| June 2005
Domestic Economy | Globalization|
| Labor & Employment | Trade
| WTO
Industry Sectors: Automobile | Oil
| Pharmaceutical Industry | Textile
B1 - How Americans Viewed Their Lives in 2004
Blendon, Robert; Beson, John
Challenge, May-June 2005, v48, #3, pp14-33
”The purpose of this article is to help people interested in economic
policy gain a deeper insight into how Americans see their own
lives, including economic aspects, and to provide some perspective
on how Americans are responding to major events. The authors look
at Americans' views during 2004 in six main areas: the nation's
economy; their own personal finance and economic worries about
the future; their own community; their personal religious faith;
business and other private institutions; and government, including
their priorities for government action.” Robert Benson is
a professor at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government
and the Harvard School of Public Health. John Benson is managing
director of the Harvard Opinion Research Program at the Harvard
School of Public Health. Request
article
B2 - Cops of the Global Village
Gunther, Marc
Fortune, June 27, 2005, v151, #13
“Multinational companies, they say, seek out places where labor
is cheap, and safety, health, and environmental laws are weak.
But a closer look at how globalization works shows that the idea
of a race to the bottom obscures more than it explains. Yes, U.S.
companies roam the globe in search of low-cost labor — but some
of them export health and safety standards when they open factories
in the developing world, while others keep an eye on suppliers
to avoid having a sweatshop label attached to their brand. There's
more: U.S.-based companies that sell globally are scrambling to
comply with an array of European environmental laws that are much
stricter than those they face at home. Regulations enacted in
Brussels now govern how computers, cellphones, and aircraft engines
are designed.” Fulltext
B3 - 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
B4 - The Rising Stakes of Job Loss
Stettner, Andrew and Sylvia A. Allegretto
EPI & NELP Briefing Paper No. 162, May 26, 2005
In a sharp break from historical precedent, long-term joblessness
has stubbornly persisted in this recovery, despite the falling
unemployment rates. Recent research has examined how unrelenting
high rates of long-term unemployment were spawned by the lack
of job creation that followed the 2001 recession. In this report,
we examine this unprecedented period of long-term unemployment
and compare it with the most recent economic downturn of the 1990s.
We conclude that a different picture of long unemployment spells
has emerged. Fulltext
B5 - BLS and the Marshall Plan: The Forgotten
Story
Wasser, Solidelle F. and Michael L. Dolfman
Monthly Labor Review, June 2005, pp44-52
"The European Recovery Program (Marshall Plan) has been recognized
as the most successful foreign-aid program ever undertaken by
the United States. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) role in
the accomplishments of the Marshall Plan’s Technical Assistance
Program has largely been ignored... An important component of
the Marshall Plan was the statistical technical assistance offered
by BLS and directed at increasing productive efficiency and labor
productivity in Western European industry." Bureau of
Labor Statistics, New York. Fulltext
Trade
B6 - Free Trade Agreements: Impact on U.S. Trade and
Implications for U.S. Trade Policy
Cooper, William H.
Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service, Updated
June 24, 2005
"FTAs are now a significant U.S. trade policy tool. Their
rapid emergence raises
some important policy issues for the 109th Congress as it considers
implementing legislation and monitors negotiations as part of
its oversight responsibilities: Do FTAs serve or impede U.S. long-term
national interests and trade policy objectives? Which type of
an FTA arrangement meets U.S. national interests? What should
U.S. criteria be in choosing FTA partners? Are FTAs a substitute
for or a complement to U.S. commitments and interests in promoting
a multilateral trading system via the World Trade Organization
(WTO)?" William H. Cooper, Specialist in International
Trade and Finance, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division,
Congressional Research Service. Fulltext
B7 - Why are Developing Countries Still in the WTO
Kelly, Trish
Challenge, May-June 2005, v48, #3, pp109-124
"Can multilateral trade agreements still work? The author argues
that even though developing nations did not get what they wanted
in the controversial Doha Round in 2004, they still remained at
the table. Multilateral agreements, if fairly and openly negotiated,
may well be more appealing than bilateral agreements or no agreements
at all. She presents a comprehensive analysis of the major trading
industry. " Trish Kelly is senior lecturer in the Department of
Leadership, Policy, and Organizations at Venderbilt University.
