¿Qué es la globalización? | Johan Norberg - Academia Liberal C1

Summary

Johan Norberg, en su conferencia para la Liberal Academy, explora la globalización como uno de los fenómenos más discutidos en política y economía mundial. Destaca la capacidad de realizar actividades transfronterizas, tanto positivas como negativas, y cómo la tecnología y la liberalización económica han transformado el mundo. Norberg enfatiza la importancia de la comunicación y el transporte, especialmente la invención del contenedor en 1956, que revolucionó el comercio global. La globalización ha permitido a países en vías de desarrollo赶上 ('catch up') rápidamente a los países ricos al acceder a conocimientos, tecnologías y oportunidades sin precedentes. La disminución de la mano de obra infantil en Vietnam y la historia de TG, una trabajadora de una fábrica de ropa, ilustran el impacto positivo en las vidas de las personas comunes. La globalización no solo ha mejorado la economía, sino que también ha liberado a las personas de las limitaciones impuestas por la geografía y los políticos locales.

Takeaways

• 🌐 **Globalización como fenómeno**: La globalización es un tema central en la política y economía mundial, que implica la capacidad de realizar actividades más allá de las fronteras.
• 📈 **Tecnología y Comunicación**: El crecimiento de las tecnologías de comunicación y el transporte, como el cable de fibra óptica y el uso de contenedores, han sido fundamentales para la globalización.
• 🚀 **Revolución Tecnológica**: La invención del contenedor en 1956 y el desarrollo de la fibra óptica han revolucionado el comercio internacional al reducir costos y aumentar la eficiencia.
• 💼 **Corporaciones Multinacionales**: La globalización ha permitido a las empresas tener actividades en varios países, incrementando la interconexión económica global.
• 🌟 **Oportunidades y Desafíos**: La globalización puede traer tanto beneficios como desafíos, como el aumento de la cooperación y el desarrollo económico, así como el crimen y la contaminación transfronteriza.
• 📉 **Costos Reducidos**: La desregulación de la aviación y la eficiencia en el transporte han hecho que viajar y transportar bienes sea más accesible y económico.
• 🏛️ **Implicaciones Políticas**: La liberalización económica y la democratización han sido esenciales para el avance de la globalización, al abrir mercados y fomentar la participación de más países.
• 🌟 **Acceso a Conocimiento**: La globalización ha permitido a las personas tener acceso a conocimientos, ideas y tecnologías de otros lugares, mejorando su productividad y calidad de vida.
• 📊 **Crecimiento Económico**: La globalización ha llevado a un aumento significativo en el crecimiento económico, especialmente en países en vías de desarrollo.
• 👨‍👩‍👧 **Cambio de Vidas**: La globalización ha mejorado las condiciones de vida de muchas personas, como el ejemplo de la trabajadora vietnamita que pasó de labores agrícolas a trabajar en una fábrica.
• 🔄 **Reducción de la Pobreza**: La globalización ha contribuido a la reducción de la pobreza y a un aumento en los estándares de vida en muchos países.

Q & A

¿Qué es la globalización y qué ha sido su fenómeno más hablado en las últimas décadas?

La globalización es el proceso por el cual las actividades humanas, especialmente económicas, se extienden más allá de las fronteras nacionales, lo que ha sido uno de los temas más discutidos en política y economía mundial en las últimas décadas.

¿Cuáles son algunos de los aspectos que la gente suele enfocarse al hablar sobre la globalización?

Algunas personas se centran en la movilidad creciente de bienes y personas, mientras que otras prestan atención a las relaciones entre gobiernos, el poder de instituciones multinacionales, como las Naciones Unidas, el Banco Mundial, el FMI o la Unión Europea, y el papel de las corporaciones multinacionales.

¿Cómo describe Johan Norberg la capacidad de realizar actividades más allá de las fronteras?

Norberg la describe como una habilidad que permite a las personas moverse, cooperar y actuar más allá de las fronteras sin estar limitados por la geografía específica de su posición y situación, lo que no solo incluye la movilidad física sino también la cooperación y el comercio.

¿Cuáles son las implicaciones tanto positivas como negativas de realizar actividades transfronterizas?

