Financial globalization and crony capitalism.
Many economic transactions are characterized by asymmetric information; that is, one of the parties is more aware of or has more control over the circumstances and performance of the transaction than the other party has. This is particularly true when money is lent. The borrower typically has a better...

Real estate and media? Changing markets can share lessons.
For 100 years now, Coldwell Banker has been a leading force in helping move residential and commercial real estate. Undoubtedly, many of the company's agents--now more than 126,000 strong--have enjoyed great times in recent years as the U.S. real estate market has soared with rising home values and record...

Around The Nation.
Workers ask PNP for help More than 200 workers have sought assistance from the Philippine National Police (PNP) amid brewing tension in an agricultural farm in San Miguel, Bulacan after they were abandoned by its owners that already resulted into heavy losses for the business venture. ...

Tinderbox: economics, immigration, and education in a North Carolina town.
TRAVELING ACROSS TOWN from Interstate 85 to Franklin Boulevard in Gastonia, North Carolina, one is confronted with almost constant reminders of the love and sacrifice for country that exists here. Old Glory is a ubiquitous presence, and it seems almost every local merchant and convenience store proudly displays a...

Exporting U.S. jobs: an engineered exodus of manufacturing and hi-tech jobs threatens to abolish the American middle class--the bulwark of a free society.
We were middle class," lamented former textile worker Jimmy Bennett in an interview with the Washington Post, before hastily correcting himself: "We still are." Jimmy and his wife Verleen, residents of Kannapolis, North Carolina, were among the nearly 6,500 employees of the Pillowtex towel factory laid off in early...

Want to speed up that purchase? The pitfalls of environmental insurance. (Environmental).
An environmental insurance policy may let lenders give a quicker go-ahead, but it won't replace a Phase I assessment. Property owners may be liable, for example, for risks not covered by the policy. Who isn't looking for the one pill that makes the pounds melt off our...

Colophon.
colophon (ka-le-fen, -.fan); noun Etymology: Latin, from Greek [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] summit, finishing touch; perhaps akin to Latin culmen: top. Also related to hill. 1. "Finishing stroke," "crowning touch." Obsolete. First English usage: Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621). ...

Senate Appropriations report cites appraisers, HUD at fault for defaults.
On September 30, the Senate Appropriations Committee released Committee Report 107-222, in which the Committee's concerns with the current state of FHA loan programs are expressed, laying some of the blame on appraisers. It points out that "FHA has been misused to underwrite bad loans that lead to defaults...

Safeguard for honest mistakes.
In the October/November 2001 issue I wrote about the Ontario Court of Appeal's decision in Miglin v. Miglin. That's the case where the court found that a separation agreement was invalid because the spousal support sections did not meet the objectives set out in the Divorce Act. Section 15.2(6)...

1: Battle over native schools continues. (Canada).
At the end of October 2001, Herb Gray, the Deputy Prime Minister, announced that talks concerning the lawsuits filed by nearly 9,000 native people who say they were abused at residential schools run by the churches have failed, and therefore the government will go ahead with the payment of...