In Defense of Globalization

Pedazo de mierda!

this book is laid out as a presentation of some of the negative perceptions (and misperceptions) about economic globalization with respect to trade with systematic and considered refutations. the premise is given that economic globalization is "good" as it is aimed at alleviating poverty - a blight that has proven to be stubbornly resistant to economic equalization (i.e. socialism) in many different contexts. the book aims at defending globalization against the charge that it is social unjust - rather as bhagwati argues, it is socially benign and even helpful; globalization has a "human face".
bhagwati very skillfully dissects the charges of social injustice promulgated by economic globalization - he concedes that in some situations the charge is founded (for example migrant workers, human trafficking) and even remarks that significant swaths of the poor are not even connected to the official economy and are unable to reap benefits of increasing trade flows - a point that undermines a primary rationale presented for economic globalization. however, overall the picture that is painted is much more detailed and compelling that export-oriented economies can help alot of poor people.
the politics of globalization is also addressed with some alarming insight into the murky world of the NGO. clearly not all NGOs are made equal - only a few NGOs from rich nations are able to effectively lobby corporations and politicians and so their agendas dominate. millions of NGOs in the poor countries are connected via a rather tenuous solidarity to those in better situations. the triumph of the microcredit industry is a wonderful example where the poor NGOs have been able to shortcut this whole setup. overall however, domestic interests all too often are at work in slowing progressive liberalization of trade.
specific trade-related difficulties with the bretton woods institutions are sketched out. the IMF's role in the asian financial crisis is explored and the world bank's reputation for loaded conditionality on their measures is also explored rather negatively as it seems a chance to take a swipe at joseph stiglitz. however, the WTO gets the most attention for bowing to corporate interests (software and pharmaceuticals) with the inclusion of TRIPs. The big message here is that TRIPs is a hijacking of the WTO's dispute resolution mechanism; a departure that could prove fatal for the efficacy of the WTO as a whole.
some interesting economic theory is also presented - bhagwati's own "growth immiseration" paradox, for example, where an exporting nation can saturate a market causing the price to go down and reduce the overall gains made. another is the "ladders of comparative advantage" which is wonderfully exemplified by the waves of export-orientation experienced by first japan, the NIE (vietnam, south korea, etc.), china and now the new players like the phillipines and indonesia.
some of the economic statistics are just staggering. one that comes to mind: in the 70s, 10%+ of the world's poor came from africa and 70%+ came from asia. 20 years later, this has reversed with 60%+ of the world's poor coming from africa and 20%+ from asia.
trade has an ethical dimension. two examples: is it ethical to trade with dictatorial regimes; do rich nations become enablers? is it ethical to trade with producers in egregiously gender-biased communities (where reports of males spending newfound wealth on booze instead of their families have surfaced)? i think bhagwati sees that trade is the first step in a wider engagement and that reflexive sanctions are the worst climate in which to make any progress towards international social norms.
the first part of the book is an excellent mix of argument and evidence-backed economics. myths regarding the race to the bottom with respect to environmental policy and labour wages are demonstrated to not correspond with reality (the issue of which country offers competitive advantage to a multinational is very complicated and one