Las implicaciones positivas incluyen la posibilidad de hacer el bien más rápido, aumentar la cooperación y mejorar la producción económica. Las negativas pueden incluir el aumento del crimen internacional, la creación de la contaminación y el terrorismo transfronterizos.

¿Qué condiciones tecnológicas son fundamentales para la globalización?

Las condiciones tecnológicas fundamentales incluyen el aumento de la tecnología de comunicaciones y la mejora en la capacidad de transportar bienes y personas a través de fronteras, como la eficiencia en el transporte aéreo y la invención del contenedor para el transporte marítimo.

¿Cómo afectó la invención del contenedor la economía global?

La invención del contenedor permitió una reducción significativa en los costos de carga y descararga, lo que facilitó la especialización y la escala de producción, permitiendo a más países participar en la economía global y acceder a tecnologías y conocimientos más rápido.

¿Qué cambios políticos fueron necesarios para fomentar la globalización?

Fueron necesarios cambios políticos como la liberalización de las economías y la tecnologías, la democratización y la apertura de mercados a un comercio más libre, lo que se vio impulsado por la revolución liberal y democrática desde los años 1970.

¿Cómo ha cambiado la participación de los países en la economía global desde el año 2000?

Desde el año 2000, el 90% de los países de ingresos bajos y medios han crecido más rápido que los Estados Unidos, lo que indica una mayor participación y un mayor acceso a la tecnología y conocimientos de otros lugares.

¿Por qué la globalización es considerada por algunos como una revolución democrática?

La globalización se considera una revolución democrática porque permite que el talento y el capital se muevan más libremente, encontrando oportunidades en cualquier lugar del mundo, sin importar la ubicación de nacimiento de una persona.

¿Cómo ha impactado la globalización la reducción de la mano de obra infantil en Vietnam?

La globalización, la inversión de corporaciones multinacionales y el acceso a comercio libre en Vietnam han reducido en 2.2 millones el número de niños que trabajan en cinco años, mejorando significativamente sus condiciones de vida y ofreciendo oportunidades educativas.

¿Qué ejemplo particular de la globalización comparte Johan Norberg en su charla?

Norberg comparte el ejemplo de Vietnam, un país que pasó de ser una dictadura comunista a abrirse y liberalizar su economía, lo que llevó a una reducción significativa en la mano de obra infantil y a una vida mejorada para muchos de sus habitantes.

¿Cómo se puede acceder a más información sobre la globalización y las sesiones futuras?

Norberg invita a los oyentes a visitar el sitio web para obtener más información, leer más sobre la globalización y enviar preguntas si las tienen, también les da la bienvenida de nuevo para la próxima sesión en vivo.

Outlines

00:00

🌐 Introducción a la Globalización

Johan Norberg inicia la charla sobre la globalización, un fenómeno central en la política y economía mundial. Explica que la globalización se refiere a la capacidad de realizar actividades más allá de las fronteras, permitiendo a las personas moverse y cooperar sin limitaciones geográficas. Destaca la importancia de la tecnología y la comunicación en la globalización, y cómo ha permitido un mayor intercambio entre países y corporaciones multinacionales. También menciona los aspectos positivos y negativos de la globalización, como el comercio internacional de bienes y servicios, así como el crimen y la contaminación transfronteriza.

05:01

🚀 Tecnologías y Comunicación

Norberg enfoca en las condiciones tecnológicas previas a la globalización, destacando el crecimiento de las tecnologías de comunicación y el transporte. Describe cómo la eficiencia en el transporte, como el avance en la aviación y la creación del contenedor para el transporte marítimo, permitió una mayor movilidad de bienes y personas. Expone la importancia del contenedor en la reducción de costos y el aumento de la escala de producción global, y cómo la liberalización de la economía y la democratización del mundo han favorecido la globalización.

10:03

🌟 La Revolución Política y la Globalización

Se discute cómo la revolución política y la liberalización económica han influido en la globalización. Norberg recuerda que en la década de 1970, muchos creían que la democracia no tendría futuro, pero la lucha por la libertad y la inspiración de otros países llevó a la caída del comunismo y la expansión de la democracia. La globalización ha permitido a países con menos acceso a capital y tecnología comenzar a exportar y a escalar sus economías, lo que ha llevado a un mayor crecimiento económico y a la reducción de la pobreza.

