• More of The World’s Economy coverage

President Obama has set a lofty goal: He wants to double U.S. exports within the next five years. It would go a long way to help get the U.S. out of the economic doldrums. But can it be done?

Exporting our way back to prosperity. Also on this podcast, will a weaker Euro help European exporters? Building a deepwater port in East Africa. And here come the catfish.

The West African nation of Liberia suffered through an on-again, off-again civil war for 14 years from 1989 to 2003. As many as 250,000 people were killed. The country was economically devastated: Roads were destroyed, sewage and water largely ceased functioning, and electricity was knocked out throughout the entire country. A generation of young people, many of whom were child soldiers, never received a formal education. Many were psychologically traumatized by a brutal and at-times bizarre war.

Today there are signs of recovery – a freshly-paved road or new restaurant bring hope – but progress has been difficult and slow. Formal unemployment remains alarmingly high, upwards of 60 to 80 percent.

On this podcast, we look at how a nation economically rebuilds from 14 years of civil war.

For more stories on Liberia, click here.

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With all the bleak economic news these days — high unemployment, countries deep in debt, and the plunging stock market — here’s a podcast with smattering of only GOOD economic news. A story about making money from environmentally-friendly packaged wine. A new model to showcase foreign films in the U.S. And they’re waxing up their surfboards in the Gaza Strip.

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The World Cup has begun, so in honor of the games, we bring you the All-Africa Global Economy Podcast. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on stadiums and infrastructure improvements in South Africa. Who has benefited? Has it helped spur jobs and create lasting, worthwhile projects? Or has it been a burden? Also, stories from Zimbabwe about that country’s diamond industry. And how has land reform worked out there? And some upbeat economic news from Africa: The continent proved resilient in the face of the global economic crisis.

• Germans approve euro rescue plan
• World markets left at whim of euro on bailout fears

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This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

MARCO WERMAN:  I’m Marco Werman. This is The World.  A bit of relief for investors today, stock rebounded on Wall Street after a shaky start this morning.  But overall it’s been an anxious ride on the world’s stock markets this week.  Much of the anxiety is tied to the euro.  Its value has been declining lately, and that’s making many Europeans nervous.  But should it make Americans nervous?  How connected is the U.S. economy to the Eurozone?  We’ve asked David Blanchflower to help sort this out for us.  He’s an economist at Dartmouth College and used to be with the equivalent of the Fed in the U.K., the Bank of England.  Professor Blanchflower, all this bad news about the euro and the U.S. sells plenty of stuff to this part of the world from cheeseburgers to jet aircraft.  Should Americans be worried about euro slippage?

DAVID BLANCHFLOWER:  Well I think they should be.  Obviously we’ve seen over the last week or so the degree of uncertainty in the markets has risen.  Everyone’s worried that there is contagion in the air.  Things that start in Greece can move.  And the reason they think that is obviously things have happened in U.S. sub-primes move to Dubai and to Iceland and to German banks.  So obviously there’s a concern that what happens in Europe does extend.  And I think the way to think of this is this crisis that started in 2008 still has legs, is far from over, and is the greatest financial crisis in 100 years, so we should expect it to be more news and mostly bad news.

WERMAN: Now I evoked cheeseburgers and jet aircraft as the things that the U.S. sells to Europe, but what are some of the other ways that the Eurozone is connected to the U.S. economy?

BLANCHFLOWER: Part of the reason that we’re thinking this way that there are global capital markets.  Banks trade with one another, they are not separate.  So what we’ve seen over the last few days, yes there was a rescue package on Monday, but banks stocks around the world have still continued to slip so we’ve seen German banks and French banks and British banks being impacted.  The U.S. stock market has obviously shown some volatility.  And what we’ve seen as well is that commodity prices, oil prices have all been impacted by the worries that are in Europe and particularly the worry that European growth is going to be much less than people think.  And if European growth is lower, that means your exports are much lower than they would have been and so there is this thing really, which is that everybody is in this together.

WERMAN: European governments are meeting in Brussels.  There have been some dustups between governments about how the euro crisis is being handled, but what is Europe doing as a whole though to address the euro and stop it slipping?

