William Baumol, Robert E Litan & Carl Schramm

Many people assumed that when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, “capitalism” had won the ideological cold war and that “communism” had lost. But, while “capitalism” — defined as an economic system built on private ownership of property — clearly has prevailed, there are many differences among the nearly 200 countries that now practice it in some form.
We find it useful to divide the capitalist economies into four broad categories. While many economies straddle several of these, most economies fall primarily into one of them. The following typology helps explain why some economies grow more rapidly than others.

Mizan Rahman

Climate change

While the least developed countries suffer the worst effects of climate change, brought about by the actions of the rich, they have no voice in global warming talks

Mahmud Hasan

THE caretaker government has repeatedly confirmed its commitment to holding the upcoming parliamentary election in December this year. The election date may be moved to an earlier time depending on how fast voters' identity cards are available. A reformed independent Election Commission or EC, has vowed to provide the nation with a free, fair and transparent election in a peaceful environment. Our national army has been given the most difficult task to make the voters' identity card. Eighty million voters are expected to be issued identity cards.

Syed Fattahul Alim

GLOBALLY, price of food grains have been forced up due to a complex mix of factors. These include frequent droughts, downpours, floods and various other kinds of natural calamities as well as shift in the use of food grains for uses other than human consumption. Last year, Bangladesh was severely battered by these factors of natural origin. As it has to feed a huge population with the crops grown on a limited area of land, which, too, is gradually shrinking to accommodate growing population, the food grains its fields produce are no more adequate to meet the ever growing demand.

Eric Margolis

Khushwant Singh

BANGLADESH like all other least developed countries (LDCs) is recently passing through the worst of the times. For being a LDC implies that the country bearing such appellation has a weak industrial base, for in modern parlance the concept of development and the level of industrial growth of a country are organically linked. Of late, the added problem for Bangladesh is its agriculture cannot feed its entire population all the year round. So, it has to import food grains and other agricultural products to meet the deficit.

The holy Eid-e-Miladunnabi, marking the birth and death anniversary of Prophet Hazrat Mohammed (PBUH), will be observed across Bangladesh with due religious fervour

GHULAM MURSHED

India’s zeal for reactor imports needs to be tempered

Brahma Chellaney

The American-inspired multilateral export controls, including on high-technology flow, that have blocked India from importing even reactors and fuel for power generation, need to go in full — not just partially and conditionally as under the proposed Indo-U.S. nuclear deal. India is keen to boost nuclear power generation by buying reactors from all the three principal countries that can make such exports — the U.S., France and Russia.

I wasn’t sure I had read it right. I rubbed my eyes. Ms Butenis herself going round offering cash compensation? The deputy head of mission herself? And I, in my utter naïveté, had thought suchlike duties were performed by CIA officials. A Washington Post story (October 25, 2007) helped explain matters: the Nisoor Square massacre had sparked outrage in Iraq. The embassy offers were unusual but reflected ‘the diplomatic and political sensitivities raised by the shootings.’ Hmm, I thought, rather quaint language. You wouldn’t think they were talking of massacres

The eradication of left political forces from Pakistan and Bangladesh actually had long-term political impacts in weakening the foundations of the democratic process in both countries. The deep-rooted feudal values and identity politics based on cast, religion or ethnicity and sub-nationalities shaped the very character, hierarchy of political party systems in South Asia, including India

Mahtab Haider

Dr Zakir Husain

The US presidential elections is a spectacle, an entertainment and media extravaganza; is a complex and long drawn out process extending well over a whole year that even American voters seem to find boring or baffling.

Yet, for better or for worse, the whole world watches and waits with bated breath. It matters to them because what the Americans decide affects the rest of the world. America is the unchallenged superpower of the planet.

DR. RAFIQUL ISLAM

There is no denying the fact that Chemistry, Applied Chemistry & Chemical Engineering play the most vital role in the socio-economic development of any country. Petroleum processing and polymer chemistry is recognized as an enabling technology, without which, much of modern life would cease to function.

Tanim Ahmed

Zakeria Shirazi

Valerian Texeira

AM Zakir Hussain

HEALTH is a labour-intensive sector. Globally, about 45 per cent of the total expenditure in the sector goes to managing human resources. Human resources in the health sector work in a dynamic atmosphere. Like any other service sector, the health sector also has two facets – demand and supply side. On both these fronts it is the human resources that wield the mantle.