The two faces of globalization

Abstract

Fears about economic globalization overlook the fact that the growing international division of labor can be beneficial to all participants—as may be seen in the spectacular strides that have been made recently by once‐impoverished developing countries. Free trade does threaten some, but the negative effects of international trade even on developed countries such as the United States have been vastly overstated. Western workers are rich because of their high productivity, not (primarily) because of their insulation from competition. Ignorance of these facts, however, fuels support not only for specific trade barriers, but for Seattle‐style activism that threatens to harm the very people it is intended to benefit.