globalization has benefits

Filed in archive Global Economy on May 21, 2004

I had been in India long enough to make my own judgement. Whatever I had seen is that globalization had huge benefits for this country. There are many smaller countries in a similiar development stage as India and so far I couldn't find too many negative arguments about globalization (although the term is pretty vague).

Now Jagdish Bhagwati throws in his support for on the ground of economic theory. Knowledge@Wharton enthusiastically discusses the book. The Economist has done this before, so you should consider reading it!

"For Bhagwati, the principles of economic globalization are a means to help poor nations escape poverty and help developed nations continue flourishing. He contends there is a lack of evidence that multinationals encourage violations of workers' rights by poor countries seeking to attract these companies. He likewise maintains that globalization has not adversely affected wages and working conditions in the United States."

"In almost every case, Bhagwati's analysis of the issues involved in globalization are well reasoned and worthy of consideration. Yet, it is hard to suppress the feeling that he missed an opportunity to write a definitive text on his subject. When it comes to recommending policy decisions on how to govern a globalized economy, his grasp weakens. His proposal that the "World Bank ... should put its money where its pro-globalization mouth is" to help poor nations is a case in point. Given the distrust of the World Bank and the IMF among developing nations, a "should" like this is not going to instill much confidence. Nor is Bhagwati's advice likely to have much effect so long as the United States wages war against terrorism primarily through military rather than economic means."

"Despite these caveats, In Defense of Globalization is an impressive book. It represents a major step toward defining a more equitable economic model for a world which sadly seems intent on taking giant strides backward away from the ideals of a global community."