Why the World Isn’t Flat
Pankaj Ghemawat (FP) Mar/Apr 2007
Globalization has bound people, countries, and markets closer than ever—or so we’re told. But the data reveal a world that’s just a fraction as integrated as the one we thought we knew. In fact, more than 90 percent of all phone calls, Web traffic, and investment is local. What’s more, even this small level of globalization could still slip away.
Poor Nations to Bear Brunt as World Warms
NYT Apr 1, 2007
Wealthy countries are spending far more to limit their own risks from global warming's consequences than to help the world's most vulnerable regions.
The China Tariffs
WSJ Apr 2, 2007
Another too-clever-by-half protectionist gambit.
'Fair Trade' for China
WSJ Apr 2, 2007
A new life for an old kind of protectionism.
Trade Smoke and Mirrors
Greg Rushford (WSJ) Apr 3, 2007
America's China tariffs are little more than managed trade.
India outsourcing moves to the fore
IHT Apr 3, 2007
High-skilled jobs that once epitomized the competitiveness of Western economies are flowing to India.
European Union official calls for 'level playing field' in Beijing
IHT Apr 3, 2007
China must adopt more transparent trade policies and step up protection of intellectual property rights as it negotiates for market economy status with the European Union, its largest trading partner, a European Commission official said Tuesday.
Managing Globalization: Two economic giants, how many votes?
IHT Apr 3, 2007
The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization - the United States manages to dominate all three groups and more, thanks to its economic might, or at least the economic might it had when those organizations were conceived. But how much of that power will it have to cede to China when that country outweighs U.S. productive capacity?
Jobs and Immigrants
WSJ Apr 4, 2007
New evidence on foreign-born workers and U.S. wages.
Seoul Brothers in Trade
WSJ Apr 4, 2007
A free trade agreement worth cheering.
Time for Trade
WP Apr 4, 2007
Pacts with Latin America and South Korea ought to pass this Congress.
Globalisation's offspring
Economist Apr 4, 2007
How the new multinationals are remaking the old.
The New Inflation Equation
Richard W. Fisher & W. Michael Cox (WSJ) Apr 6, 2007
How global growth reduces price pressures here in the U.S.
Migration benefits all
IHT Apr 6, 2007
The northern world should be grateful to the migrants who keep on coming.
Even as Africa Hungers, Policy Slows Delivery of U.S. Food Aid
NYT Apr 7, 2007
Within weeks, rations provided by the U.N. World Food Program will run out for 500,000 Zambian paupers.
Piracy Move on China Seen as Near
NYT Apr 7, 2007
The Bush administration appears close to filing a formal trade complaint against China over pirated copies of films, music and software.
Monetary Mischief
John Makin (WSJ) Apr 7, 2007
The Fed and the BoJ are jeopardizing global growth.
GATT Turns 60
Douglas Irwin (WSJ) Apr 9, 2007
Global trade has brought prosperity and peace.
U.S. takes China piracy cases to WTO
IHT Apr 9, 2007
Washington confirmed that it was filing a pair of cases over widespread piracy of American movies, music, books and software.
IMF chief upbeat, but warns of 'questionable lending and borrowing'
IHT Apr 9, 2007
Threats to the global economy have lessened a bit in recent months, but policy makers must remain on guard, the head of the International Monetary Fund said Monday.
America's Bipartisan Battle against Free Trade
Jagdish Bhagwati (AEI) Apr 9, 2007
Under today's Congress, both multilateralism and free trade are at risk.
China objects to U.S. plans to file complaints with the WTO
IHT Apr 10, 2007
Beijing expressed "deep regret and strong dissatisfaction" with the action.
Trade heals old wounds
IHT Apr 10, 2007
Relations between Japan and China have undergone a paradigm shift.
The Future of Futures
WSJ Apr 11, 2007
Merger anxieties in a world of financial competition.
Spring Meetings preview
IMF Survey Apr 11, 2007
Pkus: World outlook, global financial stability, U.S. subprime mortgages, labor globalization, external imbalances, IMF and Africa, wage bill ceilings, policy support instrument, modernizing IMF surveillance, India, Bulgaria, PNoWB.
