In The News

Huge Effort Urged on Global Warming

Chrystia Freeland September 28, 2007
Contrary to a recent United Nations report that the fight against global warming will be costly, former US President Bill Clinton argues that a serious and ambitious program will save money and create jobs. For example, businesses investing in new, energy-efficient technology can dramatically decrease their utilities costs. Other analysts have also noted that the costs of future natural disasters...

Let’s Have a Real Debate on Globalization

Matthew J. Slaughter September 28, 2007
Many workers in the US fear that the United Automobile Workers’ strike against General Motors signals that the domestic auto industry is “losing” at globalization. The strike has ended, but some workers urge the federal government to scale back US involvement in international trade, most notably with emerging markets like China. Economist Matthew Slaughter counters that globalization has netted...

Climate-Change Challenge for the Poor – Part II

Mira Kamdar September 28, 2007
Increased consumption by rich and newly rich nations combined with effects of climate change set the stage for a global food crisis. Decreased supplies of world dietary staples like wheat, corn and rice have already increased prices significantly this year, and a few nervous governments brace for possible social unrest by hungry citizens. In this second article of a two-part series that explores...

Children Trafficked From Asia to UK to Work in Cannabis Factories

Nina Lakhani September 27, 2007
In 2004, Britain declassified cannabis, decreasing the penalties for growing or possessing the controlled substance. As fear of punishment faded, demand grew and so did the appeal of producing the drug for greater profits. Organized crime rushed to fill the gap between supply and demand, and with record levels of production, Vietnamese gangs rely on children to tend plants. So declassification...

Climate-Change Challenge for the Poor – Part I

Chandrashekhar Dasgupta September 26, 2007
Although climate change has been brought about largely by development in industrialized rich nations, it will impose the most hardship on the poorest countries. In the first article of this two-part series, Ambassador Chandrashekhar Dasgupta of India argues that accelerated social and economic development may offer the only hope for poor nations who have a long way to go in adapting to climate...

India Tries Outsourcing Its Outsourcing

Anand Giridharadas September 26, 2007
India was an early leader in benefiting from the technology-driven globalization of the job market, but now positions such jobs all over the globe. A traditional recipient of outsourced labor, India has experienced rising worker wages and competition from other developing countries. As a result, writes journalist Anand Giridharadas, Indian firms have opened offices in countries such as Mexico,...

Iran’s Unlikely TV Hit

Farnaz Fassihi September 25, 2007
A popular television show reveals a big divide in Iranian society. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has questioned the historical basis of the Holocaust. But the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei approves all programming for Iranian state television, including a well-funded show about an Iranian-Palestinian Muslim man who loves a Jewish woman: The hero rescues his love from Nazis who would send her to a death...