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  • economic development

    President Obama, Bangladesh Has Faced Enough Tragedy, Don’t Take Away Jobs, Too

    Since late last year, workers in Bangladesh have been beset by tragedy after tragedy. First there was a factory fire that killed over 100 garment workers in November. Then last month a garment complex collapsed, killing over 1,000 people. Now, as if to add insult to injury, the Obama Administration … More

    Rep. Charles Rangel Mischaracterizes Heritage Position on Trade with Cuba

    Representative Charles Rangel (D–NY) has a mixed record on trade freedom. And he voted “no” in October 2011 for the free trade agreement with Colombia, a trade agreement The Heritage Foundation supported. Now Rangel wants to free the way for trade with Cuba, a totalitarian dictatorship, and to back his … More

    Stop Sending Foreign Aid to the U.S.

    If the Obama Administration is looking for places to make sequestration cuts, it can start with the Economic Development Administration (EDA). In late August 1965, less than a month after terrible riots in the Watts section of Los Angeles, Congress passed and President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed a bill establishing … More

    Small Business Administration: No Room for Sequestration Cuts?

    The White House warns that sequestration “would reduce loan guarantees to small businesses by up to $902 million”—loans that it claims are “investments that are helping grow our economy.” Setting this flawed Keynesian line of thinking aside, it’s worth investigating whether or not there is room to reduce spending at … More

    Rule of Law Essential for Business

    In a globally competitive world, competition is key. Fundamental for competition is the rule of law, according to Myron Brilliant, Senior Vice President for International Affairs of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who spoke at a recent Heritage Foundation event. In his remarks, which elaborated on a chapter he contributed … More

    Economic Development and Disaster Relief Inhibited by the Jones Act

    If the Jones Act was created to mitigate disasters at sea, why has it been waived during such disasters? Such a question was posed in a recent Bloomberg article. The answer is that, rather than supporting wartime goals or sustaining national security, the Jones Act now serves primarily as a … More

    Time to Restore America’s Rule of Law

    In his recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, Professor David Skeel of the University of Pennsylvania Law School pointed out: No one doubts that the coming election will be the most important referendum on the size and nature of government in a generation. But another issue is nearly as important and … More

    Bangladeshi Government Puts Politics over Poor in Sacking Microfinance Leader

    He may have won a Nobel Peace Prize for spurring economic growth in the developing world, but on March 2 the government of Bangladesh ordered Muhammad Yunus to leave his post as managing director of the Grameen Bank, which is credited for starting the spread of microfinance across the globe. … More

    The Other War Front: Economic Development in Afghanistan

    The U.S. military has undergone a crash course in economic development while fighting the war in Afghanistan, and development agencies could stand to learn some of the military’s lessons. Take for example the National Guard unit out of Indiana. The unit is called an “Agribusiness Development Team” and is teaching … More

    Development Must Start With Basics

    A recent Reuters article on Chinese health care points to a problem endemic in much of the developing world: a massive shortage of trained health care workers. China’s problem is unique in that it has the money for equipment, and is supplying top-notch tools and clinics, but as it considers … More