Which Globalization Will Survive?
Globalization and the world economy are often portrayed as being one and the same, but other forms of globalization also have significant effects – not all of them benign – on our daily lives. Unless governments cooperate to stimulate their economies and resist protectionism, the current crisis may mean only the end of the good kind of globalization, leaving us with the worst of all worlds.
CAMBRIDGE – The world economy will shrink this year for the first time since 1945, and some economists worry that the current crisis could spell the beginning of the end of globalization. Hard economic times are correlated with protectionism, as each country blames others and protects its domestic jobs. In the 1930’s, such “beggar-thy-neighbor” policies worsened the situation. Unless political leaders resist such responses, the past could become the future.