Nas, Gilans Blair V.

| 2018137976 GED105 – The Contemporary World

GLOBALIZATION AND GLOBAL ECONOMY

(Word Count: 955 )

Globalization can have numerous definitions, each dimension (i.e. political,

economic, technological, social, and cultural) having its own theories, ideas, and

explanations of globalization. One renowned definition of globalization refers to the

expansion of global linkages; may it be social, political, economic, technological, and

cultural, or in simpler terms is a process of increasing the interdependence of nations

with each other (Shahzad, 2006). Despite the differences in the definition of

globalization, research is far from having a common ground. Research suggests that

utilizing economic globalization can be used as the first step in understanding the roots,

effects, and the trends of globalization, which could potentially help explore the new

mechanisms, causes, and effects of globalization in the future (Marginean, 2015).

Economic globalization has two dimensions: micro and macro. Arguably the macro

dimension was more important to most countries and are irreversible and

unquestionable, however in this stage of globalization the microeconomic behavior

allows globalization to pursue forward.

At first, I did not have a concrete idea of what globalization is and thought that it

might just be that people and nations are slowly connecting and relying on each other.

However, upon understanding the reading, I was able to realize that globalization did

not have a single, general definition, instead it had multiple definitions, theories, and

ideas each differing for various dimensions. All of which are responsible for the causes

as well as the effects of globalization. Secondly, I learned that economic integration has

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Nas, Gilans Blair V. | 2018137976 GED105 – The Contemporary World

two classifications: price-based and quantity-based indicators. Quantity-based

indicators are

used in most countries as integration measures as degree of openness such as

exporting and importing of products and services. Lastly, I learned about the

macroeconomic and microeconomic dimension of economic globalization. The

macroeconomic dimension of globalization is about the changes in behavior, and

performance of economy of a country or economy itself. During the early stages of

globalization, national decisions as well as macroeconomic policies and measures are

important. While the microeconomic dimension of globalization focuses on individuals or

companies their decisions heavily affect the economy and could be said are the cogs for

economic globalization.

One of the three things that are still unclear for me is the concept of Gross

Domestic Products (GDP), although it was mentioned in the reading, it was not

explained thoroughly, specifically how it is affected by the changes in the economy. It

might just be my lack of knowledge regarding the concept, otherwise, the reading was

not able to give sufficient information about the concept and how it is affected by

economic flow. Secondly, I am still unclear about the tools that the author has stated to

measure globalization, although it was stated in the reading the instruments used to

measure globalization, I was not able to fully understand how these tools are being

utilized to measure globalization through indexes and finding out which data is good

enough to keep. Lastly, I am still unclear about the problems regarding the definition

and measures of globalization since the author has stated that it was already in a

previous paper, however, since this reading gave much importance to the definition of

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Nas, Gilans Blair V. | 2018137976 GED105 – The Contemporary World

globalization, I think it was lacking some information since it did not point out the

problems regarding the measures and definition of globalization

I used to think that globalization had a single generally accepted definition,

however, as I read through paper, I now knew that multiple definitions of globalization

are acceptable to provide emphasis on the various effects and mechanisms it has on

each specific dimension. Secondly, I used to think that economic globalization was just

simple trading such as exporting and importing of goods to other nations, however I

realized that it was much more than only international trading. Furthermore, I was able

to learn that there are many various ways to measure the effect of economic

globalization in our world. Lastly, I used to think that international economic measures

and policies were the ones driving economic globalization, however, I was able to

understand that in our stage of globalization, it is companies and individuals who are

important in the pursuit of economic globalization.

There are some questions I would like to ask about the reading article. First, I

would like to ask why they chose those specific organizations or companies (OECD,

European Union, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and UNCTAD), was it

because of the high influence and effect these companies have on the global economy?

Secondly, I would like to ask the correlations or connections of other dimensions (social,

cultural, technological, and political) of globalization to economic globalization. Lastly, I

question what the real and current state of the different integration processes in the

global economy would be and how will it affect the future state of the global economy.

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Nas, Gilans Blair V. | 2018137976 GED105 – The Contemporary World

In conclusion, globalization does not have a single accepted definition, instead it

has numerous definitions, mechanisms, and trends varying for each dimension (i.e.

political, economic, social, cultural, and technological). Understanding the roots and

causes of globalization through researching on a smaller and more specific dimension

of

globalization such economic globalization could provide us the information needed to

better understand the new mechanisms and trends of globalization in the future. The

research paper claims that economic globalization has two dimensions: microeconomic

and macroeconomic, both are essential in understanding the roots and effects of

economic globalization. Macroeconomic dimension consists of economy thus, economic

policies and measures are part of this dimension. On the other hand, microeconomic

dimension are the individuals or companies that make decisions that has a huge impact

on economy. Global or national decisions as well as macroeconomic policies have been

a keystone to making globalization possible, however, in our stage of globalization, the

decisions made by the microeconomic dimension is much more relevant.