In Defense of Globalization
In this elegant book, one of the world's preeminent economists distills his thinking about globalization for the lay reader. Bhagwati, a former adviser to the U.N. on globalization, sets out to show that "this process has a human face, but we need to make that face more agreeable." Armed with a wit uncharacteristic of most writing on economics and drawing on references from history, philosophy and literature as well as some "state of the art econometric analysis," he sets out to prove that the antiglobalization movement has exaggerated claims that globalization has done little good for poor countries. For example, supported by statistics from the Asian Development Bank, he argues, astonishingly, that in China the "aggressively outward economic policies" that characterize globalization reduced poverty from 28% of the population in 1978 to 9% in 1998. Nevertheless, Bhagwati does not advocate total laissez-faire economics and recommends that continued globalization should be "managed," prescribing policies he believes will "reinforce and ensure" its benign effects, such as taxing skilled workers who leave poor countries for jobs abroad, using nongovernmental organizations as corporate watchdogs, slowing financial liberalization and loosening intellectual property safeguards. This book might be seen as a companion piece to 2002's bestselling Globalization and Its Discontents by Joseph Stiglitz, Bhagwati's colleague at Columbia University; it should reach as broad an audience, if not broader. Don't be deceived by its relative brevity: this is a substantial study that is as about as enjoyable—and reassuring—a work of economics as may be possible to write in this uncertain age.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.