Right after the global financial crisis exploded in 2008, many economists fretted that countries looking to hold on to their share of a shrinking pie would become more self-interested and protectionist, plunging the planet into an even sharper downturn, just as happened in the 1930s after the GreatDepression. Thanks to panic-fueled crisis management by policymakers, it didn’t happen.But after three years of pain and very little economic gain, it may be happening now.
The signs are everywhere.Europeans are in the middle of a potentially calamitous debt crisis, one that threatens not only the survival of the euro zone but the idea of theEuropean Union itself: politicians are starting to talk about rolling back visa-free travel between countries. Meanwhile, OPEC、is falling apart as the Saudis and the Iranians quarrel over how to control the world’s energy supply. Then there’s the rise of populist politics not only in the U. S. but throughout the rest of the worlD、 All of this underscores the point that globalization, if we define it as the free movement of goods, people and money, was never all it was cracked up to be. The world is just not as flat as pundits would have us think. More than half of global trade, investment and migration still takes place within regions—much of it between neighboring countries.Canada is the U.S.’s biggest trading partner. Some 800% of global stock-market investment, for example, is in companies that are headquartered in the investor’s home country.Exports make up only about a quarter of the global economy. Less than 20% of Internet traffic crosses national borders, and so on. The world is becoming more unified, but if anything, it’s becoming more fragmenteD、 Some of this reflects the fact that rich countries, especially the U. S., are still much more provincial than you might think, and the political trend in an economic downturn is to become more so—witness the rise of anti-immigrant rhetoric, and the like.Even multinational corporations, those global emissaries ofAmerican capitalism, could be a lot more diverse. Only 7% of the directors of FORTUNE、500 firms are foreigners. But greater economic and political fragmentation is also, ironically, a ripple effect of globalization.As wealth and power have shifted to the emerging markets, those nations now have the money and confidence to call their own shots—and their calls tend to be quite different from those we would make.Already this is reflected in company and consumer behavior. Firms like Hermes, General Motors, Levi Strauss andCoca-Cola rigorously tailor products specifically for emerging-market consumers. The big-picture implications are more profounD、As developing countries become wealthier and vie for a better seat on the global stage, they are often at odds not only with rich nations but also with each other. That doesn’t mean globalization’s a bust. In fact, more of it—in the form of freer markets, lower trade barriers and unfettered immigration—would help alleviate tensions by growing the economic pie. One of the signs that globalization has led to greater economic fragmentation is thatAmerica begins to implement a tighter immigration policy. B.only 7% of FORTUNE、500 firms’ shareholders are foreigners. C.global companies have to adapt their products to local needs. D.Coca-Cola has to rigorously control the products sold to developing countries.