| May 2005, #6
Globalization | Labor & Employment | Monetary
Reform | WTO
Industry Sectors: Automobile | Pharmaceutical
| Textile
B1 - The Vanishing State?
Reich, Robert B.
The American Prospect, May 2005, v16, #5, ppA12-, 3p
“Reich looks at the possibility to maintain a domestic special contract while developing a robust internationalism with rules that benefit everyone, not just the elite, and to build a wealthy and competitive nation that boasts the most productive citizens on the planet.” Robert B. Reich is a professor of social and economic policy at Brandeis University. He served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. Fulltext
B2 - The Ecology Of Global Economic Power: Changing Investment Practices To Promote Environmental Sustainability
Sassen, Saskia
Journal of International Affairs, Spring 2005, v58, #2, pp11-, 23p
”This paper explores how we can use the "power of power" to address environmental challenges and to institute changes. Rather than confining power to its destructive role, the effort here is to re-conceive of such power as also representing critical capacities for redressing that destruction. Some of the key features of economic globalization could, in principle, facilitate the task of reallocating a good share of investment capital to environmentally sound projects rather than to the destructive large-scale projects so typical today. A similar repositioning is critical for cities, a second important source of environmental damage; the specific features of cities also represent possible solutions to that damage. This paper examines how the power of global corporate capital and the power of major cities, both representing destructive forces, can be conceptualized as sources of solutions." Saskia Sassen is the Ralph Lewis Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago, and Centennial Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics. Fulltext
B3 - Evidence on Wage Inequality, Worker Education and Technology
Wheeler, Christopher H.
Federal Reserve Bank of Saint Louis Review, v87, #3, May/Jun2005, pp375-394
The rise in U. S. wage inequality over the past two decades is commonly associated with an increase in the use of "skill-biased" technologies (e.g., computer equipment) in the workplace, yet relatively few studies have attempted to measure the direct link between the two. This paper explores the relationship among inequality, worker education levels, and workplace computer usage using a sample of 230 U.S. industries between 1983 and 2002. Christopher H. Wheeler is an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Fulltext
B4 - Offshoring (a.k.a. Offshore Outsourcing) and Job Insecurity Among U.S. Workers
Levine, Linda
Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service, updated May 2, 2005. 23 p.
”Offshoring or offshore outsourcing is the term now being applied to describe the nascent practice among U.S. companies of contracting out the jobs of white-collar workers in service sector industries (as well as blue-collar workers’ manufacturing jobs) to firms located beyond our borders. As often is the case with a potential trend, however, few facts are available; instead, anecdotal accounts and varying estimates have been trumpeted in the media.” The coverage of this report includes both the size and definition of offshore outsourcing and short- and long-run labor market implications. Linda Levine is a Specialist in Labor Economics in the Domestic Social Policy Division at the Congressional Research Service.
Fulltext B5 - Illegal Immigration. Do Illegal Workers Help or Hurt the Economy?
Katel, Peter
CQ Researcher, May 6, 2005, v15, #17, pp393-419
More than 10 million illegal immigrants live in the United States, and 1,400 more arrive every day. Critics of the immigration policies in the U.S. say illegal immigrants “take jobs from American, threaten national security and even change the nation's culture by refusing to assimilate. But immigrants' advocates say illegal migrants fill the jobs Americans refuse to take and generally boost the economy.” This CQ overview describes current proposals to deal with illegal immigration. Peter Katel is a CQ Researcher staff writer. Order Article
B6 - The Economics of Necessity: Economic Report of the President Underscores the Importance of Immigration
Ewing, Walter A.
American Immigration Law Forum, Immigration Policy Brief, May 2005
The 2005 Economic Report of the President devoted an entire chapter to immigration as a driving force in the economy. It recognized that the outdated U.S. immigration system is in need of reform and proposes a new temporary worker program, however, the author believes that both current immigration policies and reform proposals fail to take into account that immigration has become the key to growth of the U.S. labor force and that immigrants provide a net fiscal benefit to the U.S. economy. Truly comprehensive immigration reform, he maintains, must entail creating a pathway to legal status for most of the undocumented immigrants already in the United States and expanding the avenues for permanent immigration, as well as crafting tougher wage and labor laws for all workers. Walter Ewing is a Research Associate with the Immigration Policy Center. Fulltext
B7 - Immigration: Policy Considerations Related to Guest Worker Programs
Bruno, Andorra
Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service, CRS Report for Congress, RL32044, April 21, 2005, 30p.
