Economic Growth and the High Wage Economy

8 Economic growth, "globalization," and labor power

Introduction

The key point made in this chapter is that economic globalization can enhance labor market capabilities and thereby improve the standard of socio-economic well-being of workers. Moreover, increasing material benefits to labor need not have any negative competitive consequences; most probably positively affecting productivity. Thus, I argue that the anti-globalization-trade-market hypothesis is fundamentally flawed. A contentious populist belief, with much academic weight behind it, contends that increasing international trade and its most recent historical rhetorical manifestation, “globalization,” has damaging affects upon the economic welfare of the vast majority of the world’s ...