15:04

📈 Crecimiento Económico y Reducción de la Pobreza

Norberg compara la globalización con la Revolución Industrial y afirma que la globalización ha tenido un impacto más grande y más rápido en la reducción de la pobreza y el aumento de los estándares de vida. Muestra cómo los países en vías de desarrollo han podido aprovechar las tecnologías y conocimientos para crecer económicamente, lo que antes les tomaba mucho más tiempo. Destaca el caso de China e India, que han logrado un crecimiento económico similar al de los países ricos, pero a una velocidad cinco veces más rápida y con diez veces más personas.

20:06

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cambios en la Vida de las Personas

Finalmente, Norberg se enfoca en cómo la globalización ha mejorado la vida de las personas comunes. Cuenta la historia de una mujer llamada TG en Vietnam, quien trabaja en una fábrica y ha experimentado un cambio significativo en su calidad de vida. La globalización ha permitido a TG y a su familia salir de la pobreza y ha proporcionado a su hijo la oportunidad de recibir una educación, lo que antes no era posible. Norberg concluye destacando que la globalización no solo es sobre instituciones o corporaciones grandes, sino sobre cómo las personas pueden acceder a ideas y tecnologías que mejoran su productividad y calidad de vida.

Keywords

💡Globalización

La globalización es el proceso por el cual las personas, las ideas, las tecnologías y las mercancías pueden cruzar fronteras más fácilmente que antes. En el video, se relaciona con el crecimiento económico, la reducción de la pobreza y la liberación de las personas de las limitaciones geográficas y políticas. Un ejemplo es cómo Vietnam ha experimentado un rápido crecimiento económico al abrirse a la globalización.

💡Tecnología de comunicación

La tecnología de comunicación es fundamental para la globalización, permitiendo la integración de mercados y la cooperación a nivel mundial. Se destaca cómo la creación de cables de fibra óptica en 1956 permitió millones de llamadas simultáneas y disminuyó los costos, lo que es esencial para la cooperación internacional y la operación de empresas multinacionales.

💡Transporte de contenedores

El transporte de contenedores, inventado en 1956, revolucionó el movimiento de bienes al reducir drásticamente los costos y el tiempo necesarios para cargar y descargar barcos. Esto permitió la especialización geográfica en la producción y el aumento de la participación de diferentes países en la economía global.

💡Deregulación

La deregulación se refiere a la eliminación de regulaciones gubernamentales que limitan la competencia o el comercio. En el contexto del video, la deregulación del transporte aéreo y la liberalización de las economías han sido cruciales para el avance de la globalización, permitiendo a las empresas y a las personas moverse y comerciar más libremente.

💡Democracia

La democracia es un sistema de gobierno en el que el poder político proviene del pueblo y es ejercido por representantes elegidos. En el video, se argumenta que el aumento de la democracia en el mundo ha contribuido a la globalización, al abrir mercados y promover la libertad de expresión y el acceso a la tecnología.

💡Mercados globales

Los mercados globales son sistemas de comercio que operan a nivel mundial, permitiendo a las empresas y a los individuos interactuar y transar con personas de diferentes países. El video discute cómo la globalización ha llevado a la creación de mercados globales, lo que ha beneficiado a países en vías de desarrollo al acceder a nuevas oportunidades económicas.

💡Desarrollo económico

El desarrollo económico se refiere al crecimiento y mejora de la capacidad económica de un país o región. En el video, se muestra cómo la globalización ha permitido a países pobres alcanzar un crecimiento económico más rápido que los países ricos, mejorando las condiciones de vida y reduciendo la pobreza.

💡Ciberseguridad

La ciberseguridad es la práctica de proteger los sistemas de información, los datos y las comunicaciones de ataques malintencionados. Aunque no se discute explícitamente en el video, está implícito en la discusión sobre la tecnología y la globalización, ya que la seguridad en línea es crucial para mantener la confianza y el comercio en línea a nivel mundial.

