Us Against Them? Why Globalization Doesn’t Have to Pit American Workers Against the World’s Poor

Global poverty is in decline. The percentage of the world’s population living in extreme poverty is 14 percent, dropping by half since the early 1990s. Yet wages have stagnated in advanced economies like the United States. “The paradox is that both trends have probably been pushed along by the same forces: globalization and international trade,” reports Jeff Spross for the Week. Many workers in advanced economies have not benefited from increased trade or productivity. Instead, most benefits went to investors or top managers in corporations. Spross explains why comparing wages in Mississippi and Zimbabwe is no simple task. Workers assume that protectionism and bans on trade can save jobs and prevent poverty. But Spross concludes that governments could do more to regulate globalization: “Strong unions, a large welfare state, universal health care, progressive taxation, monetary and fiscal policy focused on full employment, criminal justice reform, smarter benefits policy, and smarter trade policy would all combine to keep the American economy egalitarian while we open up to trade with the rest of the world.” – YaleGlobal