How to Cope With the Anxiety of Globalization

With the U.S. abandoning the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and as China sets its sights to be the uncontested trade superpower in Asia, a new world economic order is clearly in the making. When combined with the rise of nationalism after the elections in Britain, United States and Italy, the suspense is profound. In all instances, discomfort from globalization, versus predictable swings between left-and-right politics, is the driver. Most people equate globalization with growing international trade in goods and services, but that is only part of it. In a digitally interconnected world where ideas, money, designs, and even know-how can traverse domestic boundaries instantly, it has become the process by which enterprises extract commercial value from innovations in every possible field and direction. Yet, presently, economic disenchantment among the working and middle classes of the world's developed economies is real. Convinced that rising global prosperity has not included them, they point to their enduring job losses and to the widening income distribution disparities, or inequality, while emerging nations benefited unevenly over the years.