A Villain to Our Rescue

Politicians, activists and even some business executives in the West blame globalization for a lot of problems. But the US has benefited from foreign trade. “Contrary to popular opinion, the trade balance (deficit or surplus) barely affects total U.S. employment over long periods,” writes Robert Samuelson for the Washington Post. Some types of foreign competition do hurt some individual workers, he admits. But stopping trade now would not bring those jobs back to the US, he warns. Evidence suggests that new technology – not globalization – bears more responsibility for rising income inequality in developed nations. Investors around the world listen to the chatter about globalization and try to sense the mood before investing huge sums of cash that do create jobs. Samuelson warns that the most vocal opponents to globalization could chase foreign investment away from their shores, bringing more economic pain. – YaleGlobal