Does economic globalization promote prosperity and opportunity for all?
The invisible hand of the market.
From an economic liberal perspective, the market is the only reliable means of generating wealth, the surest guarantee of prosperity and economic opportunity. This is because the market, competition and the profit motive provide incentives for work and enterprise and also allocate resources to their most profitable use. From this perspective, economic globalization, based on the transborder expansion of market economics, ensures that people in all countries can benefit from the wider prosperity and expanded opportunities that only capitalism can bring.
Promotes general prosperity
.The great advantage of economic globalization is that it is a game of winners and winners. Although it makes the rich richer, it also makes the poor less poor. This occurs because international trade allows countries to specialize in the production of goods or services in which they have a ‘comparative advantage’, with other benefits accruing from the economies of scale that specialization makes possible. Similarly, transnational production is a force for good. TNCs, for instance, spread wealth, widen employment opportunities, and improve access to modern technology in the developing world, helping to explain why developing world governments are usually so keen to attract inward investment. Economic globalization is thus the most reliable means of reducing poverty.
Economic freedom promotes other freedoms
The McDonaldization of Society
.Economic globalization does not just make societies richer. Rather, an open,market-based economy also brings social and political benefits. Social mobility increases as people can take advantage of wider working, career, and educational opportunities, and the ‘despotism ’ of custom and tradition is weakened as individualism and self-expression are given wider rein. Economic globalization is thus linked to democratization, and the two processes coincided very clearly in the 1990s. This occurs because people who enjoy wider economic and social opportunities soon demand greater opportunities for political participation, particularly through the introduction of multi-party elections.
There are several benefits of globalization, such as increased international trade and cooperation and less international aggression. Social globalization—the sharing of ideas and information between countries—has led to innovation in the medical, technological, and environmental preservation industries
Deepening poverty and inequality.
Critics of globalization have drawn attention to the emergence of new and deeply entrenched patterns of inequality: globalization is thus a game of winners and losers. Critical theorists argue that the winners are TNCs and industrially advanced states generally, but particularly the USA, while the losers are in the developing world, where wages are low, regulation is weak or non-existent, and where production is increasingly oriented around global markets rather than domestic needs. Economic globalization is therefore a form of neo-colonialism: it forces poor countries to open up their markets and allow their resources to be plundered by rich states.
Loss of manufacturing jobs in developed countries
The deindustrialization of the UK and parts of the USA as a result of manufacturing being moved 'offshore' to Asia and Central America led to unemployment and the destruction of working-class communities. This led to the rise of populist politics and Trump's return to protectionism. The manufacturing jobs created in developing countries may have substandard working conditions, low wages, and few employment rights. .
Environmental damage
TNCs and the global exploitation of resources, led to the destruction of fragile ecosystems such as rainforests and marine life. The farther a product travels, the more fuel is consumed, and a greater level of greenhouse gas emissions is produced. According to a report by the International Transport Forum, CO2 emissions from transport will increase 16 percent by 2050. These emissions contribute to pollution, climate change, and ocean acidification around the world and have been shown to significantly impact biodiversity.
Transportation—especially when land-based—requires infrastructure like roads and bridges. The development of such infrastructure can lead to issues including habitat loss and pollution. The more ships that travel by sea, the greater the chances for major oil spills or leaks that damage the delicate marine environment.
Invasive species: Every shipping container and vessel presents an opportunity for a living organism—from plants to animals to fungus—to hitch a ride to a new location where it can become invasive and grow without checks and balances that might be present in its natural environment.
The ‘hollowing out ’ of politics and democracy.
Economic globalization diminishes the influence of national governments and therefore restricts public accountability. State policy is driven instead by the need to attract inward investment and the pressures generated by intensifying international competition. Integration into the global economy, therefore, usually means tax reform, deregulation, and the scaling back of welfare.
For example when the IMF makes a loan to a member country that is in need, it is often conditional. Specifically, the state must undergo economic reforms to overcome the problems that led it to request help in the first place. This might include: ■ cutting wasteful public spending and raising taxes, to eliminate the budget deficit ■ selling government-owned assets to private ownership, known as privatisation ■ increasing the amount of taxes that the state collects to help it pay for its own public services ■ reducing public sector wages
The link between global capitalism and democratization is also a myth.
Many states that have introduced market reforms and sought to integrate into the global economy have remained authoritarian if not dictatorial, conforming to the principles of state capitalism. China, for example, has become more repressive and authoritarian as its economy has developed and expanded into global markets.
Consumerist materialism and cultural hegemony
Even when economic globalization has succeeded in making people richer, it is less clear that it has improved, still less enriched, the quality of their lives. This is because it promotes an ethic of consumerism and material self-interest. Cultural and social distinctiveness is lost as people the world over consume the same goods, buy from the same stores and enjoy similar working practices and living conditions. This is particularly evident in the development of a ‘brand culture’, which pollutes public and personal spaces to create a culture of unthinking consumerism, even managing to absorb radical challenges to its dominance by turning them into consumer products.