"At present, the United States has two main programs for temporarily importing low-skilled workers, sometimes referred to as guest workers. … Various bills to reform existing programs for foreign temporary workers and to create new temporary worker programs have been introduced in recent Congresses. Several such bills are before the 109th Congress. In January, 2004, the Bush administration outlined a proposal for a new temporary worker program. The new program under discussion presumably would cover largely low-skilled s\workers. … This report aims to provide an analytical framework for evaluating low-skilled guest worker proposals.” Andorra Bruno is Specialist in Social Legislation, Domestic Social Policy Division of the Congressional Research Service. Fulltext
B8 - International Monetary Reform and Capital Freedom
CATO Journal, v25, #1, Winter 2005
The current issue of the Cato Journal presents papers of the Cato Institute’s 22nd Annual Monetary Conference, "International Monetary Reform and Capital Freedom," in October 2004. Issues covered include: The impact of mobile capital on the conduct of monetary policy ; Role of the International Monetary Fund in stabilizing international financial markets ; Institutional changes to the IMF and the global financial architecture to avoid future sovereign debt crises? Alternative exchange rate regimes; Capital controls as protection from global market forces. Fulltext
IndustrY Sectors:
B9 - Vehicle Safety: Opportunities Exist to Enhance NHTSA's New Car Assessment Program
United States Government Accountability Office, GAO-05-370, April 29, 2005, 123p.
"Efforts to reduce fatalities on the nation's roadways include the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration's (NHTSA) New Car Assessment Program. … [This] program has been successful in encouraging manufacturers to make safer vehicles and providing information to consumers. However, the program is at a crossroads where it will need to change to maintain its relevance. The usefulness of the current tests has been eroded by the growing number of larger pickups, minivans, and sport utility vehicles in the vehicle fleet since the program began. In addition, NCAP scores have increased to the point where there is little difference in vehicle ratings. As a result, the program provides little incentive for manufacturers to further improve safety, and consumers can see few differences among new vehicles. Opportunities to enhance the program include developing approaches to better measure the interaction of large and small vehicles and occupant protection in rollovers, rating technologies that help prevent crashes, and using different injury measures to rate the crash results. NHTSA also has opportunities to enhance the presentation and timeliness of the information provided to consumers.” Fulltext
B10-
Sleeping with the Enemy
Bartholomew, Doug
Industry Week, May 2005, v254, #5, pp33-, 5p
”The giants of manufacturing are teaming up with their competitors to cut costs and increase market share.” This is certainly true for the automotive industry where cost-sharing spurred much of the latest round of joint ventures. Bartholomew outlines successful examples of competitive collaboration. Formerly a senior technology editor for IndustryWeek, Doug Bartholomew has written for Information Week , Euromoney and Corporate Finance magazines. Fulltext
Pharmaceutical Industry
B11 - The Price of Life
Glennerster, Rachel; Michael Kremer; Heidi Williams
Foreign Policy , May-June 2005, pp.26-27
This graphical statistical overview shows, “T he pharmaceutical industry spends billions of dollars each year developing drugs to fight disease. For the most part, though, the major drug companies respond to rich-country markets and neglect diseases concentrated in poor countries.” Rachel Glennerster is executive director of the Poverty Action Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Michael Kremer is the Gates professor of developing societies at Harvard University. Heidi Williams is a doctoral candidate at Harvard University. Fulltext
B12 - Bad Medicine
Herper, Matthew
Forbes, May 23, 2005, v175, #11, pp202-04
The article focuses on the sale of repackaged and counterfeit drugs over the Internet. Until recently drugmakers have remained relatively quiet on the dangers of Internet drugs and international knockoffs. But as Internet sites proliferate and lawmakers discuss importing cheaper drugs from Canada, it is time to think about safety. Fulltext
Textile Industry
B13 - U.S.-China Trade: Textile Safeguard Procedures Should Be Improved
U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-05-296, April 4, 2005
U.S. textile and apparel imports from China have more than doubled in value since China became a World Trade Organization (WTO) member in December 2001. When joining the WTO, China agreed to a special textile safeguard mechanism applicable only to that country. The China textile safeguard allows WTO members to place defined limits on particular textile and apparel imports from China through the end of 2008, despite the general elimination of most textile quotas on January 1, 2005. GAO concludes that in the U.S., procedural shortcomings have impaired effective application of the China safeguard. Fulltext
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