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Causes of Globalization
Exercise
A fact you should know is that many analysts of contemporary Globalization have pointed out that Globalization, in the sense of increased international trade, is not new. As you can see from chart below World Exports as a Percent of GDP (only one measure of Globalization) was increasing rapidly prior to WWI. This advance was stopped by WWII and the Cold War, and has recently resumed.
Table 2. Merchandise exports as a share of GDP (percent) (Excerpt)
Country 1820 1870 1913 1929 1950 1973 1992 1998
France 1.3 4.9 7.8 8.6 7.6 15.2 22.9 28.7
UK 3.1 12.2 17.5 13.3 11.3 14.0 21.4 25.0
Total
Western
Europe na 10.0 16.3 13.3 9.4 20.9 29.7 na
USA 2.0 2.5 3.7 3.6 3.0 4.9 8.2 10.1
Mexico na 3.9 9.1 12.5 3.0 1.9 6.4 10.7
India na 2.6 4.6 3.7 2.9 2.0 1.7 2.4
World 1.0 4.6 7.9 9.0 5.5 10.5 13.5 17.2
na= not available
Source: Europe and the causes of globalization, 1790 to 2000.
Kevin H. O'Rourke, Department of Economics and IIIS, Trinity
College, Dublin. Table 2, page 23. Chart excerpt by MindTools.
http://www.tcd.ie/Economics/TEP/2002_papers/TEPNo1KO22.pdf
Using the World Resources Institute Database
An excellent, interactive database is provided by the World Recouces Institute. WRI describes itself as follows:
World Resources Institute is an independent nonprofit organization with a staff of more than 100 scientists, economists, policy experts, business analysts, statistical analysts, mapmakers, and communicators working to protect the Earth and improve people's lives. Source:
http://about.wri.org/
The database has data since 1960 for the same variable (Exports as a Percent of GDP) as in the chart above. The database is at: http://earthtrends.wri.org/searchable_db/index.php?theme=5&variable_ID=658&action=select_countries. WRI may ask you to register your email address with them after 3 downloads of information from their site.
You may wish to use the database to find out how your country or region has fared according to this variable. You may wish to create your own chart (a) by adding your country to the chart above or (b) by creating a new chart showing the countries in your region of the world. Option b will give you an idea of how regions of the world participate in globalization. Send your results to a friend in another country!
Test Yourself:
Complete this module and test your ability to use the WRI database by creating a table that shows recent data (the last 8-10 years) for Exports as a percent of GDP for Japan, China, and Malaysia.
Click HERE for answers.
