Globalization-it's the hot-button word of the new century.
As people all over the world become more culturally and
economically connected, a backlash is developing. From Seattle to
Genoa, protesters travel to every meeting of international economic
institutions to denounce global markets.
What's the real story of globalization? Is it a "race to the
bottom," as the critics of capitalism insist? Or a race to the top,
as Tomas Larsson suggests?
Instead of debates among theoreticians and activists, it's time for
some on-the-ground reporting about the effects of
globalization.
Larsson, a Swedish journalist, spent ten years reporting from
Bangkok. In this book he takes us to the slums of Rio, a bicycle
factory in Korea, a brothel in a back corner of Thailand, and more.
In all the places, he finds that the changes of the past ten years
have given people tremendous opportunities. His perspective on
globalization differs from those of Pat Buchanan, William Greider,
or the Seattle protesters. And it's more vivid than econometric
articles because it's on-the-spot reporting from all over the
developing world.
Tomas Larsson looks past the dry statistics and arid debates to
examine real people around the world. He finds that, thanks to the
spread of global markets, hundreds of millions of previously poor
people have left poverty and misery behind them and taken their
place among the global middle class. This is a book full of good
news, more relevant than ever as the world's finance ministers
cower behind chainlink fences, afraid to defend the economic system
that is spreading wealth more broadly than ever.
