of India’s leading technology giant Wipro, has found himself on the defensive of late. Premji's business is one of the leading outsourcing concerns in the world, with a net worth of $8 billion and clients from the top layer of their industries. As the domestic debates in America over job loss and outsourcing grow, . Premji has come to symbolize exactly...

Shell Withheld Reserves Data to Aid Nigeria

Jeff Gerth March 19, 2004
Shell Oil recently downgraded its oil reserve estimates by 20%, sending the company's stock spiraling and investors panicking. Now, reports indicate that Shell's revisions include a downgrading of its Nigerian reserves by 60% - a diminution the company has kept "confidential in view of host country sensitivities." The fragile Nigerian government, which depends on oil export...

Making Business Work for the Poor

Ernesto Zedillo March 17, 2004
As the debate on how to best alleviate poverty in developing countries continue to rage, Ernesto Zedillo, the director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization and the former president of Mexico, suggests one commonsense solution – facilitating private entrepreneurship to help people pull themselves out of the informal economy and into the larger formal marketplace. Current difficulties...