ABSTRACT
Globalization of the world economy denotes a process based on the formation of a single market for goods, services and factors of production, including capital, labour, technology and natural resources, covering all countries and economic regions. Uniform economic mechanisms governing the functioning of national and international markets are a condition, as well as consequence, of globalization. Contemporary globalization was preceded by the liberalization of commodity markets, a process limited to specific sectors or regions. Highly divisive opinions exist regarding which economic policy individual countries should follow under globalization. The division of globalization benefits has no less influence on the unusually rapid growth of financial, especially speculative, capital. In the late 1970s, speculative capital accounted for some 10% of financial transactions. Globalization, which creates conditions for free movements of goods, services and factors of production in the world as a whole, by definition offers greater opportunities to economically stronger entities to secure a competitive advantage.
