The Gated Globe

After the 2008 global economic crisis, leaders vowed to avoid protectionism, but they also took steps to avoid globalization’s negatives. “After two decades in which people, capital and goods were moving ever more freely across borders, walls have been going up, albeit ones with gates,” writes Greg Ip in a series for the Economist. “Governments increasingly pick and choose whom they trade with, what sort of capital they welcome and how much freedom they allow for doing business abroad.” Ip suggests that globalization – exports as a share of world GDP and cross-border investment – has paused. Shadow protectionism – in the form of regulations, government subsidies, taxes and capital controls – is going strong. Since the economic crisis, nations pursue more bilateral rather than multilateral trade agreements. Immigration is tightly restricted. Ip identifies a pattern: “more state intervention in the flow of money and goods, more regionalisation of trade as countries gravitate towards like-minded neighbours, and more friction as national self-interest wins out over international co-operation.” – YaleGlobal