💡Trabajo infantil

El trabajo infantil es la situación en la que los niños trabajan en lugar de asistir a la escuela o disfrutar de su infancia. En el video, se menciona cómo la globalización y el crecimiento económico han contribuido a reducir el trabajo infantil en países como Vietnam, al proporcionar a las familias ingresos más estables y a los niños la oportunidad de la educación.

💡Multinacionales

Las multinacionales son empresas que operan en varios países a nivel mundial. En el video, se discute cómo las multinacionales han contribuido a la globalización al invertir en países en desarrollo, lo que ha llevado a un aumento en el empleo y en las oportunidades económicas para las personas locales.

💡Innovación tecnológica

La innovación tecnológica se refiere a los avances y mejoras en la tecnología que pueden transformar la forma en que se realizan las actividades económicas y sociales. En el video, la innovación tecnológica es un tema recurrente, se destaca cómo ha permitido a las personas y las empresas comunicarse y transportar bienes con mayor eficiencia, lo que ha impulsado el comercio y el desarrollo global.

Highlights

Globalization is the ability to do anything across borders more than we used to, allowing people to move and cooperate without being limited by their geographic location.

Technological preconditions for globalization include growing communication technologies and increased ability to transport goods across borders.

In 1956, the Atlantic cable could only carry 36 phone calls at once, limiting global integration and cooperation.

Fifteen years later, the efficiency of the Atlantic cable increased to allow 4,000 simultaneous phone calls.

The invention of fiber optic cables in 1956 enabled millions of calls at once and reduced costs by 99.9%, revolutionizing global communication.

The World Wide Web and Internet allow constant contact with all parts of the world, enabling international organizations and multinational cooperation.

The biggest technological shift in transportation was the invention of container shipping in 1956, which reduced loading/unloading costs by 97%.

Container shipping allowed countries to specialize and become the best at producing specific components, integrating them into the global economy.

Reform and deregulation in logistics and transport, along with communication advancements, enabled a more globalized economy with new competitors and freer prices.

Political constraints to globalization, such as lack of access to technology and restrictive regulations, needed to be addressed for globalization to flourish.

The liberal and democratic revolutions since the 1970s led to more democracy, economic liberalization, and opening of markets, benefiting globalization.

Globalization sets people free by allowing them to access knowledge, ideas, and technologies from anywhere in the world, regardless of their location.

Globalization enables economic catch-up, as poor countries can now grow faster by leveraging ideas, research, and technology from richer nations.

Since 2000, 90% of low and middle-income countries have grown faster than the US, a significant shift from the pre-2000 era.

Globalization has reduced poverty, improved living standards, and had a bigger impact on humanity than the Industrial Revolution.

The biggest change globalization brings is freeing people from the limits imposed by geography and local politicians or despots.

Capital can now find talent almost anywhere, regardless of出生地 (place of birth), thanks to open borders and the movement of capital, technology, and businesses.

The story of Vietnam's economic liberalization since the 1990s and its impact on individuals like the factory worker TG illustrates the transformative power of globalization.

Globalization means access to ideas, technologies, and factories that make people more productive and connect them to global markets, improving their lives.

The most significant change globalization brings is the opportunity for common people to access ideas and technologies that were previously limited to a global elite.

