Reading Guidelines for Roberts and Lamp

Definition of globalization

Six Views of globalization

1. Establishment Narrative: Everyone wins (Liberalism)

Belief in free trade

Comparative advantage (nations specialize in making things; they have natural advantages and use those to create wealth) (p. 38)

Hockey stick of prosperity (p. 38)

2. Left-Wing Populism

Only the wealthy elite benefit from globalization

The 1% benefit; the rest do not

The economic system is rigged

Wages haven’t risen (stagnation)

Rising inequality

economic systems under globalization channel money to the wealthiest

3. Right-Wing Populism

Anti-globalization

Anti-free trade: jobs move to poorer countries

Anti-immigration: foreign workers take jobs from citizens here at home

Technology takes jobs: industrial robots

Decline in US manufacturing

The importance of work and identity

Immigration and culture

4. Corporate Power Narrative

Multinational corporations make the most profit

They operate everywhere

They move to where they can get cheap labor

Reduction in trade barriers allows them to prosper even as they pay workers less

Race to the bottom idea (p. 99)

5. Geoeconomics Narrative

US vs. China is the economic future

China is a rising power and globalization has helped it rise

US-China economic interdependence may keep the two nations from going to war

6. Global Threats

Globalization creates problems that can only be solved globally

Climate change

Health crisis like the coronavirus (COVID-19)

Which nations are responsible for carbon emissions? (p. 162)

Which nations will be hurt most by climate change? (p. 248)

Pay attention to the table on pages 167-169 (There are no page numbers on the table, but go to page 171 and then turn backwards)

Some key issues

US Protectionism against China (p. 172 and 187)

The success of Asia’s globalization (p. 222-226)