Migration

Billions of dollars are zooming around the world from one wallet to another. Photo: <a href="http://worldbank.tumblr.com/post/36217284197/which-developing-countries-received-the-most?cid=EXT_TWBN_D_EXT">The World Bank</a>

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Mobile Technology

Follow the [mobile?] money

According to a new World Bank report, most remittances are flowing to India, China, the Philippines, Mexico and Nigeria, most of it in cold, hard cash.

In Greece, right-wing parties have blamed immigrants for economic trouble. But a survey of the facts shows that migration brings benefits to rich and poor countries alike. Photo: <a href="http://flic.kr/p/bDqGit">Giannis Angelakis (Flickr)</a>

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Would freer migration be even better for growth than freer trade?

After decades of debate, global trade is finally mostly free, and the world is reaping the benefits.

Global migration is another story.

With just a few simple materials, a community can map boundaries and see how they fit within the larger city. Photo courtesy "Design With the Other 90%: CITIES"

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Portland hosts the West Coast Premier of "Design With the Other 90%: CITIES"

Of the world’s 7 billion people, 1 billion now live in urban slums.

Social services provided by aid agencies at refugee camps just outside the Myanmar border should not be ended too swiftly, or returning populations won't be ready to access new opportunities that may await them. Photo: Jacqueline M. Koch for Mercy Corps

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Reform in Myanmar brings growth but needs caution

Reforms and investment are opening new doors and promising growth for Myanmar. But what’s exciting for some Burmese and the West brings a downside for many refugees.

Jeffrey Garten explored the massive shifts taking place in the global economy with an audience at<a href="http://www.mercycorps.org/portland"> Mercy Corps' Action Center</a>. Photo: Kyla Springer/Mercy Corps.

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Yale economist to world: Don't panic. Embrace uncertainty and innovation.

Presented by Jeffrey Garten at Mercy Corps

The world is not ending, and the sky is not falling. But the rise of the global South and East promises to reward the world's most innovative risk-takers.

A crowded market in Dhaka, Bangaldesh. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifpri/4860343116/"> IFPRI</a>

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How to make population growth work for Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa is getting bigger. But despite warnings from neo-Malthusian alarmists, population growth—if managed correctly—could be the key to unlocking Africa’s economic potential.

Failure to adapt to global climate change led to unrest across the Arab World. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/6argoo3a/6253592631/sizes/m/in/photostream/">Saleem-Homsi (Flickr)</a>

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How climate change puts the heat on governments

Incompetent, unjust governance by some of the Middle East’s worst despots brewed a recipe for disaster before the Arab Spring, but it took climate change to turn up the heat.

The departure of skilled workers in the developing world may, contrary to popular belief, do more good than harm. Photo:<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/73008420@N00/3662432706/sizes/m/in/photostream/">banoiff (flickr)</a>

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Reinterpreting the Brain Drain

When educated professionals depart a developing nation, does greater wealth arrive? Some scholars in the international development community are saying farewell to the notion that the ‘brain drain’ hinders impoverished countries from expanding human capital and increasing the growth rate.

Young Portuguese congregate in a park in Lisbon. Photo: Erik Mandell for MercyCorps

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As Portugal eyes Brazil's wealth, will the colonial winds reverse?

Amid its ongoing financial crisis, Portugal’s prime minister has a surprising message for his country’s struggling residents: leave.

It’s just one example of Portugal looking to emerging markets for relief as power dynamics of international economic relationships change.

Trujillo, Honduras is currently a quiet backwater town, but the Honduran government has grand visions for its future growth. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wanaku/1929533564/sizes/m/in/photostream/">Wanaku (flickr)</a>

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Honduras envisions a Caribbean Hong Kong, but 'charter city' plan meets criticism

Picture this: a nearly independent city-state -- a Hong Kong in one of the western hemisphere’s poorest countries. Sound far-fetched? Maybe so, but one country has high hopes for a changing urban future.

Fortified borders, like this one seen from Calexico, Mexico, are part of measures taken to reduce the flow of migrants. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/51186333@N00/316206516/"> Omar Bárcena (Flickr)</a>

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Does immigration help the economy?

Today is not exactly a great time to be an immigrant.

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Five things to know about the 7 billionth human

Cellphones are transforming the way in which aid workers are tackling the transmission of infectious diseases in Haiti. Photo:<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/41309185@N03/5497953826/sizes/l/in/photostream/">ambafranceht (flickr)</a>

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A dose of cell-phone surveillance helps aid workers save lives

In Haiti, aid workers may have saved thousands of lives by tracking the cell phones of displaced citizens.

Immigration policy is intended to protect American workers, but letting more foreigners through checkpoints like this one may create jobs. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/scalleja/578343598/sizes/m/in/photostream/">scalleja (flickr)</a>

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US Opens Doors to Good Ideas, No Matter Where They're From

Instead of deporting immigrants with good ideas, the U.S. government is opening its doors a little wider to foreign entrepreneurs in hopes of boosting a weak economy.