Globalization increases resource availability.
Globalization leads to improved efficiency, increasing the ability for people to acquire more goods. The founding principle of economics is that collaboration and specializations increases the amount of goods and services produced. Therefore, individuals form societies and specialize within those societies. This significantly increases the production possibility curve. In the same way, globalization allows countries or societies to specialize, increasing the production possibility curve. This provides two important opportunities for consumers. First, specialization increases the quality of goods and services produced, which allows consumers to make the best possible choice. Second, the increased market competition and innovative activities reduces prices for consumers. The breaking down of trade barriers can increase the amount of specialization, which increases the production possibility curve.
Globalization reduces poverty.
In many developing nations there is a lack of infrastructure, education, human capital and the ability to take the steps necessary to secure the aforementioned necessities. When multinational firms provided citizens of developing nations with jobs they are providing a stepping block for the impoverished masses. There is a reason that these individuals take low paying jobs: because all other opportunities offer much less in terms of total benefits. In every case a low paying job is better than joblessness and starvation. In addition to providing a means of subsistence these jobs can create a ladder of opportunity for the individuals who may be able to save some of their income in order to get an education or allow their children to go to school and become educated. In every country where multinational corporations have provided jobs the average income level has gone significantly up and many of the poor eventually rise out of poverty.
Globalization helps the environment.
Developing economies are significantly less efficient, at producing goods and services, than developed economies. This means that developing economies waste a significant amount of resources and damage the environment to a greater extent than if they were developed counties. Additionally, as members of the society become more affluent they are able to focus more of their time and resources on social causes, such as protecting the environment. As already stated globalization reduces poverty, from which it can be concluded that members of the society are in a better position to focus on the protection of the environment.
Globalization reduces ethnic tensions
Inherently with globalization ethnic groups that once may have never interacted are forced to conduct business and trade together. This can lead to a reduction in ethnic tensions as groups who once saw each other as competitors see the ’others’ as a valuable trading partners. Understanding that other nations are friends and not enemies can bring about increased communication with, and acceptance of, other cultures. This can directly reduce tensions and increase multiculturalism.
Globalization reduces the change of war.
Similar to the way globalization reduces ethnic tensions, globalization reduces the change of war. In a case of international differences the interdependence of nations reduces the change of war because going to war with one nation could be an act of economic suicide. Case to point, despite any tensions China and the United States might have with each other each nation has a direct economic dependence on the other and so could not risk destroying its relation through direct or indirect conflict. In this way Globalization reduces the chance of war and saves lives.
Globalization leads to freedom of speech and the protection of human rights.
As nations become more economically developed international scrutiny of their governments’ actions increases and it becomes increasingly hard to violate human rights. Also, as individuals increase their income and education they begin to demand increasing freedom of speech and individual privacy rights. These demands, combined with the increasing international security, leads to pressure on the regime to change their policies to grant more rights and freedoms.
Globalization increases knowledge.
It is known facts that as nations become more developed the number of educated individuals in the nation increases. Because it has already be shown how globalization allows for specializations, which increases the level of income of the nation, it can be assumed that globalization increase the number of educated individuals. These individuals can increase the amount of research and development, the level of entrepreneurship and the quality of the social capital. Overall, it can be seen that because globalization increases the level of national income it also increase the amount of knowledge.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
There is no way that globalization helps the environment more than it hurts it. True, globalization allows for environmental NGOs to operate more freely and raise awareness, however, it does not prevent the degradation of the environment. The world has become more and more connected, and increasingly, the world has become more and more polluted. If globalization really helped fight then the environment, then there would be sweeping examples of a cleaner world.
ReplyDeleteBut there are no conclusive examples. In fact, the opposite occurs. China is a great example. China is universally known as a huge polluter. The Beijing air quality during the 2008 olympics is a testament to this. The air quality was so poor that it was difficult to see more than a mile some day. China's rivers are terribly polluted and lakes have become dumping grounds for toxic waste. Why is this occurring in China? Because China is leading the world in globalization. It has industrialized faster than any other country as it exploits the benefits of globalization. To remain competitive with Western firms, China has to employ the cheapest means of production, which is often the most inefficient and the most pollutant. This is why waste is dumped into rivers and lakes. It is all because the forces of globalization has placed pressures upon China to produce the cheap goods of the world.
This is similar to all countries. Western countries extract resources and low-end goods from developing countries, the developing countries rarely have the resources of developed countries to implement environmental stands to their industries. This just damages the environment even further.
Lastly, it is a well known fact that globalization pulls people out of poverty. This is true and a good thing. However, when these people are pulled out of poverty they require more goods and create a larger carbon footprint. Think about it: if a Chinese peasant previously lived on the land, buying local foods and burning their own wood or sometimes charcoal for warmth, they would have a way smaller impact on the environment than if they advanced out of poverty and was now able to buy packaged food, cars, electrical gadgets, etc. Where before everything the peasant used could easily go back to the land, now he has containers to through away, gas to power his car, electricity to run his house - clearly more wasteful then his previous condition. This new lifestyle requires more energy and waste, and therefore, our Chinese peasant becomes much more pollutant on our earth.