media consumption

Why Globalization Works

I doubt there is a better researched and well-argued defense of free-market globalization than Martin Wolf's Why Globalization Works. This book sets up the anti-globalization arguments and shows no mercy in knocking them all down, one after another. Wolf exposes the hypocrisy and self-contradictory forces arrayed against world trade, backing up every point with hard data. Globalization increases the gap between the rich and the poor? Maybe, but fewer poor people are living below subsistence level than ever before. Capitalism exploits the poor? Ask the Chinese factory worker if he is better off making $1 a day toiling in the field.

Ten years ago this book could not have been written. Wolf's star witness in all of his arguments is China. Almost of of his data is made more convincing after the effects of the recent market liberalization of China's economy have been figured in. Still, developed countries tend to trade mostly with each other and therefore reap the most benefit from open markets. Underdeveloped countries, trading as they do mainly in commodities, have little to gain in today's world market. In fact, Wolf's central point is that the problem is not that there is too much globalization, but for the poorest people in the poorest countries there is not enough.

Wolf acknowledges that for the developed countries there will be some pain felt by the working classes as wage competition forces their salaries down (as the salaries in poorer ecnomies begin to rise). He also acknowledges how difficult globalization will be for the poorest countries with few natural resources, few education opportunities, and little access to trade routes. I'm only halfway through the book so far, so I don't have a clear idea yet how Wolf proposes to remedy this situation, but for those convinced in protectionist or anti-capitalist or anti-globalization policies this books provides a devastating rebuttal.

Other Entries for "On the Nightstand"