"Obviously, understanding how the modern world really works cannot be done without appreciating the evolution, the extent, and the consequences of this multifaceted process which entails (according to what I think is perhaps the best concise definition) “**the growing interdependence of the world’s economies, cultures, and populations, brought about by cross-border trade in goods and services, technology, and flows of investment, people, and information**.” "Contrary to widely held beliefs, the process is not new; moving jobs to countries with low labor costs (labor arbitrage) is just one of its several requisite drivers; and there is nothing inevitable about its future expansion and intensification. **Perhaps the greatest misconception about globalization is that it is a historical inevitability preordained by economic and social evolution**. Not so—globalization is not, as a former US president claimed, “the economic equivalent of a force of nature, like wind or water”; it is just another human construct, and there is now a growing consensus that, in some ways, it has already gone too far and needs to be readjusted." ([Location 2088](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B08SGC3TD3&location=2088)) --- **Tags** -- [[quotes]], [[globalisation]], [[economics]], [[comparative-advantage]] **Source** -- [[202412030828 - B - How the World Really Works]]