WTO Dispute Settlement and the Missing Developing Country Cases:
Engaging the Private Sector Chad P. Bown and Bernard M. Hoekman
The Brookings Institution, May 2005 ”The poorest WTO member countries
almost universally fail to engage as either complainants or interested
third parties in formal dispute settlement activity related to
their market access interests. This paper focuses on costs of
the WTO's extended litigation process as an explanation for the
potential but "missing" developing country engagement.” Chad
P. Bown is Okun-Model Visiting Fellow for Economic Studies at
the Brookings Institution and Bernard M. Hoekma is Research Manage
at the World Bank. Request
article
IndustrY Sectors:
B8 - Rise of the Green Machine
Koerner, Brendan
Wired, April 2005, v13, #4, pp96ff http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.04/hybrid.html
”Toyota was the first automobile manufacturer to bring hybrid
cars to the United States. The Prius is the best selling hybrid,
and Toyota has plans to bring hybrids to the masses, by making
the internal combustion engine obsolete. The EPA currently rates
these dual electric powered cars as a "Super Ultra Low Emissions
Vehicle". On average, the vehicle can get 60 miles per gallon,
and emits 95 percent fewer carcinogens into the atmosphere. The
new Prius will get better performance, and will be marketed to
middle America as a good investment for the environment, does
not need to be plugged in, and will save over 60 percent on fuel
costs at the gas pump. With gasoline prices at their highest in
years, Toyota wants a hybrid vehicle in every garage in America
by 2020.” Brendan Koerner is a contributing editor for Wired.
Fulltext
B9 - Why GM’s Plan Won’t Work … And the Ugly Road Ahead
Welch, David and Dan Beucke
Business Week, May 9, 2005, #3932, pp84-93 http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_19/b3932001_mz001.htm
This article looks at the financial performance of General Motors
Corp. (GM) as of May 9, 2005 and describes the reasons for the
company’s decline. “Its cars are unexciting. Fixed costs – especially
for health care and pensions – are untenable. And now it’s a cash-flow
negative company, consuming more than it makes. How can General
Motors survive?” “Business Week's analysis is that within five
years GM must become a much smaller company, with fewer brands,
fewer models, and reduced legacy costs.” Fulltext
Oil
B10 - Gasoline Prices: Policies and Proposals
Behrens, Carl E. and Carol Glover
Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service, Updated
June 24, 2005
"As the Senate finished consideration of major energy legislation,
the high price of gaso, line remained an oft-cited issue to be
considered. The legislative proposals of past Congresses have
contained numerous provisions that would affect gasoline supply
and demand... A large number of factors combined to put pressure
on gasoline prices, including increased world demand for crude
oil and U.S. refinery capacity inadequate to supply gasoline to
a recovering national economy." Carl E. Behrens and Carol
Glover, Resources, Science, and Industry Division, Congressional
Research Service. Fulltext
Pharmaceutical Industry
B11 - An Uncertain Diagnosis
Rubin, Paul H.
Regulation, Summer 2005, v28, #2, pp34-39
"Research used to criticize drug marketing also supports
the claim that marketing benefits patients... Pharmaceutical sales
representatives have incentives to “oversell” their products.
But they also benefit by providing
truthful information about their drugs’ benefits. In analyzing
the effects of
sales and promotion efforts, it is important to consider both
the positive and negative aspects of drug marketing." Paul
H. Rubin is professor of economics and law at Emory University.
Fulltext
Textile Industry
B12 - Threadbare No More
Tatge, Mark
Forbes, May 23, 2005, v175, #11, pp130-, 5p
This article focuses on the technological advancements in the
textile industry and its implications in the Raleigh-Durham area
of North Carolina. A small revolution is underway. Edward Grant,
a professor and director of North Carolina State's Center for
Robotics & Intelligent Machines, is one of 345 or so scientists
in Raleigh-Durham, N.C. working to reinvent and revive the American
textile industry. North Carolina has lost nearly two-thirds of
its textile jobs, 173,000 workers, since 1991. The recent migration
of textile looms from the U.S. to Asia, in search of cheap labor,
was as inevitable as their migration in the previous century from
New England to the South. A partial salvation for the business,
if not for the employees, may lie in a new generation of synthetic
textiles. Chemical giants like DuPont and BASF are eyeing apparel
in a big way. Fulltext
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