Hope Where There Was None
Paul Wolfowitz (WSJ) Apr 12, 2007
In Sub-Saharan Africa good government finally has a foothold.
Trade Offensive
WP Apr 12, 2007
The Bush administration suddenly embraces tough tactics with China.
Outsourcers corner market for U.S. skilled worker visas
IHT Apr 12, 2007
Visas created to draw talented would-be immigrants to the U.S. are being used by companies focused on sending jobs offshore.
World Bank chief admits 'mistake'
IHT Apr 13, 2007
Paul Wolfowitz, the World Bank president, made his most candid admission of error Thursday for having helped to steer a close female friend and Bank associate into a particularly well-paid job.
World Bank Power Play
WSJ Apr 13, 2007
The forces of the status quo go after Wolfowitz.
FTA Example
WSJ Apr 13, 2007
Sparking a free trade race to the top.
U.S. trade gap narrows
Reuters/IHT Apr 13, 2007
The U.S. trade deficit narrowed unexpectedly in February while producer prices excluding volatile food and energy were unchanged in March, data showed Friday, suggesting that the economy continued to chug along while inflation pressures remained muted.
What's Left for the IMF?
Adam Lerrick (AEI) Apr 13, 2007
Developing economies no longer orbit around the International Monetary Fund.
Wolfowitz says he will stay on as World Bank president
IHT Apr 15, 2007
The embattled World Bank president said he will carry out the bank's mission to reduce poverty around the world.
The Wolfowitz files
WSJ Apr 16, 2007
Anatomy of a World Bank smear.
Inflation and trade worries cast shadow over European economy
IHT Apr 17, 2007
British inflation unexpectedly rose above 3 percent in March, rattling currency markets and sending the pound above $2.
US-South Korea FTA: A Tipping Point?
Claude Barfield (AEI) Apr 17, 2007
The U.S./Korea FTA has triggered a tectonic shift in regional trade relations and in future potential institutional frameworks.
The Role of US and EU Financial Markets in the Global Economy
Edwin Truman (IIE) Apr 17, 2007
It is a pleasure to participate in this conference on a hardy perennial topic: the euro, the dollar, and the global economy and financial system. Characterization of the focus of this conference as a hardy perennial does not mean it is a weed. The topic is complex, but often contentious and controversial. My aim today is to be neither. I hope to be a bit provocative but also to offer some constructive suggestions. I first make a few contextual comments. I then turn to three interrelated topics, proceeding from the general to the specific: International Monetary Fund (IMF) reform; the euro, the dollar, and reserve diversification; and cooperation on antimoney laundering.
China Leans Less on U.S. Trade
Keith Bradsher (NYT) Apr 18, 2007
Chinese companies are finding their fastest growth in the world's rapidly growing economies, not the United States.
G-6 Ministers Agree To Work To Conclude Doha Round By End Of 2007
BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest - Vol. 11, Number 13 Apr 18, 2007
The Doha Round negotiations appear to be in danger of acquiring a new deadline. Ministers from six key WTO Member governments agreed last week to step up work towards concluding the negotiations by the end of 2007. They did not, however, make progress towards resolving the differences over which the talks have foundered since last year.
Ag Talks Set To Pick Up As Negotiators Await Falconer's 'Hard-Talk' Questions
BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest - Vol. 11, Number 13 Apr 18, 2007
The deadlocked WTO negotiations on agriculture appear set to pick up once again, even though governments have done little to narrow their differences on cutting farm tariffs and subsidies. One trade diplomat described this as the "last week of peace": the chair of the negotiations will next week present delegations with a list of 'hard-talk' questions about where they stand, and subsequently use their answers to draft a new text for further discussion.
EU Proposes Duty- And Quota-Free Access For ACP Countries In EPA Talks
BRIDGES Weekly Trade News Digest - Vol. 11, Number 13 Apr 18, 2007
The EU has proposed removing tariffs and quotas on all exports except rice and sugar from the African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) group of countries, as part of its economic partnership agreement (EPA) negotiations with the former colonies.
