Globalization Gap - Research Paper Example

 Globalization Gap Introduction Globalization has rapidly become one of the hippest slogans of modern political and academic debate. It covers a wider range of diverse political, cultural, and economic trends. These economies and societies’ integration existed over ten decades ago with international trade migration. Moreover, in the contemporary era, globalization is more ostensible, as the free flow of products takes place globally with minimal or no trade barriers. Although globalization has brought a tremendous positive impact on humans in terms of economy, politics, health, and culture, it has also left some drawbacks. Globalization threat leads to increased inequality of income distribution, loss of high-income jobs, prevalence of diseases and an even global culture that erodes national sovereignty. Discussion For instance, extreme poverty remains the biggest killer in the world, Court (2008), asserts. Furthermore, poverty is linked to numerous illnesses. Report from the World Health Organization (WHO) says every step in their life from infancy to old age is confronted with poverty and inequality. It is for most individuals in the present world. Besides the double burden of suffering and disease (Court, 2008). Nearly 3 billion people globally barely survive on less than two dollars a day. Over 1 billion individuals have no access to safe drinking water, and more than two billion live without basic sanitation (Knickerbocker, 2004). Causes of globalization gap Disease global toll is terribly unequal. Individuals in rich nations tend to die of diseases that strike later in life, such as diseases of the heart, cancer or even commit suicide (Smith, 1997). On the other hand, a poor man's health in the society quickly gets worse. Individuals in poor countries die in large numbers from poverty, diseases such malaria, tuberculosis, Diarrhea and HIV/AIDS. Moreover, conferring to the 1993 calculations, an individual in one of the least developed countries has a life expectancy of 43 years, and in some countries the picture is getting worse. On the other hand, life expectancy in developed countries is as high as 78 years. This gap is a mirror of wealth inequity. For instance, diarrhea kills more than a million children annually in poor countries just because they cannot get safe and clean water for drinking (Weissman, 2003). In addition, according to the report by world health organization on disease, not just by disease, but also by the age of an individual as far as child health is concerned; the children under five years who died in the year 1993, more than 12.2 million is equivalent to the entire combined populace of Sweden and Norway. In sections of the developed world, six out of a thousand infants born alive die before reaching five years. Whereas in sixteen of the countries that are least developed, the rate is more than two hundred per one thousand. Nevertheless, improvements in child health have been witnessed. Children dying of diseases that can be stopped by vaccines have recently reduced. However, gains of present immunization are being eroded by fiscal and societal conditions (Court, 2008). Another main cause of globalization gap is the pattern of poorer countries falling further behind while countries that are close to the leaders tend to catch up. The presence of these characteristics tends to vary positively with the income. According to Sheehay (2003), there is a positive correlation between starting level of real GDP per capita and its subsequent growth in countries with low income. Though still rising faster in the countries that are considered poorest, the correlation becomes negative with income levels converging over time. The elaboration of this trend is that the potential has not been attained by countries that lack the societal characteristics that are essential to absorb the available technology stock. Even though, backwardness of technology in levels of productivity brings a potential for rapid increases in productivity. Other income divergence explanations come in the form of poverty trap models. Growth in productivity in very poor countries has flopped because their limited human capital stock makes them less competent at adding the human capital stock. Additionally, since poor families face comparatively greater costs of educating their children, they have a tendency to have more children with less education. Human capital absence results in stagnant productivity levels. In the explanations above, the pattern of divergence or convergence, the basis is in terms of output per worker. However, the empirical evidence is based on real GDP capita. The poor nations are evolving from the initial stages of the demographic evolution, in which rates of death are decreasing much more rapidly than the birth rates. Hence, the populace is growing faster than the force of labor and the ratios of dependency rise. In countries with higher incomes that have already attained the shift to low rates of mortality, further birth rate reduction cause growth of the labor force to exceed the growth of the populace. Globalization gap is also one of the reasons why protection of the environment is lagging in many countries. Countries that live on the margin cannot afford to put aside resources for the abatement of pollution. The relationship between income and health has received considerable attention of research since there are strong reasons to believe that the causal effect from income to health should be strong. Even though, money can buy many things that an