Reference no: EM131397897

Globalization Is Good

Globalization is the process by which businesses and other organizations develop international influence or operate on an international scale. Globalization has increasingly become an integral part of world policy. I believe that it to every countries benefit to work together so each country could benefit. Trade policies and investment opportunities contribute to countries being able to grow and prosper. Perhaps, there is no better example of how globalization helped countries prosper than the development that took place in Asia, specifically in China and India.

Trade policies affect the prices of goods and services when they cross borders. This means that trade policies can affect what gets imported and ultimately the final price for the consumers. An important concept regarding trade policy is comparative advantage. Comparative advantage is "a relationship in which two countries can produce more goods from the same resources if each specializes in the goods it produces most efficiently at home and the two trade these goods internationally" (Nau 362).

This is something that is beneficial for each country who participates in it because costs can be reduced by working with another country and producing the goods each country specializes in. This is ultimately beneficial for the consumers as well because if there is cost reduction due to the reciprocal relationship between countries the price of goods will ultimately be less.

Globalization allows for international investment which in turn gives access to new resources. For example, private British firms "invested heavily in mines, public utilities and rail roads in North and South America, India, Australia, and South Africa" (Nau 381) and the US followed suit with investments in plantation crops in Latin America. Although it is easy for these resources to be considered "cursed", the oligopolies that ran the international firms were highly profitable. These foreign investments also provided jobs for the local people living in the host countries.

Asia has been extremely successful at development ever since World War II. One major reason that Asia was able to develop so successfully is because of globalization. More specifically, "Asian countries pursued export oriented development strategies that exploited economic competition in open international markets, while Latin America countries, for the most part, adopted import substitution strategies that counted on protected domestic markets for development"(Nau 413).

This shows that the Asian countries which relied more heavily on cooperation from other countries ended up developing more successfully than Latin American countries who depended more on their own domestic markets. This is perhaps a great example of countries relying on other countries in order to develop and it is a great example of why globalization is important and beneficial.

Works Cited:

Nau, Henry R. Perspectives on International Relations: Power, Institutions, and Ideas. Washington, D.C.: CQ, 2007. Print.

Globalization Is Bad

Globalization
There are definitely benefits and disadvantages of globalization. I think in this case the bad beats the good. I think there are three sides to globalization. The good, bad and the ugly. The good part of Globalization is that companies are able to sell their products around the world with ease. Big companies such as Apple and Microsoft make a lot of money because they are able to globalize, however not every company is as big as these two companies so globalization can make small businesses go out of business. In the article I am reading it states "Sony Corporation (NYSE:SNE), for instance, can sell its TV and game consoles with the same ease in New York as in Tokyo". (Panos Mourdoukoutas) Like I said before Globalization really helps the big companies but leaves the small ones to defend themselves, making their prices low so they can compete with big name companies.

The bad side of globalization is the amount of power the huge companies have over the small side. In the article it states "Corporations that previously have been enjoying the benefits of globalization, now face unstable and unpredictable demand and business opportunities and their products quickly become commodities, leaving them little or no pricing power and under constant pressure by new competitors that undermine profitability."

(Panos Mourdoukoutas) If a big company sells an item for a certain amount of money these smaller companies now have to think of a way to beat them, they have to think of a gimmick to attract more people, so the people wont only go to the high name brands. Not only is globalization bad for companies, but also it is bad for the world too. In 2001 China joined the world trade organization, and thanks to that coal in China has been being used up. Oil, gas and other finite resources will be used up thanks to globalization, leaving only pollution in the air.

If it was not bad enough that we are wasting so much of are finite resources we are losing a lot of jobs. Globalization is making people in America lose their jobs and have nothing. People with families lost their jobs and had no way to support their family. Thanks to trade agreement's people are as needed and millions of people los their jobs. Not many people in the U.S. manufacture items in their own country. If they did they could be saving people a lot of money, and giving them a steady job for years to come. That's not the case they go with cheaper labor. Globalization also benefits the strong countries and weakens the weaker countries.

In the article I read it states, "Globalization operates mostly in the interests of the richest countries, which continue to dominate world trade at the expense of developing countries." (Anonymous) This shows that globalization is just to get money and power, and the idea of globalization does not care about the people in their country. If they did care about the people in their country than the government would of made sure that there would be a way for people not to lose their jobs.

There are two reasons why globalization has an ugly side, that's even worse its bad side. The first reason is because it can make are oil prices sky rocket and if that isn't bad enough we are in the process of running out of oil to use. The article I am reading states "Now, since 2005, we have high oil prices back, but we have a much worse problem. The reason the problem is worse now is partly because oil supply is not growing very much, due to limits we are reaching, and partly because demand is exploding due to globalization." (Gail Tverberg) Basically at one point oil was very cheap than it got expensive, then cheap again, but now its back to being expansive. If we go at this rate not only are we going to have to think about a new way to move around, but a much cheaper way. Oil is skyrocketing leaving the U.S. and Canada.

Thanks to globalization the U.S. is in a trade deficit. Usually we are in debt to China for 6 Million a year, but in August alone we have spent too much. WE are starting to rely on the cheap labor of China, without realizing that we are hurting ourselves in the process. Yes cheaper labor is good, but not if it gets us in debt and not if it hurts the people of the country. How can people survive if everything the U.S. does backfires? Our country says we will make new jobs, people already had jobs in manufacturing but so many companies are now going over sea. Then they say we are going to make life cheaper for you. People in Mississippi use 6.35% of their income on gasoline. Globalization has good sides to it don't get me wrong, but the bad over comes the good in my eyes.

Cited

"20 Reasons Globalization Is Wrong for America." Truth Is Treason. N.p., 11 Nov. 2010. Web. 03 Feb. 2017.

Website

"Twelve Reasons Why Globalization Is a Huge Problem." Our Finite World. N.p., 11 July 2015. Web. 03 Feb. 2017.

Website

"BBC - GCSE Bitesize: Negative Impacts of Globalisation." BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2017.

Mourdoukoutas, Panos. "The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly Side Of Globalization." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 22 Jan. 2013. Web. 03 Feb. 2017.