Most Popular

Death Cometh for the Greenback

November 19, 2009
Joseph Stiglitz, a leading global economist, argues that the US dollar has a limited future as the world’s dominant currency. But such a change to a system that has long relied on the US dollar as the global reserve currency is not to be feared: it will benefit both the US and the world. The...

Promises, Promises: Will the G-20 Haunt or Help Obama Later On?

September 30, 2009
The results of the recent G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh could be a critical turning point in global integration given that the grouping has now replaced the G-8. It could also be a thorn in US President Obama’s side. According to Editorial Director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics...

Obama’s Biofuels Policy Tension

August 13, 2008
Ethanol subsidies are popular among voters in the American Midwest, where farmers grow millions of acres of corn to produce the biofuel. It’s no surprise, then, that Barack Obama – as a senator representing Illinois – has embraced such subsidies. Yet while ethanol may be popular politically, it...

Google Has Censorship Balancing Act Outside China

April 6, 2010
Google has expanded rapidly in recent years to take advantage of profits available in other countries around the world. As it does so, it is encountering resistance from governments that ask it to restrict access to certain content. China, from which Google recently withdrew its main search...

The Next Wave of Globalization: Offshoring R&D to India and China

November 27, 2007
Outsourcing accelerates globalization, spreading technology and skill transfer from advanced nations to less developed ones. Cheap labor represents potential talent, capabilities, and innovation. Employers praise US workers for superior communication skills and intuitive understanding of US...

Germans Brace for Longer Workweek

July 30, 2004
In June, German technology firm Siemens forced Germany’s powerful IG Metall trade Union into expanding work hours without compensation by threatening to move 2,000 jobs to Hungary. Since that time, Daimler Chrysler and Bosch have undertaken similar measures, and Volkswagen looks likely to do the...

Each Nation for Itself?

July 28, 2003
The World Trade Organization's 146 member nations will have a lot to talk about when they sit down in Cancun, Mexico in early September. With 23 categories of trade issues on the agenda, says this editorial in Singapore's Straits Times, one may reasonably wonder how much agreement can be...

Worst Ever Carbon Emissions Leave Climate on the Brink

May 31, 2011
Record levels of greenhouse-gas emissions for 2010, as estimated by the International Energy Agency, could dash hopes of controlling climate change, reports Fiona Harvey for the Guardian. The IEA also notes that global recession did little to dent reliance on fossil fuels. Governments, by allowing...
More..