Alex Singleton

The current issue of The New Yorker (dated October 30th) has a very interesting 10-page article on microfinance. In fact, it’s the principal article of the issue and that just goes to show how hot the subject of microfinance is at the moment. Here at the Institute we have been strong advocates of a greater […]

The Guardian reports:
Chancellor Gordon Brown and US treasury secretary Hank Paulson today pledged to confront the growth of international protectionism and urged a swift resumption of stalled global trade talks.
Mr Brown called on Britain to become “an evangelist for globalisation”, arguing free trade, open markets and flexibility were the preconditions of success in the global […]

This appears in Australia’s The Age newspaper:
Australia is the least generous contributor to overseas aid among the G20 countries, costing thousands of lives every year, a report shows.
The report, released as part of the Make Poverty History campaign, involving 60 Australian aid agencies, community groups and church groups, shows that all countries part of the […]

Today’s Financial Times reports that a Chinese businessman, Larry Yung, has bought a $800m stake in Anglo American, which the paper describes as “a landmark deal in China’s aggressive acquisition of Africa resources”.
China’s increasing investment in Africa is important for the continent. Some are concerned that China does not play by the same rules as […]

Bangalore, India’s outsourcing capital, has been renamed Bengalooru. The change will take some getting used to, and is likely to remain for some years as Bangalore in many people’s minds. The name change makes the place sound less British, but like the failed change of Britain’s Post Office to Consignia plc (it is now called […]

General Motors has launched four new Cadillacs in China, spurred on by the increasing prosperity in the fast growing country. The cars will be priced between $63,580 and $95,340. China Daily reports that luxury car sales in China rose 24.5 percent in the first eight months of the year, and Rolls-Royce says that China is […]

“America… underestimates the liberating influence of American capitalism and American investment. Unfortunately America’s reaction to any hostile regime is to isolate it with economic sanctions, which normally gives an extra lease of life to anti-American authoritarian regimes. Encouraging American investment in the Middle East is far more likely to promote real democracy and to win […]