Transcripts

welcome my name is Johan Norberg and

this is my first lecture for the Liberal

Academy called

what is globalization and introduction

globalization is one of the most

talked-about

phenomena in the last few decades in

world politics and world economics but

what is most people focus on one of the

things that begin to travel across

borders more than they used to do often

it's about different relations between

various governments in the world some

people focus on the growing clout and

interest in multinational institutions

like the United Nations the World Bank

the IMF or the European Union and some

focus on multinational corporations the

fact that more companies now have

various activities in many different

countries I think those are some of the

phenomena that we can talk about when it

comes to globalization but what it's

really about is the ability to do

anything across borders more than we

used to the ability for people to move

and to do things and to cooperate across

borders not to be limited by the job

specific Geographics of your position

and of your situation not to have your

faith decided by the place where you

were born and when we talk about that we

must focus on the reasons for this

globalization what is it that is meant

given people the opportunity to do those

things for good and for bad because when

you do things cross borders you can do

good things quicker you can also do bad

things you can increase cooperation you

can increase the value that you produce

in the economy but you can also engage

in international crime or create

pollution across borders or or terrorism

across borders so it's really in a way

value neutral but the fact that we can

do

more things across borders is important

and it means a big great shift from what

the world used to be like let me first

focus on the technological preconditions

for globalization in our world which is

a result of growing communications

technologies and an increase in the

ability to to transport things people

goods across borders it is about the

growing efficiency of different

transport technologies like the a

growing efficiency of air flight the

deregulation of air flight which has

meant that the price of traveling across

borders is now so low that poor students

can travel to fly away to another

country and protest against deregulation

of air flight and other things that it's

a big shift it used to be called the jet

set the small elite that was so wealthy

that they were able to fly on jet planes

to other places but the two most

important technical technological shifts

that were important for globalization's

I would like to focus on are both we can

both take as a starting point the year

of 1956

because in 1956 it was a totally

different work when it comes to

communication let us start with

communication in 1956 the telephone

cable under the Atlantic Ocean could

only carry 36 phone calls at the same

time 36 phone calls that makes it quite

difficult to integrate markets to be

able to cooperate with others to be able

to get your goods from another place or

synchronize prices or anything like that

to source labor from another country

from another continent only 36 calls at

the same time could be made between

Europe and the Americas which meant that

if you were a student in another country

it was difficult to get access to the

Atlantic cable and be able to call home

but it was also difficult to

National Economic Cooperation going

fifteen years later it was possible to

have four thousand phone calls going on

at the same time because of an

increasing the efficiency of the

Atlantic cable but the big shift came

with fiber optics cables making it

possible to have millions of calls at

the same time and also lower in the

price by something like 99.9% suddenly

then it's possible to be in constant

contact with other places to learn about

what is going on to learn about the

shifting prices to learn about what they

are able to do that might help you out

and with the world wide web with the

internet it was suddenly possible to

stay in touch with all parts of the

world at the same time which makes it

possible with international

organizations multinational companies

and the world kinds of cooperation

across the borders

so that's communications which is very

important but also the ability to move

things around to move goods across

borders and there the biggest change of

all the technologies is the creation the

invention of the container of container

shipping the big metal box that was

actually invented in 1956 the very same

year that the Atlantic cable could only

carry some few phone calls in 1956 that

it this suddenly happened before the

container what you had to do was to put

all the things that you wanted to ship

to another part of the country or to

another country all together you had to

carry them from the factory to the truck

you had to offload it manually you had

to lift it into the the ship the boat

that is going to another country it took

a lot of time a boat had to stay in the

hopper for for something like a week it

was incredibly expensive you took a lot

of muscle power it was a heavy load and

it was also something that meant that

you couldn't really scale it up to a

really large scale but in 1956 the

trucker the American trucker Malcolm

attained he had the idea of having a

metal box that you could just hold onto

the truck and then hoist it straight

into the cargo

full of the other truck overnight he

lower the cost of loading and offloading

a boat by something like 97 percent this

makes a huge difference because it's

difficult to be the best in all kinds of

things to be able to produce a computer

angle together with all its components

and have everything in one place in one

country even what a company so only a

few countries only a few economic

centers in the world before 1956 were

able to really have a high technological

production goal but suddenly with the

container was possible to specialize and

just perhaps be able to be the best when

it came to one specific part of the

computer one specific component and just

put it into the container and send it to

the other side of the planet and then

suddenly more countries were able to be

a part of the global economy more

countries were able to to use their

labor to use their ideas to be a part of

the world and then at the same time we

had a reform deregulation of logistics

of transports generally so that it was

suddenly possible for one company in

Shanghai in China to to make an

agreement with one company and say we

want these goods shipped to a specific

address in San Francisco and then that

company was suddenly able to hire all

the trucks the boats the railways

everything and send it over there and

give just one invoice to this company in

Shanghai that makes a big difference

then everybody even if their inland they

can use imported components they can

also export to other parts of the planet

so this combination of communication and

of transport made it possible to begin

to have a more global economy we had new

competitors we had freer prices we had a

possibility for more countries to

participate it was possible for

countries without much access to capital

and technology to start exporting

clothes toys simple manufacture

but when you start a factory which

produces toys you can also you have to

also have a factory that's able to

produce high technology in the future if

you have harbors and containers that

ship simple goods like garments clothes

then you can in the future also use

those harbors to exports cell phones or

iPhones to another part of the planet so

these technological preconditions are

incredibly important for what we call

globalization but there were also

important political constraints to

globalization that had to be reformed

that had to be dealt with it does not

help much having access to this

technology if you cannot use it the

Internet is a great thing but what if

you live in Cuba or in North Korea and

you're not allowed to have access to it

the container is an amazing thing but if

you live in Zimbabwe the cost of just

sending that drug with a container

across the border with vegetables or

something some kind of good in it is the

cost in terrorists in in license

requirements in corruption in taxes is

actually higher than sending it all the

way from simba South Korea South Africa

to Sweden or the Americas so you also

need liberalization of the economy

liberalisation of these technologies and

the democratic revolution and the

liberal revolution that the world has

seen since the 1970s has made that

possible it's difficult to remember now

but in the mid-1970s many people thought

that we wouldn't see more of liberal

democracy in the world the u.s.

