AUTHOR'S BIO

Kaushik Basu

Kaushik Basu is Professor of Economics and Director of the Program on Comparative Economic Development at Cornell University.

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The Politics of Business Outsourcing

Kaushik Basu Series: The Asian Century

2004-02-06

Several years ago in Delhi, I called a pest control firm to treat my apartment for termites. A South Indian gentleman with a pleasing smile arrived with canisters of chemicals and a large syringe. ... read

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Playing at Democracy

Kaushik Basu Series: Human Rights

2003-11-14

In Calcutta, when some younger kid came along and insisted on joining the game my friends were playing, we would let the new kid in, but only after whispering into each other's ears the words, elé belé. An elé belé is a player who thinks he is participating but, in truth, is merely going through the motions. Everybody knew that a goal scored by him was not a real goal. ... read

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The Retreat of Global Democracy

Kaushik Basu Series: The Worldly Philosophers

2002-04-29

A nasty, unintended side-effect of globalization is its corrosive effect on democracy. Even if individual countries are becoming more democratic, it seems, the sum of global democracy is shrinking thanks in no small part to globalization. ... read

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Trade and the Third World

Kaushik Basu Series: Frontiers of Growth

2002-03-27

Hypocrisy and trade-talk go together, as America's decision to impose tariffs on imported steel shows. Although that action is expected to be judged illegal by the World Trade Organization (WTO), developing countries remain wary. Historically, they (India prominent among them) argued that the WTO is a tool of rich countries and so resisted much of what it sought to do. Indeed, before the WTO ministerial meeting in Doha earlier this year, India's line was to oppose the launch of a new trade round, resist further trade liberalization in industrial goods, and oppose the use of trade sanctions to punish countries that fail to meet minimal labor standards. ... read

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