European shares hit by fears weak dollar will hurt exporters
IHT Apr 18, 2007
Europe's major stock markets slumped - even as U.S. blue chips flirt with a new high - on fears that the roaring European economy could begin to suffer as its exports lose their competitive edge. Left, a man looked at a currency exchange rates indicator in London on Wednesday.
The Eastern Bloc of Outsourcing
NYT Apr 19, 2007
A few urban areas of the former Communist bloc are transforming into outsourcing centers for corporations in the U.S. and Europe.
Who's Your Big Brother? NAFTA, the EU, and International Trade and Development
Knowledge@Wharton Apr 18, 2007
The similarities between Poland and Argentina were striking. By the time the Soviet Union collapsed, the two countries were beacons of reform in their regions. Each had a largely Roman Catholic population of about 36 million. Both were introducing free-market reforms. And after decades of authoritarian rule, both were establishing democracies. But since then, countries in Eastern Europe have been pulling ahead of their counterparts in Latin America, mainly because of the different international economic integration schemes that are in place in each region: The European Union and NAFTA.
The Real World Bank Scandal
Robert B. Holland III (WSJ) Apr 20, 2007
Why the bureaucracy wants to oust Paul Wolfowitz.
Reprieve for Wolfowitz
IHT Apr 20, 2007
The World Bank's board put off until next week the rendering of a judgment that could force Wolfowitz to resign.
Trouble at the World Bank
WP Apr 22, 2007
The executive directors of the World Bank initiated an "urgent" review Friday of the imbroglio surrounding bank President Paul D. Wolfowitz and the salary increases he arranged for his girlfriend, a bank employee. Such a review is overdue. We hope it provides a full assessment of the facts and puts some of the overheated rhetoric about this controversy into a fairer and calmer context.
ABN AMRO takeover to create banking behemoth
IHT Apr 23, 2007
Barclays and ABN AMRO would create the world's largest bank by total assets, about $3.1 trillion.
Spring Meetings focus on global growth, imbalances
IMF Survey Apr 23, 2007
Plus: IMFC communique; economic outlooks for Western Hemisphere, sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Europe; Aid for Lebanon's recovery; United Kingdom reaps fruits of reform; China's growth examined
Banking on Asia's Future
Supachai Panitchpakdi & Larry Summers (WSJ) Apr 25, 2007
Ten years after the 1997 financial crisis, Asia is prospering again, and stands on the cusp of a historic transformation.
Will Engagement Change China?
George F. Will (WSJ) Apr 26, 2007
Trade is no silver bullet for reform.
Bilaterals: Bad for Business
Kyle Wingfield (WSJ) Apr 26, 2007
Welcome to the electron collider.
Africans for Wolfowitz
WSJ Apr 27, 2007
Third World reformers resist a coup by rich Europeans.
Anti-corruption team at World Bank says Wolfowitz undermining work
IHT Apr 27, 2007
Paul Wolfowitz's struggle to hold on to his job as World Bank president suffered a major setback when more than 40 members of the organization's anti-corruption team, formed to promote transparent government and closely identified with Wolfowitz, declared that the controversy over his conduct was undermining their work.
In Apparel, All Tariffs Aren't Created Equal
NYT Apr 28, 2007
The fees tacked onto clothing as it enters the U.S. may be the last legal form of sex discrimination in the country.
Far Past Time to Go
NYT Apr 28, 2007
It is hard to figure out what Paul Wolfowitz is telling himself as he wages an unseemly fight to hang on to his job as head of the World Bank.
China Trade by Numbers
WSJ Apr 28, 2007
America's fastest-growing export market.
Ending AIDS
John R. Talbott (TNR) Apr 26, 2007
Imagine that fully one-quarter of the adult citizens in your country had ticking time bombs in their back pockets due to explode sometime in the next ten years. And suppose that the ticking was so quiet that the carriers might not even be aware of the bombs' existence. That's very much the situation in Botswana, which boasts one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS of all African nations. Some 280,000 people--approximately 25 percent of the adult population--are infected with HIV/AIDS, yet most don't even know it. Tens of thousands have died. Continent-wide, the virus has killed 15 million people, infected an additional 25 million, and orphaned 12 million children. If current trends hold, the virus could kill more than 60 million people in Africa by 2030.