The Globalization Index 2007

Written by  //  October 29, 2007  //  Globalization  //  1 Comment

Hong Kong, Jordan, and Estonia Debut Among the Top 10 in Expanded Ranking of the World’s Most Globalized Countries
Singapore Remains in Top Spot, United States Falls Four Places Despite Continued Strength in Technology

Foreign Policy
November/December 2007
For the seventh year, FOREIGN POLICY partners with A.T. Kearney to measure countries on their economic, personal, technological, and political integration. Find out who’s climbing the ranks, and who’s sliding down.
Never before have the forces of globalization been so evident in our daily lives. An estimated 2 billion people witness Live Earth, a series of concerts held in 11 locations around the world to raise environmental awareness. Chinese manufacturers decorate toys with paint containing lead, and children around the world have to give up their Batmans and Barbie dolls. Mortgage lenders in the United States face a liquidity crunch, and global stock markets go berserk. Good, bad, and ugly—the effects of our supposedly “flattened” world are undeniable. But just how strong are these ties that bind? As former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan once remarked, “Globalization is a fact of life. But I believe we have underestimated its fragility.” Complete article

See also:

The World’s Biggest Myth
By Pankaj Ghemawat
Foreign Policy November/December 2007

It happens every time there’s a global credit squeeze, an international trade dispute, or an outsourcing outrage. Like clockwork, the two opposing forces of the enduring globalization debate go to battle on the world’s oped pages, in policy shop salons, and sometimes in the streets. The pro-globalizers talk of leveling playing fields and freeing markets to spread wealth to every corner of the world. The anti-globalizers claim rich countries and corporations have set up the rules of the game in their favor, profiting from the hard work and low expectations of most of the world’s poor.
These two sides of the debate agree on almost nothing, with one exception: They both believe globalization leads to more market share for fewer players. In fact, they couldn’t be more wrong. This perspective can be traced back at least to Karl Marx, who wrote more than 100 years ago that “one capitalist always kills many . . . [leading to] the constantly diminishing number of the magnates of capital …. [Complete article available to subscribers or on a one-day free pass]

One Comment on "The Globalization Index 2007"

  1. Diana Thébaud Nicholson October 30, 2007 at 7:18 pm ·

    THE strong global economic tide has lifted the boats of most South-East Asian countries, but perhaps the most impressive performer is Singapore. Its national income per head is already higher than Spain’s and New Zealand’s, and five times that of its nearest neighbour, Malaysia. Yet in the year to the third quarter, its economy grew by 9.4%. Singapore is “a developed country that grows at developing-country rates,” as Robert Prior-Wandesforde, an economist at HSBC, puts it. Since the 1997 Asian crisis it has fared markedly better than its rival, Hong Kong (see chart).The Economist

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