Economic Globalization - Essay Example

Economic Globalization Definition Globalization is defined as “…a widening, deepening and speeding up of worldwide interconnectedness in all aspects of contemporary social life, from the cultural to the criminal, the financial to the spiritual’ (Held and McGrew 1999, p. 2 cited in UC Atlas, n.d.). On the other hand, economic globalization refers to the increased linkage between livelihoods as well as development of services and products on a global level. There is a lot of subjectivity about the concept of economic globalization and there is no universally acknowledged concept as such.

In general terms, economic globalization can be considered as an objective trend that features allotment of factors of production as well as transnational flow which have emerged as social productive forces have gained more strengthen. The need of the mature market to have constant expansion in both the international and the domestic markets lays basis for the economic globalization as a phenomenon. Economic globalization has caused a co-existence of challenges and opportunities and has resulted into many losses along with gains as will be shortly looked into in the following sections.

Economic globalization vs the first industrial revolutionEconomic globalization is fairly much like the first industrial revolution. The first industrial revolution came as a precursor of the material prosperity. The first and foremost similarity between economic globalization and the first industrial revolution is that both have resulted into an immense and abrupt new era of social productive forces along with the opportunity to re-establish the global economy. Today, the world economy is becoming integrated as more and more state boundaries are losing their significance as a result of the expansion of trade and material exchange.

Impacts of economic globalization on the international environmentEconomic globalization will have profound impacts on the international environment. The promotion of international trade directly signifies the spread of economic globalization. One gets an instant sense of connectedness with the globe when one living in US sees Chinese tag on the T-shirt, Pakistani tag on the football, and South Korean sticker on the car standing in the porch. But on the other side, there are many negative impacts of economic globalization on the international environment.

From a general perspective of microeconomics, the world is not at an acceptable level of equilibrium, but rather is experiencing sharp fluctuation, aggressive speculation, and controlled monopoly or polygopoly. Statistics and quantitative analysis are geared for the short term and often yield wrong and unpredictable calculations and results. (World New Economics Foundation, 2008). As a result of the globalization of economy, the difficulty of eliminating poverty from the world has increased manifolds.

Economic globalization has increased the disparity between the rich and the poor, with the rich becoming richer and the poor losing much more than they even have in the past. The middle class is becoming extinct as it has to join either side of the scale. Global economy is there without any institutions to achieve global polity. Lack of such institutions saps our ability to govern the market.References:UC Atlas. (n.d.). Economic Globalization. Retrieved from http://ucatlas.ucsc.edu/economic.php.

World New Economic Foundation. (2008). World New Economics Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.doverdelawarethinktank.org/wnef.html.