Globalization Gap, The: How the Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Left Further Behind

by Isaak, Robert A.

• ISBN13: 9780131428966
• ISBN10: 0131428969
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-01-01
• Publisher: FT Press

Summary

Globalisation is a fact of life, but how can we keep the poor from being left behind forever bull; Globalisation's blowback: disease, revolution, terror, and accelerating economic and political instability. bull; The revolt of the rich: How the world's wealthiest have taken control -- and why globalisation is failing for everyone else. bull; Making globalisation work for everyone: building sustainable opportunity for the world's poor.

Author Biography

Robert A. Isaak is Henry George Professor of International Management at Pace University, New York.

Table of Contents

About the Author

Preface

Introduction

The Revolt of the Rich

Time versus Opportunity

The Rich: Who They are and How They Work and Why They Speed Things Up

Who the Rich Are and How They Live

Big, First, and Well Positioned

Bigger Houses with Fewer People in Them

Education Equals Savings and Investment

The Truly Rich Are Really Thrifty

Harried Leisure and Time Deprivation

Pyramids of Opportunity

Corporate Wealth and Hedging

The Global Speed Trap: Diversifying to Ward off Losses and Old Age

How the Global Economy Is Speeding Up

Attention Deficit Disorder: Metaphor for Cultural Disintegration? The Graying of the Rich: From Baby Boom to Bust

The Poor: Who They Are, How They Live, And Why They Are Dependent

Why the Poor Are Where They Are

Income Inequality

Is the World's Middle Class Disappearing? Asset Inequalities

Democratic Deficits versus Too Much Democracy

A Passage Through India

Emerging Modernity

Reinforcing Poverty through Religion and Cultural Traditions

"Indian Time," Caste, and Aesthetic Design Confront Globalization

High-Tech Bangalore and the Time Warp

Poverty Traps

The Institutional Trap

The Trade Trap

The Educational Trap, the Gender Gap, and the Digital Divide

The Debt Trap

Cultural Traps and Governability

Property Laws, Legal Traps, Limited Markets

The Rules

Origins of the Rules of Globalization

Protecting Comparative Advantage: Making the Most of What You've Got

The "Fixing" of Exchange Rates

Oil Cartels and Petro-Dollars

Democratizing Investment Banking

Trade Rules

From Scarcity to Ubiquity: Digitization and the Falling Cost of Information

How the Rules Rule the Poor

How Free Capital Flows Can Create the Poor

The Competitiveness Mantra: Consolidate, Raise Productivity, Downsize, Outsource

Crisis and Solutions

Global Crises We Will All Face

Too Many People in the Wrong Places

The Spread of Plagues and Epidemic Diseases

The Rapid Global Spread of Unemployment and Underemployment

The Education Crisis: Elite Hierarchies Confront Desperate Demands for Tools and Open Access

From Corporate Oligarchy to Chaos

The Environmental Crisis

American Unilateralism: Taxation Without Representation? Proliferation of Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Weapons

A Blueprint for Sharing Opportunity

Keeping the Promise of Democratic Capitalism: Open Opportunity

Why It Benefits the Richest of the Rich to Help the Poorest of the Poor

Building High-Tech, Sustainable Communities

Ten Steps for Replicating Sustainable Silicon Valleys

Attracting Venture Capital: A Transparent NGO with a Nonbusiness Service Division

Resistance to Free Market Ideology Due to the Democratic Deficit

The Interface with Governments and International Organizations

Acknowledgments

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

Preface: The Globalization Gap The Globalization Gap Preface The rich have always lived differently than the poor. What is new is that globalization speeds up the economy, magnifying the chasm between them. Both at home and abroad, the extremes of wealth and deprivation have become so great that the stability of the global system is threatened. Indeed, the very existence of individual freedom and dignity promised by the Western democratic tradition is at risk. Globalization has not only boosted the technological capacity to increase productivity, development, and progress but has accelerated the spread of poverty, disease, and the disintegration of traditional cultures. Those at the top of the global heap have great buffers of wealth to help them cope with the radical transformations, but the poor do not. There is a general failure to respond to the relentless downward spiral of poverty for millions of people. Rich individuals and corporate and government "drivers" of change are in part responsible for the excessive poverty that results from reckless efforts to push for rapid economic growth and competition at all costs. Socioeconomic inequality on a global scale became the focus of my attention due to my research on the factors behind the emergence of "economic miracles" in some nations; on the prerequisites for "ecopreneurship," or sustainable job creation; and on attempts to mimic Silicon Valley in other cultures. My interest in the puzzle of uneven development intensified with the extreme contradictions I experienced on a trip to India, where layers of culturally intricate poverty are woven beside small islands of luxury and modernity. If what is happening is not totally random, how have the rich helped to fashion a world order that maximizes their advantages, creating greater social and economic distance from the poor? The wealth generated by globalization is supposed to spill over and trickle down to where it is needed. But so far, things are not working out that way, apart from newly industrialized countries in Southeast Asia and perhaps, as the big exceptions, parts of China and India--exceptions exactlybecausetheyarebig. (In a free market world, the size of the market is what counts). Even in industrialized countries, the differences between rich and poor are growing without restraint. In this group, the United States is the most important country, because what happens in this superpower has, by necessity, a huge impact on other nations. Therefore, this book also examines the American situation, where there has been a disconcerting downward spiral hidden by the distraction of the boom of the 1990s and by the shiny residual pockets of growth and glamour which are applified by the media. In the post-boom era, poverty has been growing in the United States. Median income has been falling. Pensions are threatened. Social Security is underfunded. Health care costs are shooting up. Manuf