Barron’s: Don’t Give Up on Globalization

Much of the world no longer trusts “the unfettered cross-border flows of goods, services, people” of globalization anymore,” explains Joseph Quinlan for Barron’s. “Without access to the world’s resources, capital, and labor, many U.S. firms would be shadows of their current selves in terms of market capitalization and earnings. That would endanger the whole U.S. economy.” Quinlan also expresses doubt whether the United States could survive as an economy with borders closed to immigrants, trade or access to low-cost commodities from foreign lands, whether rare earth minerals or oil. US firms thrive with the ability to hire foreign talent, and the share of foreign-born physical scientists, engineers and computer specialists is about 20 percent or more. Quinlan concludes that the global equity markets have yet priced in the risks of deglobalization, and he questions if political leaders have the foresight and prudence to assess the trends and enact policies that could ease the pain. – YaleGlobal