Economic Globalization

Economic globalization refers to the increasing integration and interdependence of national economies through cross-border trade, investment, finance, production networks, migration, and the spread of technology. It accelerated after the Second World War and again after the 1980s with liberalization, falling transport costs, and digital communication. Immanuel Wallerstein’s world-systems theory situated it within a long history of the capitalist world economy, while Manuel Castells analyzed the network society and the global informational economy. Saskia Sassen showed how global cities coordinate dispersed production and finance, and Gary Gereffi’s research on global value chains explained how lead firms organize production across countries. David Harvey described time-space compression and neoliberal restructuring, Joseph Stiglitz criticized the policies of international financial institutions, and Dani Rodrik argued that deep globalization constrains democratic policy. Thomas Friedman and Jagdish Bhagwati defended the benefits of open markets, while Branko Milanovic documented the elephant curve of winners and losers. Critics link globalization to deindustrialization, precarious work, environmental harm, and inequality. Economic globalization remains central to research on development, labor, migration, inequality, and political economy.