Perspectives of a Wanderer

This is a continuation of The Uncertainties Inherent in Globalism.

While scanning my usual new source, I came across this article in the UK tabloid The Independent:

Has globalization made us more catastrophe-prone?

While I have stated many of the economic consequences of globalization contained in the article, it goes into effects of other uncertainties  (in this case aptly defined as catastrophes) like natural disasters and diseases that I did not go into.  It also gives two excellent examples of how the degree of globalization can magnify the effects of these catastrophes.

The panic over the current outbreak of the swine flu only reinforces the unintended, and unwanted, effects of this globalization.  Just think if there was an outbreak of something like Ebola virus or pneumonic plague.

One item in the article stood out as something I definitely did not agree with:

“While this helps the system diversify across small shocks, it also exposes the system to large systemic shocks,” Raghuram Rajan, who has been an IMF chief economist and adviser to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, wrote in a 2005 research paper.

I do not, in any way, agree that globalization helps with “small shocks”.  In fact, I believe globalization on serves to amplify those shocks from being local to worldwide.

While I am not saying we should insulate ourselves from the world, we must look to the local community for our needs before looking outside.

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