ABSTRACT
Hard on the heels of putting the Cold War bogeyman to rest, economic globalization has loomed, at least for some, as either the world system’s next crisis carrier or savior. Globalization creates winners and losers and tramples on the distinctiveness of local cultures and sovereignties. For others, though, globalization compels closer economic interactions throughout the globe, carrying technological progress and economic integration to all parts of the planet and accelerating economic growth. Let the market do its job, and the poor will catch up to the rich via trade-driven growth. Global North and South – developed and less developed countries, respectively – cleavages will disintegrate, and the world will be a better and Pareto-optimal, happier place.
