Brief

<p>In a session on the future of globalization titled &ldquo;Is It the End of Globalization?&rdquo;, Alan Krueger, Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Princeton University, started by confirming that the world has indeed witnessed an increase in the integration of countries, on the economic, cultural and even linguistic levels. As for what could threaten this growth, Krueger expressed concern about an &ldquo;abrupt&rdquo; rather than natural decline in this trend. He also stressed the enormous role politics and trade play when it comes to globalization is seen with the collapse of global trade after World War I. </p> <p>Krueger illustrated his point by taking the United States as an example. He used charts and statistics to highlight how a disconnect has grown in the past 30 to 40 years between economic growth and living standards. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s difficult to maybe bargain that the gains that we&rsquo;ve had in productivity have been shared with workers, certainly not with workers at the bottom,&rdquo; he said. For instance, the income growth of the bottom 20% in the US has been stagnating since 1979. Krueger went on to explain that this shift has led to &ldquo;a tremendous amount of frustration&rdquo;, and while he sees that technology plays a bigger role in this change, he noted that it is easier for people to blame trade seeing as how trade agreements are voted on. He continued his idea by highlighting that China&rsquo;s expansion in trade, and the perception of this expansion, have had a large impact on voter behavior in the US, especially in the Midwest. Such changes, as well as rising costs, have led some countries to impose greater trade restrictions. Considering this &ldquo;backlash against world trade,&rdquo; Krueger also placed part of the blame on the failure of technocrats in supporting training and retraining initiatives.</p> <p>However, Krueger noted that while this trend is true for the developed world, it doesn&rsquo;t necessarily apply to the whole world. He concluded by saying that global integration will continue to slow down &ldquo;until the forces that favor integration come up with a more compelling message&rdquo; or until the wave of protectionism creates problems that are purely traceable to this caging regime.<br /> <br /> </p>

Speakers

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