Don’t Fear the Future

With growing consumer markets in Asia and the developing world, globalization provides Europe and the US with ample opportunity for economic growth and product innovation. However, many in wealthier nations advocate for “protectionist” agricultural strategy and take an isolationist stance to global trade to secure domestic employment in the labor sector. Gordon Brown, UK chancellor of the exchequer, condemns such “self-defeating” behavior, claiming that outsourcing of labor from the developed to the developing world does not have to reduce jobs for US and EU citizens. “We need to explain that the same globalization that results in the loss of old jobs can create new and better jobs,” he writes. New jobs would vary according to country, but would ultimately focus on fostering entrepreneurial development of inventive and competitive products for global production and sales. Brown also cites the benefits of global industry and trade for developing nations, with the development of more employment and education making them less susceptible to extremist take-overs. Europe must advocate for a global economy and not an isolationist, self-defeating commercial practice. – YaleGlobal