ambassador to the United Nations Daniel

Patrick Moynihan said in 1975 that he

thought that democracy was increasingly

tense to the condition of the monarchy

in the 19th century a holdover form of

government one which persists in

isolated a peculiar part of the planet

and he concluded that it has simply no

relevance for the future because at that

time the Soviet empire was

wrong and began to expand into Vietnam

Cambodia Laos and Latin America was

ruled by military dictatorships the

central in Eastern Europe was ruled by

dictators India even India experienced

the period home dictatorship at that

time but then it happened because people

fought for the freedom because more

well-educated and richer people they

demand more freedoms in their own lives

and also because they were inspired by

others communications technologies and a

new global media told the world about

what was happening in other places and

in the nineteen eighties communism

collapsed the Soviet Union was dissolved

military and fascist regimes collapsed

apartheid was abolished in South Africa

with more democracy in Africa January

and the big gigantic economies of India

and China that used to be live under

self-imposed isolation from the rest of

the world they began to liberalize their

economies and reach democracies also

open their markets to more free trade

and open financial markets to the rest

of the world in the year 1900 more than

100 years ago around zero percent of the

world's population lived in a real

democracy with one man and woman one

vote because women was most often

excluded even in those places few places

where they had the franchise minorities

ethnic minorities or the poor were

excluded from elections by 1950 31 % of

the world's population lived in

democracies and by 2050 8 % of the world

population did according to Freedom

House the Civil Liberties watch stopped

today even the remaining dictators have

to pay lip service to democracy as an

ideal and hold staged elections and they

even though they try to control the

discussion and censor the internet

people know more about what is going on

in the world than ever before and they

have begun to liberalize their markets

even in the most controlled state

capitalist or socialist economies

because they've realized that they can

gain so much by parties

in the global economy so what does all

this mean if we have this technological

change that makes it possible for more

people to do more things across borders

and also a political revolution and

liberalisation that is given even though

it's not perfect it hasn't reached

everybody it has meant more

opportunities for people to do things to

get access to the knowledge the ideas

the technologies of other places what

does this mean well let's look a little

bit at how globalization in many

instances sets people free because more

people can now participate communicate

and cooperate across borders than ever

before and therefore they can also learn

more from others than they used to do

they are not limited to the ideas and

the technologies that were developed

close to them in by their own

nationalities suddenly means that people

can have access to the latest knowledge

and they can use that to improve their

businesses their culture their research

their societies that is what

globalization the biggest potential of

globalization being able to use the

brain the talent the hard work of people

even though they do not live in your

vicinity one of the biggest changes is

that it means an economic catch-up it's

easier for poor countries to catch up

with richer because they can now use and

get access to the ideas the research the

technology that it took other countries

much longer time to to get access to

between 1960 and the end of the 1990s

rich countries grew faster than the poor

on only 30% of low and middle-income

countries grew faster than the United

States was still a world where people

were limited to most often to the

technologies the businesses that were

close to them but since the year 2000

ninety percent of the low and middle

income

have grown faster than the United States

on average by three percent and this is

a huge change which adds up to poverty

reduction to an increase in living

standards in a way globalization is the

biggest thing that has happened to

mankind at least when it comes to the

quantitative change then it's even

bigger than the Industrial Revolution

because what was the Industrial

Revolution of the late 18th and early

19th century really about it was about

around 200 million people in Europe and

North America which and it about 200

million people and it took around 50

years on average to double their income

China and India has now done the same

thing five times faster with ten times

more people China and India alone and

then we have all the other low and

middle-income countries that have done

that so they done it five times faster

with ten times more people that adds up

to a change that is 50 times bigger than

