In The News

Internet Extends Reach of Bangladeshi Villagers

Kevin Sullivan November 29, 2006
The developed world takes for granted the internet and its limitless spectrum of resources. Until recently, such access was unimaginable for the poor people of Bangladesh. Cellular phone technology has brought internet access to more than 100 Bangladeshi villages, with hundreds more internet centers expected to open by the end of the year. With the help of GrameenPhone, a branch of the Grameen...

Vietnam Plays Wary Host to APEC

Thomas Abraham November 16, 2006
Vietnam’s surging economy and increasing attractiveness as a place to do business have raised its profile in Southeast Asia. Its turn at hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leadership summit now offers the country the opportunity to further burnish its image. But that opening has also come with risk. Having a relapse of the avian flu outbreak that hammered the country in 2003 would not...

India’s Economy, Now With Muscle

Mark Sappenfield November 16, 2006
India’s rise as the premier destination for information-technology outsourcing has continued apace, since the government’s decision to privatize education ten years ago, marking the beginning of the Indian labor force’s scaling up. However, service-sector advances do not tell the entire Indian success story. Increasingly, manufacturing has become a rapidly growing sector of the economy....

Vietnam’s Roaring Economy Is Set for the World Stage

Keith Bradsher October 30, 2006
Vietnam’s renunciation of statist economics in favor of capitalism in the early 1990s was a surprising development for the global markets. Along with China’s embrace of the market, Vietnam’s success story has raised the living standards of its citizens, drawn a large contingent of high-skilled émigrés back to the country and created a strong base for future development. Multinational...

Skills Gap Hurts Technology Boom in India

Somini Sengupta October 23, 2006
India’s universities produce many engineers, but only one in four is ready for the global market, reports a study commissioned from the National Association of Software and Service Companies, based in India. Many engineering graduates lack technical skills or English – and the labor shortage comes at a time when countries around the globe increasingly demand India’s low-cost software and...

Out of India, A “Third Wave of Globalization” Emerges

Anand Giridharadas October 19, 2006
India has become a source of companies with cash, capable of major takeovers that shake up world industries. Tata – unknown throughout much of the Western world – could become such a global giant with its $10 million bid to purchase Cours Group, a British-Dutch steelmaker. The trend is the “third wave of globalization,” according to one analyst. The first wave was colonialism and the second was...

The New Titans

October 4, 2006
Emerging economies drive global economic growth and thus influence global economic factors including average wages, inflation as well as population growth and migration. For example, emerging economies account for most of the growth in energy consumption and hold almost three quarters of foreign-exchange reserves. With China, India and former Soviet Union nations joining the world economy, the...