Why Globalization Works by Martin Wolf

From the Publisher

A distinguished international economist here offers a powerful defense of the global market economy. Martin Wolf explains how globalization works, critiques the charges against it, argues that the biggest obstacle to global economic progress has been the failure not of the market but of governments, and offers a realistic scenario for economic internationalism in the post-9/11 age. For this paperback edition, Wolf provides a new introduction to update the debate.

“Splendid. . . . The definitive treatment of the subject, and an absorbing read.”—Economist
“Accessible and clearly argued. . . . A wealth of material on every page.”—Bruce Bartlett, Wall Street Journal
"[Written by] one of the world’s most respected economic journalists, . . .this elegant and passionate defense of trade liberalization is essential reading."—Arvind Panagariya, Foreign Affairs
"A powerful book."—Sebastian Mallaby, Washington Post
“No one has summarised more coherently the recent, voluminous research. . . . Elegantly and persuasively, Wolf marshals the facts.”—Niall Ferguson, Sunday Telegraph
“A necessary and compelling read for all who want to understand the logic of unfolding events.”—Robert Skidelsky, New Statesman

Publishers Weekly

The author, a Financial Times editor, makes a conventional economist's argument for globalization that is not likely to convince many skeptics. His faith is that growth and everything else good comes from "the market," while any problems with globalization must be the fault of governments. Wolf doesn't consider that economic processes redistribute power and therefore transform politics and the possibilities of government action. Like so many economists, he analyzes primarily aggregate statistics: gray averages. For example, using aggregate figures he argues that workers in rich countries are paid more because they are much more productive than workers in poor countries are. Thus high-paid workers need not fear that competition from low-paid workers will undermine their economic security. The reason, he explains, is that workers in developed countries work, on average, with far less capital per worker. While this is true in aggregate, for a particular transnational firm deciding whether to locate a new factory in Shanghai or Chicago, the difference in productivity will rarely be as great as the wage differential. Therefore, as long as other costs and risks do not overwhelm the benefit of cheaper labor, there is a long-term tendency for investment and jobs to flow toward low-wage countries. Wolf neglects the profound consequences of relative labor immobility (because of immigration restrictions and cultural barriers) compared with the mobility of products, many services and capital, one of the characteristic features of contemporary globalization. Agent, Felicity Bryan, U.K. (May) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Foreign Affairs

By the early 1980s, a number of distinguished economists had amassed compelling evidence that outward-oriented trade policies were far more likely than protectionism to lead to economic growth. The evidence was contained in two multi-country research projects-one at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), led by Ian Little and others, and the other at the National Bureau of Economic Research, directed by Jagdish Bhagwati and Anne Krueger-and in a series of studies at the World Bank.

Today, however, advocates of globalization are gaining the upper hand again. Bhagwati's strikingly successful defense of open markets in his recent book In Defense of Globalization has been bolstered by another influential pro-globalization voice, that of Martin Wolf of the Financial Times. Wolf's weekly columns have already established him as one of the world's most respected economic journalists. Now his ambitious new book, Why Globalization Works, offers a patient and persuasive refutation of many of the arguments most frequently marshaled by critics of trade liberalization.

Product Details

• ISBN: 0300107773
  
• ISBN-13: 9780300107777
• Format: Textbook Paperback, 416pp
• Publisher: Triliteral
• Pub. Date: June 2005
• Edition Number: 1
• Sales Rank: 154,653

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents