The Singapore Economic Review, Vol. 57, No.

4 (2012) 1280011 (4 pages)

© World Scientific Publishing Company
DOI: 10.1142/S0217590812800112

BOOK REVIEW

Published 6 December 2012

Review of Borderless Economics: Chinese Sea Turtles, Indian Fridges, and the New
Fruits of Global Capitalism
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by UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH on 01/28/15. For personal use only.

by Robert Guest, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. 256 pp. ISBN-13: 978-0230113824

Imagine a world where we already know about globalization, but not in a typical way.
Robert Guest’s Borderless Economics: Chinese Sea Turtles, Indian Fridges, and the New
Fruits of Global Capitalism takes the readers on a fun excursion into the magic of mi-
gration and communication networks. As a correspondent for The Economist, he weaves
together information from interviews, surveys, and history to highlight the global trend
today and beyond.
It is always gratifying to recognize novel and counterintuitive ideas. Robert Guest has
plenty to offer. To give an example, many people assume that the Internet breaks down
barriers of race and ethnicity, but the links on the internet are usually between people who
share a common cultural background. As Carlo Dade of the Canadian Foundation for
the Americas puts, “migrants are now connected instantaneously, continuously, dynamically
and intimately to their communities of origin. This is a profound break from the past eras of
migration.” How globalization strengthens a culture is the underlying theme of the book.
Robert Guest offers concise, powerful stories. Many are about the Chinese. The founder
of Alibaba.com, Jack Ma, demonstrates the possibilities that spring from a global cultural
link. His firm introduces Chinese vendors to e-commerce and connects customers from the
West. Interestingly, the firm hires disproportionate numbers of Chinese who had lived,
worked or studied abroad. These people are the “sea turtles” that return home. They create
a network that extends beyond a single country.
The magic of migration and networks is no less profound within a country. Among the
42 million internal migrants in India, for example, many cannot receive benefits of
the welfare system simply because there is no easy way of identification. Fortunately, a
motivated group of Indian entrepreneurs and tech gurus from the Silicon Valley managed
to invent a universal identity number system to keep track of millions of poor households.
Why? They are inspired to give back to their homeland country. This way, migration is a
two-way flow of talents that benefit all.

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Equally inspiring is the development of the cheapest fridge in the world. Made possible
by the global collaboration of Indian engineers, the $69 fridge signifies that migration does
not mean the alteration of heritage but rather the branching of the immigrants’ cultural root.
In other words, the diaspora is not just a phenomenon that equalizes technological dif-
ferences among countries, but also a highly dynamic network that maintains, if not for-
tifies, ethnic links.
What will be even more interesting is to examine the greater impacts of the global trend
in China. Robert Guest suggests that “democracy may come to China sooner than many
people expect”. Given the free flow of uncensored information, the subversive legions
abroad, and the returning “sea turtles,” China will evidently be further exposed to the
democratic elements associated with free competition. As the emphasis shifts from eco-
nomic to social issues, it may be interesting to speculate on the path through which the
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Chinese government can be democratized. Gilley (2004), a journalist and political scientist
who has devoted much of his life in Asia, envisions a weakening Chinese Communist
Party “in the face of popular mobilization and violence”. But a sudden crisis may not
necessarily result in democratic transition, but rather in the collapse of the fragile insti-
tution.
South Korea and Taiwan have both set precedents of moving from one-party states to
democracy and modern consumerism. While a borderless economy has shown its prowess
in uplifting the standard of living in China, political breakdown and social unrest may be
the final price of democracy in a communist system. However, it is important to note that
Chinese people, domestic or abroad, may simply want the country to be growing and
improving gradually. Hence, I believe proper barriers to migration and flow of knowledge
should be considered to mediate the transition of political changes. Recent establishment of
Duke Kunshan University in China, for example, illustrates the gradual transition to
“openness” in China via the education system.
Shifting gears, Robert Guest also sparks sensation on immigration issues in the US and
strongly advocates for a change. Evidence from the Mexican Border as well as the visa
system highlights his points. In the past decade, the ninefold increase in total budget for
Border Patrol brought about no “discernible effect”, yet at the same time, unskilled
immigrants often perform jobs that locals don’t want and in so doing lower the operating
cost for many firms. For decades the border issues persisted, yet the economic paradox and
the ambivalent sentiment toward the policy remain in the spotlight.
Analogously, more than half a million foreign doctors, scientists, researchers and
engineers in America have yet to acquire green cards. Especially striking is Dr. Surojit
Sarkar’s personal account, where the inefficiency of the visa system resulted in a “dreadful”
delay of three and a half months in his return to the US. The incident compromised his
research progress, familial duties and almost ended his job. While it may be difficult to find
simple solutions to address policies on skilled and unskilled migrants, it is hard to disagree
with the fact that something is wrong. Anyone with a strong enough enthusiasm can
understand Robert Guest’s proclamation that “the America’s immigration system is a
disgrace”.

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The best part yet: Robert Guest does offer some solutions. He suggests removing all
barriers between rich countries and devising more rational policies toward skilled migrants
from the less developed world. A particularly interesting policy toward admitting migrants
with skills is to auction a large batch of visas, so that they go to those who value them the
most. In my opinion, the system could be qualified further into different categories: re-
search and academia, investment and private sector, and family and travel. In such way, the
quota and specific requirements can be fairly finetuned.
The Chinese government is afraid of becoming too open while many accuse the US of
being too closed. Where then is the balance point? From another perspective, if we con-
sider globalization the spread of democracy and prosperity, the diminishing natural
resources on Earth may ultimately put a cap on the increase in the standard of living around
the world. According to Diamond (2005), the First World will run out of resources in about
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50 years, but it would be only five years if China, India, Africa and South America were all
to catch up in consumption. Perhaps moderation is the best answer.
It is also noteworthy that, to improve life is not to raise the level of expectation in the
standard of living. As Weiner (2009) puts, “Happiness is a function of our expectations —
happiness equals reality minus expectations.” As the everyday difference between peoples
across the globe dwindles, those in more remote areas, such as North Korea, will start to
live better and expect more in life. Bernstein (2004) describes the “neighbor effect”, where
the wealthier the neighbors are and the closer their proximity, either real or electronic, the
more miserable they make the less well-to-do feel. Globalization therefore could create the
“global neighbor effect” where increasing awareness of the inequality of life may result in
“unhappiness” for peoples of less developed countries. The socioeconomic dichotomy
leads to behavioral changes, which in turn affect the labor productivity and the cost of
manufacturing. The change of workers’ attitude in Foxconn, for example, may affect the
prices of Apple products.
To summarize, by comparing North to South Korea, a closed-door Qing Dynasty to the
modern China with 60 million people overseas, and the post-colonial India to the global
India today, the book overall presents a compelling proposition for a borderless global
economy. The subject of globalization is as fascinating as the rich anecdotes in the book
are entertaining and highly informative.
In a nutshell, the core of this global phenomenon lies in the intricate, dynamic flow of
sweat and brain juice. Presented here is a new paradigm to model a borderless economy
that is nevertheless “bordered” by cultural linkages. Readers can understand the impor-
tance of a two-way open-door policy that recognizes migrants as individual cords that
connect to their home countries and not as clusters of species seeking out new permanent
habitats.
Borderless Economics is a book for economists, politicians, scientists, businessmen,
students and any modest civilian of the world. Whether you are a recent immigrant or a
longtime friend of Joe, you will become more aware of the elements that are shared
universally by the peoples who move. Through the virtue of simplicity, the review is
written here to cast insights into the subtitle of the book. What are the fruits of the Chinese

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sea turtles and the refrigerators in India? The greater implications in a global context have
yet to be answered by readers like you.
CONRAD CHOU
Duke University, NC, USA

Acknowledgments
Special thanks are due to the following individuals for their valuable feedback: Professor
Edward Tower, Mr. Randy Garcia, Biyuan Zhang, Nicholas Tenev, and Julia Milch, and the
editors of The Singapore Economic Review.
Singapore Econ. Rev. 2012.57. Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com

References
by UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH on 01/28/15. For personal use only.

Bernstein, WJ (2004). The Birth of Plenty: How the Prosperity of the Modern World Was Created,
New York: McGraw-Hill.
Diamond, J (2005). Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, New York: Viking.
Gilley, B (2004). China’s Democratic Future: How It Will Happen and Where It Will Lead, New
York: Columbia University Press.
Guest, R (2011). Borderless Economics: Chinese Sea Turtles, Indian Fridges and the New Fruits of
Global Capitalism, Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Weiner, E (2009). The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the
World, New York: Twelve Hachette Book Group, Reprint edition.

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