BLANCHFLOWER: Well this is obviously an issue which is that there are member countries like the U.K. who are part of the European Union, but they’re not members of the euro.  David Cameron, the new British Prime Minister didn’t last a day or so is that the U.K. has no intention of joining the euro and it’s not for the U.K. to bail out countries that are part of the euro and that have caused those kinds of debt.

WERMAN: Now you’ve mentioned the contagion fears earlier.  How big is fear of further contagion in Europe and even beyond?

BLANCHFLOWER: Well I think there is a considerable fear.  Today is a good example.  This morning I was teaching my class on the financial crisis and when we went to class European markets were strongly down, expectation was that the U.S. markets would be down, and it was initially by 100 points or so, and then all of a sudden markets picked up.  You’re seeing volatility within days and between days.  So I just think that what’s happened is that there’s increased uncertainty about what’s going on and increased volatility predicts bad things usually.

WERMAN: I was kind of surprised to hear you say earlier, you were connecting the dots all the way back to the sub-prime mortgage crisis.  Do you see it in that kind of time horizon?  This started back in 2008 and we haven’t really let up since and the sliding euro today is a result of that?

BLANCHFLOWER: I absolutely do see that.  I think that we saw a crisis that started really sort of 2006 as the sub-prime market and the housing market here in the U.S. started to burst, but this is a great financial crisis, probably comparable to the start of the first world war and this crisis has extended and continued, so it’s impacted lots of different countries and so it really started in the U.S., went to the U.K., then to places like Iceland and Dubai and then to Greece.  But this is certainly not over because banks have to rebalance their balance sheets and we have to re-price risk.  We underpriced risk in the past and the price of risk is going to rise in the future and people have to adjust to that.

WERMAN: David Blanchflower, an economist at Dartmouth, thank you very much.

BLANCHFLOWER: Thank you.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

Thirty years ago, China was a centrally planned economy largely closed to international trade. Reforms were phased in during the late 1970’s. Today, China is the third largest economy in the world, behind the European Union then the United States. China’s gross domestic product grew by 8.7 percent in 2009. (And that was during a worldwide recession!) During the first quarter of 2010, the nation’s economy grew by a blistering 11.9 percent. Unemployment sits at a healthy 4.3 percent and only 2.8 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. (Stats: CIA World Fact Book.)

But with tremendous growth, comes great challenges. Beijing’s real estate prices are through the roof, putting the U.S. real estate bubble to shame. The income gap between urban rich and rural poor is growing fast; Chinese leaders are worried this could lead to major unrest. China’s growth has largely been fuelled by soaring exports to the U.S. But what will happen to China’s economy as U.S. consumers slow down their buying?

The European Union appears on the verge of agreeing to emergency loans to Greece. But that doesn’t mean that Greece is out of the woods. Some economists argue this latest loan just kicks the can down the road.

Greece has run up the tab. Now the bill is due. How can the Greeks meet their financial obligations? If they can’t, what happens?

What went wrong in Greece?

• BBC coverage
• Global Economy podcast
• The White House blog

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This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

JEB SHARP: I’m Jeb Sharp and this is The World.  Barack Obama went to Manhattan today to tell Wall Street to do the right thing.  The President railed against corporate greed and he declared financial reform a priority for the White House.  Mr. Obama says his goal is to prevent another financial crisis and by extension, another global economic meltdown.  The World’s Matthew Bell reports.

MATTHEW BELL:  The President told a room full of Wall Street bankers and financial experts in New York to join him in embracing new financial reforms for the good of the financial system and the country.  Mr. Obama drove the point home by quoting Time magazine.

PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Big bankers stared at one another in anger and astonishment.  A bill just passed, would rivet upon their institutions what they considered a monstrous system, such a system they felt would not only rob them of their pride of profession but would reduce all U.S. banking to its lowest level.  That appeared in Time magazine in June of 1933.

BELL:  President Obama wants Congress to pass what he calls common sense financial reforms contained in a bill passed by the House and being debated in the Senate.  He said the bill would do four things, get taxpayers off the hook when financial institutions fail, limit the risk that banks can take with depositors’ money, bring more transparency to exotic financial markets such as derivatives trading and finally, provide more consumer protections.