individual desire, it is indeed surprising that money does not translate into greater satisfaction of life. Moreover, according to studies, the relationship between income and the well-being of a populace is relatively small. Creation of wealth also alters the demand of the consumer. As their income increases, they progressively have the fiscal resources to act by commanding appropriate regulations on polluters of the environment, and purchasing technologies that offer benefits to the environment. Part of the solution if poverty is at the center of the problem is the growth of the economy. According to evidence from empirical studies, pollution increases at the initial development stages, but decreases after a certain level of income has been achieved (Administrator, 2007). Statistics on globalization gap According to the evidence presented by Sheehey (2003), the growing gap in the living standards is because of dissimilarities between populaces. The rates of the labor force growth lead to slower growth of output per worker, in countries with lower income. This evidently has an indication in the three decades period divergence of per capita levels of income among countries, with high-income levels and those with low-income levels. It is associated with the fact that the growth of the populace surpassed growth of the labor force in the countries with low income and fell short of it in countries with high income. This will be according to the Penn table. The absence of divergence of relative per productivity levels of a worker is encouraging because it contends against a tendency for countries with low income. It contends to be caught in the poverty trap of low productivity and proposes that a divergence reduction of per capita levels of income will take place. There is evidence showing cross-country growth regression, that indicate that the growth of a population slows the growth of output per capita through increases in the ratio of dependency. However, the Penn World Table that considerably varies from country to country could influence these results. Counter argument Numerous activists argue that an open, dynamic economy is intrinsically unmaintainable because producers and consumers are predominantly concerned with their self-interest. However, critics contend that the swelling consumer numbers are a reflection of the improvement in material conditions that has paralleled the nations' progress since civilization dawn. With the growth rates showdown over the last two decades, significant attention has been centered on the divergence and convergence of productivity across nations. As stated by Knickerbocker (2004), it is approximated that malnutrition and hunger could be eradicated worldwide for less than is spent in the US and Europe, for pets. Moreover, widespread literacy can be attained for one-third of what is spent yearly on perfumes. Even though globalization gap is caused by the promotion of capitalism on a global scale that only accelerates the process towards ultimate collapse, critics argue that there is little evidence to support the concept. This is in that affluent lifestyle cannot be sustained. In fact, the rise in the standards of living has had tremendous benefits for public health as well. In the initial stages of industrialization, the growth of the economy is hazardous for air and water pollution. But later on, pollution is reduced as nations become rich enough to pay for control technologies (Administrator, 2007). Additionally, creation of wealth also alters the demands of the consumer for environmental quality. The wealthier an individual becomes, the more they tend to value the objectives of the environment such as proper disposal of sewage, safe drinking water, and clean air. Solutions If poverty is at the center of the problem, then, fiscal growth will be part of the solution. This will be to a level that it permits nations to change gears from more instant concerns to sustainability matters that are, in the long run (Administrator, 2007). Additionally, Even in countries that are very poor that have been caught in a poverty trap associated with constant high rates of growth in population, faster growth of the labor force will finally eliminate the disparity. Conclusion The gap between nations places a risk on the citizens of the country as globalization threat leads to increased inequality of income distribution. It leads to a loss of high-income jobs, prevalence of diseases and an even global culture that erodes national sovereignty. A shared global culture unites a nation and its people. It identifies each country together with its population on a global scale and together countries can create and amass economic prosperity and civil equality. References Administrator. (2007). The Environmental Benefits of Globalization. Global Envision Court, C. (2008). Global health gap widens between rich and poor. British Medical Journal, 310(6989, 1221 Knickerbocker, B. (2004). If poor get richer, does world see progress? Christian Science Monitor. Lucas, R, E & Schimmack, U. (2009). Income and Well-being: How big is the gap between the rich and the poor?.Journal of Research Personality. 43(2009), 75-78 Sheehay, E, J. (2003). The Growing Gap between Rich and Poor Countries: A Proposed Explanation. World Development, 24(8), 1379-1996 Smith, R. (1997). Gap between death rates of rich and poor countries. British medical Journal. 314(7073), 9 Weissman, R. (2003). Grotesque Inequality: Corporate Globalization and the Global Gap between Rich and Poor. Multinational Monitor Magazine. Read More