Making Globalization Work - Joseph H.Stiglitz
Study questions – Making Globalization Work (Joseph H. Stiglitz)
1. The five concerns raised by critics of globalization that Stiglitz discuss in Chapter 1 are: * The rules of the game that govern globalization are unfair, specifically designed to benefit the advanced industrial countries * Globalization advances material values over the values, such as a concern for the environment or for life itself * The way globalization has been managed has taken away much of the developing countries’ sovereignty, and their ability to make decisions themselves in key areas that affect their citizens’ well-being. In this sense, it has undermined democracy. * While the advocates of globalization have claimed that everyone will benefit economically, there is plenty of evidence from both developing and developed countries that there are many losers in both. * Perhaps most important, the economic system that has been pressed upon the developing countries. Globalization should not mean the Americanization of either economic policy or culture, but often it does and that has caused resentment.
2. Because even if trade agreements had been truly free and fair, not all countries would have benefited or at least benefited much, and not all people even in the countries that did benefit, would share in the gains. It is easy for those in the advanced industrial countries to seize the opportunities that the opening up of markets in the developing countries affords and they do so quickly. But there are many impediments facing those in the developing world. There is often a lack of infrastructure to bring their goods to market, and it may take years for the goods they produce to meet the standards demanded by the advanced industrial countries. Moreover, trade liberalization exposes countries to more risk, and developing countries (and their workers are less prepared to bear that risk. Workers in the U.S. and Europe worry about being thrown out of their jobs as a
1. The five concerns raised by critics of globalization that Stiglitz discuss in Chapter 1 are: * The rules of the game that govern globalization are unfair, specifically designed to benefit the advanced industrial countries * Globalization advances material values over the values, such as a concern for the environment or for life itself * The way globalization has been managed has taken away much of the developing countries’ sovereignty, and their ability to make decisions themselves in key areas that affect their citizens’ well-being. In this sense, it has undermined democracy. * While the advocates of globalization have claimed that everyone will benefit economically, there is plenty of evidence from both developing and developed countries that there are many losers in both. * Perhaps most important, the economic system that has been pressed upon the developing countries. Globalization should not mean the Americanization of either economic policy or culture, but often it does and that has caused resentment.
2. Because even if trade agreements had been truly free and fair, not all countries would have benefited or at least benefited much, and not all people even in the countries that did benefit, would share in the gains. It is easy for those in the advanced industrial countries to seize the opportunities that the opening up of markets in the developing countries affords and they do so quickly. But there are many impediments facing those in the developing world. There is often a lack of infrastructure to bring their goods to market, and it may take years for the goods they produce to meet the standards demanded by the advanced industrial countries. Moreover, trade liberalization exposes countries to more risk, and developing countries (and their workers are less prepared to bear that risk. Workers in the U.S. and Europe worry about being thrown out of their jobs as a