October 2007

Trading Barbs on the Future of Free Trade

Support for free trade seems to be waning, even though history has shown that globalization has produced large benefits for most parts of the world. How far—if at all—should policymakers go to appease those who hold a different view?

A Bird Flu Pandemic Would Hurt Economy, Too

If such a pandmic were to be anything like the Spanish Flu of the early 20th century, expect not only tens of millions of deaths worldwide but also a blow to the world economy in the hundreds of billions of dollars. See “Headlines from 1918,” too.

Selling Abroad Is Beneficial but Still Rare

Even though the U.S. is one of the world’s leading exporters, few companies actually sell abroad. One reason may be that exporting requires a company to be highly productive.