Containing Contagion: ‘There is no replacement for good macro-fundamentals’ — Kristin Forbes

MIT Sloan Prof. Kristin Forbes

What began as a singular sovereign debt problem in Greece in 2009 quickly spread to the rest of Europe. First Ireland; then Portugal and Spain and Italy. Today—only three years after the first signs of trouble—virtually all Europeans have felt the destructive effects of the euro zone turmoil, and its impact is being felt around the world.

Contagion, a phenomenon where financial tumult in one country or region spreads to another country, is now a fact of life. The globalization of finance has, in many ways, made contagion inevitable. The world has become much more integrated through trade, investors, and banks, and these ties have caused countries’ financial markets to move together more closely during good times and bad. Read More »

How waiting longer for the iPhone could help workers — Richard Locke

MIT Sloan Deputy Dean Richard Locke

From the So. China Morning Post

Richard Locke faults a production system geared to speed at all costs

Two decades after Nike faced heat for poor working conditions in its suppliers’ overseas factories, Apple has been responding to a series of scandals – health and safety problems, worker suicides and riots by workers employed at Foxconn, one of its lead suppliers in China. And, once again, consumer activists and others are calling for better standards, more workplace inspections and other steps to prevent such abuse. Read More »

Yasheng Huang: Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Women Initiative will help train the next generation of Chinese entrepreneurs

MIT Sloan Prof. Yasheng Huang

I am just back from an exciting weeklong trip to China to meet applicants for a new program MIT Sloan is helping develop at Yunnan University for women entrepreneurs. The program is part of Goldman Sachs’s 10,000 Women Initiative. Goldman’s initiative is a $100 million campaign designed to provide business and management education to promising female entrepreneurs in developing countries.

I met 15 candidates and found them each to be impressive – educated, articulate, and brimming with ideas. They have already experienced some success: some of them had at least 1 million yuan in revenue, which is about $150,000. Read More »

S.P. Kothari: India's Faltering Boom, and How to Revive It

MIT Sloan Deputy Dean S.P. Kothari

From Forbes.com 

As the U.S. and Europe teeter on the edge of a devastating double-dip recession, India’s economic boom—once considered a bright spot in an otherwise bleak global financial landscape—is also showing signs of weakness.

The International Monetary Fund recently cut its growth projection for India, warning that the country was perilously close to double-digit inflation. (In the past fiscal year, India’s economy grew 8.5%; before the financial crisis, its growth exceeded 9% for three straight years.) The IMF cited “a drag from renewed global uncertainty” as the main reason for the revision, but that is letting India off easy.

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Jackie Wilbur: MBA job offers back to pre-recession numbers

Despite the ongoing economic turmoil, the job numbers for our MBA class of 2011 are very strong. In fact, we’re back to the same offer rates we saw before the recession.

As of this writing, 94% of the class has an offer. This is up from 81% last year and closely matches the 93.4% we saw in 2006 and 92.7% in 2007. Similarly, on-campus recruiting opportunities were back to the same levels we saw in 2006 and have so far remained firm as we move into this academic year.

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