In The News

China Abandons One-Child Policy

October 29, 2015
Human rights advocates have long blasted China for its strict one-child policy. Confronting an aging population and slowing growth, China’s Communist Party is scrapping a policy crafted to ease poverty and allowing two children per family. “China is trying and complete its transition from a[n] investment-and-export-dependent developing nation to a ‘moderately prosperous society’ with an economy...

Live Longer, Consume Less: Recipe for Slow Growth

Joergen Oerstroem Moeller October 20, 2015
Global growth no longer keeps the pace of just a decade ago. Researcher Joergen Oerstroem Moeller points to behaviors that contribute to reduced consumption: Life expectancy has risen, but ages for collecting pensions have remained steady at around age 60, thus stretching out the retirement stage of life. Fearing poverty, combined with increased uncertainty over government regulations and social...

Matteo Renzi, Scrapper in the Swamp

Joji Sakurai October 19, 2015
A challenge for Europe is that many talented, skilled young adults cannot find work. Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi would like to jumpstart the economy by “breaking it open to competition,” journalist Joji Sakurai explains for the New Statesman. Italy confronts “a struggle of allegiances versus globalisation; gerontocracy versus meritocracy; made-in-Italy quality versus stark economic...

A Global Test of American Power

Gideon Rachman October 14, 2015
The United States can still wield great global influence in terms of political and military power. Many nations and US citizens, too, expect the United States to police the globe by guaranteeing borders, reassuring allies, guaranteeing freedom of navigation for trade. But use of such power is costly. Military power also does not guarantee territorial control or winning over populations as shown...

The Credit Bubble, the Bears and the Central Bankers

Gillian Tett October 2, 2015
Emerging markets are following the pattern of developed economies with stagnant growth. Attempts to stimulate economies may lead to another credit bubble, notes Gillian Tett, adding that “the way that financial flows operate today in, say, Shanghai is almost as mysterious for investors as subprime mortgages were in California a decade ago, and just as dangerously contagious.” Between 2004 and...

Time to Dump the Fear

Nayan Chanda September 25, 2015
Governments and business owners should contain alarm over devaluation of the Chinese renminbi and low-cost goods. “Such is the fear of China’s export juggernaut that the news of the yuan’s devaluation brings about a kneejerk reaction, not only in India but all over the world,” writes Nayan Chanda, YaleGlobal’s founding editor and now consulting editor, in his column for Businessworld. “But not...

The Future of Work: The Risks of Industrial Globalization

Evangelina Argueta September 23, 2015
Ongoing investments by multinational corporations in various industries standardize labor practices. With technology contributing to increased productivity and reducing the number of jobs, less priority is assigned to labor rights or training workers to adapt. “Commercial agreements and free trade treaties between developed countries and undeveloped countries are deficient in the protection of...