Читать книгу Global Issues - Kristen A. Hite - Страница 40

The global economy has brought more wealth to both rich and poor nations. Although all nations have not benefited from the liberalization of international trade, “since 1950 there has been a close correlation between a country’s domestic economic performance and its participation in the world’s economy.”⁴⁹ The United States had an unprecedentedly long period of economic growth and non‐Western countries and areas such as China, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore that also embraced global trade as an economic development opportunity have obtained relatively high levels of prosperity.

The formation of a global community has started. Nations around the world now face common problems, both economic and environmental, that they are working together to solve. More and more individuals are taking advantage of the new communication and transportation technologies to learn about and enjoy the whole planet.

As nations prosper in a global economy, economic interdependence helps promote peaceful societies (war can be disruptive to most forms of trade aside from weapons). New ideas and more international contacts could even lead to an improvement of human rights in some countries, especially those with a poor track records on human rights. It previously had this effect in some formerly communist states. If trade helps grow an economy in an inclusive way, hunger and crime rates are typically lowered and poverty is reduced.⁵⁰

New products are available and often at a lower price than if they had been produced locally. New jobs are created, not just in the industrialized countries but also in many less industrialized nations. Jobs lead to the reduction of poverty. The World Bank reports that “there are almost no examples of countries experiencing significant growth without reducing poverty.”⁵¹