the Industrial Revolution and the

biggest change is not the economy it's

not how it grows that's an important

thing but the biggest thing about that

is that it sets people free from the

limits that geography and often local

politicians or despots put onto their

lives Bill Gates of Microsoft Fame put

it thus recently if I had to pick a

place in the 1950s where I was born if I

could choose between being of average

talent in a small American city and

being a genius in one of the low and

middle-income countries around the world

I would have preferred to be of average

talent in a small American see because

there you had access to all the things

that made you more productive and make

your life easier and better you had

access to capital technology education

businesses that could provide you with

know how the technology to make your

life more productive so that you could

gain and get a higher wage today he says

I'd rather be that genius in an Asian

country an African a Latin American

South American or Eastern European

country because now when borders are

more open when capital and technology

and businesses can move about the world

and people can move then it's possible

for capital to find talent almost

wherever it hides and that's a

democratic revolution a democratic

revolution that means that it's no

longer the place that you're born that

makes the biggest change to the life

that you can live it's possible to get

access to brains the talent the ideas of

other people even though you live

somewhere else when I think of

globalization I think of one particular

journey that I made to Vietnam that is

still formerly a communist dictatorship

but has begun to open up has begun to

liberalize since its economy since the

1990s and that is made made a huge

change it has opened up to more of

competition in the economy and as made

it possible to begin to export large

scale many companies have invested in

Vietnam and started production of

garments and clothes

I met one young woman TG who lived there

she worked in one of those factories

producing for other markets sometimes

it's called a sweatshop it's we talk

about it as a low skill lower with low

wages and bad working conditions and

that's true if we compare it to the kind

of workplaces that we have in parts of

the world where we have we've had an

industrial development going for a

longer period than 20 years but to

compare to the life that she used to

live and the kind of life that some of

our neighbors and relatives still make

this is a tremendous change it has made

all the difference in her life it has

given her

a much higher wage he earns now five

times more than she used to be as if

they turn her family out of poverty but

it's also meant that she doesn't have to

work day in and day out in the rice

fields which is something she did since

she was a young girl 10 to 14 hours a

day in the burning Sun or in the intense

rain she now has a job

indoors producing shoes for Western

markets she can afford now and this is

the biggest change to forego her son's

income in all previous generations of

Vietnamese they had to put their

children to work from an early age not

because they were mean or evil because

they dependent on they were dependent on

their labour income for their own

survival now with this kind of income

she can afford to give her son an

education instead and to make sure that

she will get bigger opportunities in the

future nearly all the children in her

own generation used to work few do in

her son's generation because during the

1990s Vietnam experienced rapid growth

and increased exports and in just five

years with the increase of globalization

and investments from multinational

corporations and access to free trade

across the planet in just those five

years the number of child labourers in

Vietnam was reduced by 2.2 million

people and when I talk to teacher about

her son's future

she thinks that she has the potential to

become a doctor in the future so when I

think of globalization I do not think of

the big multinational institutions or

the big multinational companies or any

of those large-scale developments those

are important they are also part of

globalization but what it really means

is the axis for common people to ideas

technologies that make them more

productive access to factories with

machines and know-how that makes them

more productive access to other markets

where they can sell their goods because

that is where it starts that is what we

didn't have before we've always had a

tiny elite that could travel

the planet we always add the jet-set but

now we have teaching and her son's

generation that grow up in a globalized

world and it makes all the difference to

them so when I think of globalization I

think of teaching that's it for me today

thank you for your attention and please

go to the website and read more and send

questions if you have them and welcome

back next week for the next live session

thank you