Philippe Legrain

Indians account for 38% of doctors in the US, 36% of scientists at Nasa, and 34% of employees at Microsoft, 28% at IBM and 17% at Intel, Prospect reports, quoting The Times of India, 11/3/8.

I’m just back from the Adelaide Festival of Ideas, which was great. The 24-hour flight and 8 1/2-hour time difference are still killers though. I participated in a discussion about the future of India and China on my first evening at the festival, which was rebroadcast on ABC’s programme The National Interest. I also gave […]

I have been interviewed by The Hindu about Immigrants. We talked about a range of topics, but in particular we focused on what developing countries that suffer an exodus of highly skilled workers should do. Read the interview here

A fascinating article in this week’s Economist explains how mobile phones can help promote development. The spread of mobile phones has allowed fishermen in the Indian region of Kerala to call while at sea to find out where their catch will fetch the highest price. This more efficient market benefited everyone. Fishermen’s profits rose by […]

Anti-dumping duties, which unfairly penalise imports that are deemed too cheap, are one of the most pernicious protectionist devices. After all, we ought to be cheering if the cost of imports falls, because it makes the money in our pocket stretch further, not taxing consumers in order to try to prop up less efficient domestic […]

India’s drinkers should raise a glass to Peter Mandelson.

The world’s trade negotiators cannot seem to agree on much these days, but on one thing there is near-unanimity: the United States is responsible for the collapse of the WTO’s Doha Round. Peter Mandelson, the EU’s trade commissioner, told the FT: “If the US continues to demand dollar-for-dollar compensation in market access [cutting agricultural tariffs] […]

In a comment on my recent post on the contribution of trade liberalisation to Asia’s success, Jim takes issue with my contention that China and India are very powerful examples of the benefits of liberalisation: before they started their reforms, growth was slow, but as they have opened up their economies, growth has accelerated. He […]