Tag Archives: Globalization

The consensus forecast of just about everybody – the IMF, the OECD, the Bank of Canada, the Canadian banks – is that Canada will share in a global recovery from the stagnation which followed the financial crisis of a decade ago. All of the major economies – the US, the EU, China, Japan – are growing; business investment is finally on the upswing from depressed levels; world trade is on the rise again; and fiscal austerity has more or less run its course. Central bankers, we are told, can be...

Third way evangelists presented globalisation as inevitable and advantageous to all. In reality, it is neither, and the liberal order is paying the price.... The fundamental thing to grasp is that globalisation is—and always was—the product of human agency; it can be shaped and reshaped, for good or ill. The great problem with Blair’s forceful affirmation of globalisation back in 2005 was the presumption that it is essentially one thing, immutable to the way that our societies must...

Giddens: We live in a world that has moved ‘off the edge of history’ at the same time as it remains deeply embedded in it. By this I mean that today we face risks that no other civilisation has to deal with – such as climate change, the massive growth in world population, or the existence of nuclear weapons. Some of these risks are existential: they are threats to the very continuity of the industrial order as it spreads across the face of the earth. We cannot say which are the ‘most...

Today’s infographic from Raconteur highlights survey data on the topic of globalization for 19 countries.The survey, published by YouGov just under a year ago, covers international trade, foreign direct investment, and the impact of immigration. Here is the highest level data, which focuses on globalization in general. Visual CapitalistWhat People Think of Globalization, by CountryJeff Desjardins

Technological innovation increases productivity, decreasing the need for human work and increasing the opportunity for leisure. It's a distribution issue. The problem is that under capitalism, gains are capitalized and losses are socialized. Under socialism, gains are socialized and losses are minimized. Who is going to win this race, those aiming at the top or those racing to the bottom?NEOTechnology & The Marxism of Jack Ma Caleb Maupin

Short review of Dani Rodrik's latest book, Straight Talk on Trade: Ideas for a Sane World Economy. In that sense the title of the book is rather misleading. Although it is discussed a lot, this is hardly just a book about trade. Indeed the subtitle “Ideas for a sane world economy” conveys a better picture of what it is about. The book is based on a collection of articles written for Project Syndicate and elsewhere, and occasionally the joins show. But that feeling quickly gets lost in a...

Snarky backgrounder. Humorous read of some sorry history, centered around former US Secretary of State Dean Acheson.The Vineyard of the SakerNY Times: 1949 – When China lost that ‘elusive’ quality needed for AnglobalizationThe Saker

Even as China and Russia strategize to build an opposing pole of power, neither is immune to these truths. Both nations still crave positive relations with the United States. However, the window of US advantage to use its leverage is also closing. Therefore, it is imperative that the United States leverage its powerful alliances and global influence so that it negotiates effectively with both China and Russia to gain access to new markets and, more important, is not left out as a major...

The BRICS group of emerging economies must promote trade liberalization and an open world economy, Chinese President Xi Jinping said at a business meeting on Sunday at the start of a three-day summit being held in southeastern China.The heads of state from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will gather in the city of Xiamen through Tuesday, giving China as host its latest chance to position itself as a bulwark of globalization in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America...

After decades of turbulence, the world order led by the United States has begun to change, with the 2008 global financial crisis possibly being the turning point and this year signaling a new beginning....The changing world order is not about the decline of the U.S. but about the rise of other countries, as Fareed Zakaria, a CNN journalist and author of The Post-American World, said. Nevertheless, global governance is set to change from West-led governance to co-governance by the West and...