ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses some issues about the nature of economic borders and their continued pertinence in the context of the debate about 'globalisation'. The stimulus for these remarks is an ongoing interest in 'globalisation. Economics national borders set up the issue of 'international trade' as a subcategory of the general analysis of trade. The fact that the international economy looks nothing like that sketched by Ohmae, and does not seem to be converging towards it, should not divert us from the power of the imagery he offers. Borders may be economically 'efficient'. There may be limits to the international division of labour, rather than its unlimited extension as implied by a conception relying on a purely ideal market approach. The types of analysis of international trade and investment flows provided in this paper serve to undermine expectations about the necessary continued expansion of interdependency, integration, and international economic interactions as a result of 'globalisation'.