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The overselling of globalization

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  • Joseph E. Stiglitz

    (Columbia University)

Abstract

Globalization was oversold. Politicians and some economists wrongly argued for trade agreements on the basis of job creation. The gains to GDP or growth were overestimated, and the costs, including adverse distributional effects, were underestimated. There have been important political consequences of this overselling, including the undermining of confidence in the elites that advocated globalization. The failures of globalization and the misguided backlash against it contain many lessons: about the importance of science and learning in society, the importance of the shared acceptance of facts, the dangerous consequences of deliberately misinforming the public, and the folly of ignoring the distributional consequences of economic forces just because they may lead to growth. The new protectionism advocated by the administration of Donald Trump will only worsen the plight of those already hurt by globalization. What is needed is a comprehensive system of social protection. After cataloguing the failures of globalization and explaining how they led to our current political mire, this paper outlines a set of policies that could put the economy and our politics back on a better path.

Suggested Citation

  • Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2017. "The overselling of globalization," Business Economics, Palgrave Macmillan;National Association for Business Economics, vol. 52(3), pages 129-137, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:pal:buseco:v:52:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1057_s11369-017-0047-z
    DOI: 10.1057/s11369-017-0047-z
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    2. Pompeo Della Posta, 2021. "The economic and social costs of globalisation: A target zone analysis," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(3), pages 633-644, March.
    3. Barlow, Pepita & Loopstra, Rachel & Tarasuk, Valerie & Reeves, Aaron, 2020. "Liberal trade policy and food insecurity across the income distribution: an observational analysis in 132 countries, 2014–17," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 105815, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Deniz Sevinç & Alp Polat & Tuba Sevil & Güven Sevil, 2023. "How Does Deglobalization Affect Economic Growth?," Journal of Research in Economics, Politics & Finance, Ersan ERSOY, vol. 8(1), pages 1-19.
    5. Alain Verbeke & Régis Coeurderoy & Tanja Matt, 2018. "The future of international business research on corporate globalization that never was…," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(9), pages 1101-1112, December.
    6. Huan Cai & Catherine Xu & Weiyu Xu, 2023. "To AI or not to AI, to Buy Local or not to Buy Local: A Mathematical Theory of Real Price," Papers 2305.05134, arXiv.org.
    7. Barlow, Pepita & Loopstra, Rachel & Tarasuk, Valerie & Reeves, Aaron, 2020. "Liberal trade policy and food insecurity across the income distribution: an observational analysis in 132 countries, 2014–17," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 104409, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Fabrice Etilé, 2019. "The Economics of Diet and Obesity: Public Policy," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) hal-02154445, HAL.
    9. Rizwan Khalid & Choudhry Tanveer Shehzad & Bushra Naqvi, 2023. "Impact of capital account liberalization on stock market crashes," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(4), pages 3700-3726, October.
    10. Gerd Grözinger, 2021. "Welfare Calculation by Consumer Surplus - a Phlogiston of Economics?," Discussion Papers 033, Europa-Universität Flensburg, International Institute of Management.
    11. Antonia Lòpez-Villavicencio & Luis Antonio Reyes Ortiz, 2018. "Is globalisation taking away jobs? An empirical assessment for advanced economies," CEPN Working Papers halshs-01895223, HAL.
    12. Patrick Bottazzi, 2019. "Work and Social-Ecological Transitions: A Critical Review of Five Contrasting Approaches," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-19, July.
    13. Matthias Aistleitner & Stephan Puehringer, 2020. "Exploring the trade (policy) narratives in economic elite discourse," ICAE Working Papers 110, Johannes Kepler University, Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy.
    14. Antonia Lòpez-Villavicencio & Luis Antonio Reyes Ortiz, 2018. "Is globalisation taking away jobs? An empirical assessment for advanced economies," Working Papers halshs-01895223, HAL.
    15. Nam, Hyun-Jung & Ryu, Doojin, 2023. "FDI and human development: The role of governance, ODA, and national competitiveness," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    16. Garg, Shamita & Sushil,, 2021. "Determinants of deglobalization: A hierarchical model to explore their interrelations as a conduit to policy," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 433-447.
    17. Stiglitz, Joseph E., 2018. "Trump and Globalization," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 515-528.
    18. Sergio Mariotti, 2022. "A warning from the Russian–Ukrainian war: avoiding a future that rhymes with the past," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 49(4), pages 761-782, December.
    19. Peter A.G. van Bergeijk, 2019. "Deglobalization 2.0," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 18560.
    20. Eric Sheppard, 2020. "What’s next? Trump, Johnson, and globalizing capitalism," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 52(4), pages 679-687, June.
    21. Pompeo Della Posta, 2021. "An analysis of the current backlash of economic globalization in a model with heterogeneous agents," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(1), pages 101-120, February.

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