OBAMA:  Part of what led to the turmoil of the past 2 years was that in the absence of clear rules and sound practices, people didn’t trust that our system was one in which it was safe to invest or lend.  And as we’ve seen, that harms all of us.  So by enacting these reforms, we’ll help ensure that our financial system and our economy continues to be the envy of the world.

BELL:  Mr. Obama said the recession proved that Wall Street and Main Street rise and fall together.  There’s a similar connection between the U.S. and global economy.  Financial chaos here spread to the rest of the world.  Foreign leaders were quick to tell Washington to get its financial act together for everyone’s sake.  The head of the international monetary fund, Dominique Strauss Kahn, today applauded the U.S. and other nations for implementing new financial reforms but he said the last two years have shown what’s needed is a unified front on financial reform.

DOMINIQUE KAHN:  My concern is that even if it’s right when you look from the country side, what the U.S. are doing, what the European Union wants to do, what the Japanese wants to do, there may be some inconsistency when you look at all this together.  That’s why we’re trying to push to some more coordinated, more global way to answer this question and to put in place a new kind of regulation.

BELL:  One thing the IMF has floated is the idea of imposing new worldwide bank taxes.  There are similar proposals being debated in Congress.  Economist Dean Baker with the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington says he doesn’t often agree with the IMF but new bank taxes would be a good idea he says.  As for the package of financial reforms President Obama is pushing for, Baker is skeptical.

DEAN BAKER:  I don’t see it producing a fundamental clean-up so whatever day this gets passed, the next day the financial system’s not going to work all that much different than it did the day before.

BELL:  Baker says the reforms being discussed in Congress might be an improvement but they fall short of what’s really needed to prevent another global recession.  And part of the problem here, says former IMF banker, Kenneth Rogoff, is that this stuff is not easy to grasp.

KENNETH ROGOFF:  Everyone understands that the problems started in the United States and Britain and spread to their countries but some of it is just so complicated that people don’t understand it which is part of what allows the banks to get away with these incredible practices that you read about which risk taxpayer money, make big profits in the short run but put the system at risk.  The rest of the world certainly would like to see tougher regulation in the U.S.  They are worried that they don’t have much leverage over us.

BELL:  At the same time, the banks have plenty of leverage.  President Obama acknowledged that today.  He made a plea to Wall Street to call off its legion of highly paid lobbyists that have descended on Washington.  For The World, I’m Matthew Bell.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

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From the bean to the barista, coffee is big business. People have been drinking coffee since at least the 15th century, when it was consumed in Sufi monasteries in Yemen. From there, coffee spread throughout the Middle East, then on to Italy, Europe, and the Americas. Today, coffee beans are one of the most traded agricultural commodities in the world. An estimated 117 million bags are produced each year. Starbucks has more than 16,000 stores in 49 countries.

On this edition of The World’s Global Economy podcast, we look at the coffee business in Venezuela, Colombia, and Taiwan. Guess which country drinks the most coffee per capita?

• Global Economy podcast
• State of the Union address (full text)

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This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

MARCO WERMAN:  I’m Marco Werman and this is The World.  President Obama made this bold declaration during his State of the Union Address in January.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:  So tonight we set a new goal.  We will double our exports over the next five years, an increase that will support two millions jobs in America.

WERMAN:  That’s what you call and applause line.  But doubling U.S. exports by 2015 will take more than a good speech or two.  The World’s Jason Margolis visited western Michigan to find out how and whether the President might achieve his goal.

JASON MARGOLIS:  Germany, Argentina and Russia doubled their exports between 2002 and 2007.  China tripled them.  Doubling our exports will require a much faster pace of growth than anything we’ve seen over the past 30 years.  But President Obama has a plan to help small and medium size businesses sell their products abroad.

PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Many businesses want to export their products, but just don’t have the resources required identifying new markets or setting up shop overseas and that’s where we can help.

MARGOLIS: The U.S. government can help companies like BEI in South Haven, Michigan.  The company makes harvesting machines.  Co-owner Jeff McKibben shows me a blueberry and raspberry harvester.  This machine can replace between 100 and 150 workers.  Average price, $150,000.00.  McKibben doesn’t sell many machines to foreign markets, but he’s confident that will change.

