Trade a Mixed Blessing
Giovanni Connor
San Joaquin Delta College
Economics 1B
Dr. James Ford
May 7, 2009

ORIGINALLY, the development of the world of commerce was severely restricted by the unavailability, the slowness, and the expense of transportation and communication. Trade by sea was time-consuming. Overland routes were fraught with danger. But all of this was due to change. This has all come to pass due to globalization and technology, where social issue especially in economics has come more apparently important than ever in history. Now new and even more major issues are arising than ever imagined, and unless we start making rational decisions makings as equal descent human beings living in one world, much catastrophe may lay ahead. As an economic phenomenon, globalization is a shift from national economies to a more global economy. In today’s global world, the production of goods has been internationalized, and money flows even more freely and quickly across borders. In this system multinational corporations wield vast power, while anonymous investors can gain much material needs or can cause devastating depression in any part of the world due to greed. Globalization has indeed been a force that has raised living standards for many across the world. Peter Sutherland, chairman of the Overseas Development Council, says that “until recently, it took at least two generations for living standards to double, but in China, living standards now double every 10 years.” Globalization is perceived as bringing many new opportunities to billions of people. The expansion of world trade has induced a wave of productivity and efficiency and has created new jobs. Its critics, however, counter that globalization can also bring down economies overnight. For instance, economic globalization can actually contribute to disunity. When a recession follows a boom,