In The News

The Great Thrift Shift

Zanny Minton Beddoes September 26, 2005
If the global economy is growing, why are interest rates so low? If the US deficit has been skyrocketing since 1999, why are Americans still able to borrow money with impunity? The answer to both questions, as put forth by American economist Ben Bernanke, may lie in a "global saving glut." On its face, The Economist acknowledges that the idea of such a glut appears absurd: For one...

Annan: Summit Expressed Global Unity

Kofi Annan September 23, 2005
The results of the UN's recent world summit are widely derided as a disappointment. Yet they are a significant show of global unity, argues Kofi Annan – and a significant improvement over the pre-conference status quo. Annan writes that observers should not underestimate the difficulty of achieving international consensus – nor should they underestimate the consensus that was actually...

How "Scientific" Are the Millennium Development Goals?

David Dickson September 22, 2005
In the years following the announcement of the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), much ink was spilled in debating the feasibility of the lofty aims. Recently, Amir Attaran, an analyst of development policy, incited much debate when he issued a scathing critique of the MDGs on the grounds that many of the development targets rested on hazy data. The strongest proponents, including...

Dangerously Unique

Moisés Naím September 20, 2005
In this Foreign Policy article, Moisés Naím highlights the discrepancy between the expectations of "normalcy" held by a small number of privileged citizens and the realities of the rest of the world. Despite what many in Western nations may believe, their concept of "normal" is not, in fact, universal. In fact, gross income discrepancies, health care inadequacies, and...

Our House of Cards

Andrew Leonard September 16, 2005
Most critics of globalization point to the suffering of workers, the ordeals of displacement, or the brutality of poverty that it causes. Others, like Barry Lynn, former editor of Global Business, shirk such conventional leftist rhetoric. In his book, "End of the Line: The Rise and Coming Fall of the Global Corporation," Lynn sketches the demise of the prevailing economic order in its...

The Center of the World

Brook Larmer September 15, 2005
After the global narcotics trade, sport is the world's most globalized and profitable business. With a television audience spanning 200 countries, the NBA boasts a larger global footprint than the United Nations. The crown jewel in the basketball league's push to lure international talent is undoubtedly Yao Ming, the center for the Houston Rockets. Yao's towering stature casts a...

Le dossier nucleaire iranien pourrait provoquer une profonde rupture au sein de la Communaute internationale

Dilip Hiro September 13, 2005