ABSTRACT
Under globalization, people around the world are more connected to each other than ever before in a variety of ways. Information and money flow more quickly than ever and between more people and at greater distances. Goods and services produced in one part of the world are increasingly available to the rest of the world. International travel is more frequent. International communication is commonplace. In fact, globalization has a variety of dimensions including cultural, political and environmental ones. This chapter will concentrate on the economic dimensions of the term. In this sense, Friedman (1999: 7-8) offers the following definition:
Economic globalization represents a development of markets and expansion of global linkages. It would be possible to identify four main stages of this development from subsistence (little market interaction) to the development of local and regional markets through to the importance of national and finally to the ready access to international markets. It refers to the increasing integration of economies around the world. This integration is evident mainly through trade and capital flows but it also includes the movement of people (labour) and knowledge (technology) across international borders:
● Trade: International trade has risen dramatically over the past 25 years. This has led to a big increase in the range of leisure goods and services available as global markets offer greater opportunity for consumers to tap into more and larger markets around the world. Trade has increased as transport has become cheaper and faster so that resource differentials in different countries can be exploited. Markets promote efficiency through competition and the division of labour, encouraging greater specialization that allows people and
economies to focus on what they do best, but at the same time entailing more trade. The strongest rise has been in the export of manufactured goods whilst the share of primary commodities in world exports, such as food and raw material, has declined. The increase in world trade has also hastened the structural changes in economies. Advanced industrial economies have witnessed rapid de-industrialization as manufacturing has become relocated in newly industrialized developing countries, particularly in Asia.