JEFF MCKIBBEN:  The berry business in South America has always been all manual labor and prices it in the supermarkets in the United States and in Europe are declining, obviously, and their labor supply is getting more expensive year by year, so they’re really looking to move to mechanical harvesting in that.

MARGOLIS: But McKibben’s whole company is all of 21 people.  No international sales staff to tap into new markets, so McKibben turned to the U.S. commercial service and trade specialist Tom Maguire in Grand Rapids.

TOM MAGUIRE:  We give them the market research on the X, Y, Z country that he’s interested in; Mexico, Honduras, this is where he was interested in.  We talked with him extensively about how you ship the product.  And he says what if they want a demo, I ship the product over there, I want to bring it back in, oh well then, you’ve got to make sure that machine is clean when it comes back in.  We’re not going to pollute here.  And then now, are you ready to go visit some buyers we can find for you, hopefully?  Yes, okay.

MARGOLIS: That’s how it’s supposed to work.  And the President’s plan calls for hiring 325 more trade specialists like Maguire.  But things get more complicated if you’re a bigger company, like Armstrong International in the Michigan town of Three Rivers.  It has more than 1,000 employees worldwide, including international sales specialists like Ray Masnari.  Workers’ here are building steam vents, the kind of plumbing product that Armstrong sells in over 100 countries.

RAY MASNARI:  Most places in the world, chance are you could find an Armstrong product.

MARGOLIS: So the company doesn’t need help breaking into new markets.  Masnari says they need help selling their products overseas at a competitive price.

MASNARI: Level the playing field.  Often times in some of the other countries there are hidden restrictions to us being able to do business in those countries.  It is very hard to break into those markets with our traditional products because I believe that strong favoritism is given to the locally manufactured products.

MARGOLIS: The problem there is other country’s tariffs.  In effect, taxes added by a foreign government that make the product more expensive.  Masnari wants the U.S. government to enforce more free trade agreements which would lower, or eliminate tariffs.  That’s something most medium and large companies want.  And the President is pledging to do it.  But economist Michael Ryan at Western Michigan University reminds us that trade goes both directions.

MICHAEL RYAN:  We want other countries to play fair and allow more American goods into their markets.  Well, they’re asking us the same question.

MARGOLIS: For example, many countries complain that U.S. agricultural subsidies give American farmers an unfair trading advantage.  So to truly have free trade, Ryan says the Obama administration and Congress would have to take the good with the bad.

RYAN:  Industries here in the United States, especially in west Michigan, that maybe are lesser competitive, maybe a less competitive advantage or comparative advantage as economists like to talk about, we may see more imports in these industries which may mean more job loss in industries that are declining.  At the same time, we would see more job gains in industries that are expanding.

MARGOLIS: That’s what makes free trade a double edged sword for any country, the U.S. included.  But even if you focus on U.S. exports only, a lot depends on what’s happening in other nations.  Exchange rates could be a big factor, says economist Lee Branstetter of Carnegie Mellon University.  And then there’s this.

MALE VOICE 1:  Consumers and farms overseas will only purchase increasing amounts of our good and services if their own incomes are growing over time.  So one of the most important factors determining whether or not the President’s goal is met is something over which he has next to no control.

MARGOLIS: So if there’s no cash overseas, all the best efforts of the Obama administration won’t help Michigan companies sell any more blueberry harvesters.  For The World, I’m Jason Margolis, South Haven, Michigan.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

Photo credit: Zev Handelman

India’s economy is booming. The country’s GDP more than doubled in just five years, between the years 2003 and 2008. Many Indian companies have posted growth rates of 40 or 50 percent a year. That’s no small feat, but to accomplish that in a chaotic society with transportation challenges, frequent electricity shortages, and severe corruption challenges… How are Indian businesses thriving? What’s the secret? What is “The India Way“?

In this edition of The World’s Global Economy podcast, we look at what’s driving India’s remarkable success, and also explore the challenges of zooming ahead from a developing nation to economic powerhouse of the 21st century. How do you provide energy and sanitation for more than a 1.1 billion people? Where will the scores of new middle class live? Who will take care of India’s elderly as sons and daughters become more mobile and leave the family structure? Who wins in the new India? And who loses?