In The News

It's the Dollar, Stupid

Judy Shelton March 6, 2008
As many in the US fret about a failing economy, other countries express specific concern about a falling dollar. The US dollar is the world’s key reserve currency and yet US leaders limit their focus on domestic policy, shrugging about global worries, explains author Judy Shelton, in an opinion essay for the Wall Street Journal. She offers a reminder that currency woes contributed to the Great...

Online Terrorists Prey on the Vulnerable

Gabriel Weimann March 5, 2008
Terrorists rely on state-of-the-art techniques from the advertising industry to attract suicide bombers. Rather than broadcast, or use one big message to attract a huge audience, the extremists “narrowcast,” targeting small groups with specific messages that exploit their vulnerabilities. The internet – anonymous and decentralized, reaching the alienated who desperately seek some inspiration or...

Struggling to Squelch an Internet Rumor

Samuel G. Freedman March 5, 2008
The internet has revolutionized the way information is passed, making mass communication possible with the click of a mouse. And yet, such power left unchecked can ease the spread of misinformation. Samuel Freedman, Columbia University journalism professor, cites an example at the University of Kentucky, in which confusion over an e-mail suffix from the UK, led to thousands of e-mails forwarding...

Offshoring Spreads Its Wings

Kate O'Sullivan March 5, 2008
So far outsourcing has not been a big issue in the US presidential campaign because US voters and workers have accustomed themselves to the fact that companies look for skilled and low-wage workers all over the globe. The rate of companies reporting a reliance on offshore hires, more than 35 percent in all, has more than doubled since 2004, and the rate is even higher among the largest companies...

Myanmar Wildlife Pays the Price for Chinese Demand

March 3, 2008
A country with a repressive government and dire poverty can attract the wrong kind of tourists. Such tourists arrive in Myanmar, not to admire lush forests, open grasslands or wildlife, but rather take advantage of a black market for rare species. Mong La, along the Chinese border, has branched out from offering opium and prostitutes to marketing exotic species for visitors. Gangs offer rare...

Patriotism Is Bad Business

Nayan Chanda March 3, 2008
Politicians strive for policies that boost exports. Setting any limits on imports, though, invites other countries to retaliate. “History is replete with examples of economic nationalism’s failure to roll back the quest for profit and good life that drives global trade,” writes Nayan Chanda in his column for Businessworld in India. Democratic candidates for US president, hoping to win approval...

US Pushes Sovereign Funds to Open to Outside Scrutiny

Bob Davis March 3, 2008
Western banks and companies have recently relied on huge savings accounts run by Asian and Middle Eastern governments for some financial rescues. But governments in the US and Europe also know that constituents can get uncomfortable over bailouts or foreign ownership of major companies, particularly those linked to national security. So the US has suggested that two of the major funds – based in...