The cause of globalization.TO THE EDITOR: I read with amazement the symposium: "Is continued globalization globalization Process by which the experience of everyday life, marked by the diffusion of commodities and ideas, is becoming standardized around the world. Factors that have contributed to globalization include increasingly sophisticated communications and transportation of the world economy inevitable?" Not one of the thirteen distinguished respondents (including some friends of mine) articulated the prime cause of "globalization" and therefore were unable to come to the "inevitable" conclusion. If by "globalization of the economy," we mean the free flow of goods and services In economics, economic output is divided into physical goods and intangible services. Consumption of goods and services is assumed to produce utility (unless the "good" is a "bad"). It is often used when referring to a Goods and Services Tax. , free movement of labor, free flow of capital, free movement of enterprise, and the free flow of information, then we must look at the root cause of the changes, not specific policies, here and there, that indeed ebb and flow the alternate ebb and flood of the tide; often used figuratively. See also: Ebb and are subject to change. Some forty years ago, Alvin Toffler in his books Future Shock and The Third Wave predicted the radical revolutionary transformation of the world from the industrial age to the information age. I do not think it an accident that it began in earnest in the 1980s and exploded dynamically in the 1990s. "Globalization" was and is a phenomenon, a manifestation, if you will, of that more basic secular transformation. So to answer your question one must ask is the transition into the age of information over? Is the technological revolution over? Clearly far from it. I suspect we are still at the very beginning of the new age. Most keen scientific observers see the innovative technology growth rate expanding at least into this century's midpoint mid·point n. 1. Mathematics The point of a line segment or curvilinear arc that divides it into two parts of the same length. 2. A position midway between two extremes. and then continuing well beyond. Thus, increasing globalization of the world's economy is absolutely inevitable, albeit in fits and starts, depending on geopolitical ge·o·pol·i·tics n. (used with a sing. verb) 1. The study of the relationship among politics and geography, demography, and economics, especially with respect to the foreign policy of a nation. 2. a. , economic, and other concerns. But even to suggest otherwise, such as comparisons with pre-World War I, etc., with these transient matters puts those who expound ex·pound v. ex·pound·ed, ex·pound·ing, ex·pounds v.tr. 1. To give a detailed statement of; set forth: expounded the intricacies of the new tax law. 2. these concerns very much in the camp of the feudal lords, monarchs, farmers, and the religious and political leaders of some five hundred years ago when the agrarian age gave way to the industrial age. Then they resisted hopelessly. That radical transformation had overwhelmingly profound economic, social, political, and religious repercussions repercussions npl → répercussions fpl repercussions npl → Auswirkungen pl that lasted for centuries. So will this transformation--even more so! ALFRED H. KINGON Poughkeepsie, New York |
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