In Defense of Globalization
by Jagdish Bhagwati

ISBN: 0195170253
Format: Hardcover, 308pp
Pub. Date: February 2004
Publisher: Oxford University Press

Hardcover, February 2004
Barnes & Noble price: $22.40

FROM THE PUBLISHER
Globalization has been blamed for everything from child labor to environmental degradation, cultural homogenization, and a host of other ills affecting rich and poor nations alike. Not a day goes by without impassioned authors and activists, whether anti- or pro-globalization, putting their oars into these agitated waters. When all is said, however, we lack a clear, coherent and comprehensive sense of how globalization works, and how it might be made to work better. Enter Jagdish Bhagwati, the internationally renowned economist, known equally for the clarity of his arguments and the sharpness of his pen. In this book, Bhagwati takes on globalization's critics, using sound economic principles and vivid examples rather than inflamed rhetoric, to show that globalization is in fact the most powerful force for social good in the world today.

Bhagwati explains why the "Gotcha" examples are often not as they seem -- that in fact globalization often alleviates many of the problems for which it has been blamed. Bhagwati carefully explains the fallacies that underlie many of the critics' arguments, suggesting that there is a good reason why most globalization protesters come from rich rather than poor countries. Exploring globalization's "human face" in great detail, Bhagwati demonstrates its beneficial effects on a panoply of social issues including poverty, child labor, women's rights, democracy, wage and labor standards, and the environment. He concludes that by focusing so much on globalization's purported evils, we are missing the opportunity to focus on accelerating its achievements while coping with its downsides. Often controversial and always compelling, Jagdish Bhagwati here provides at last a book that cuts through the noise on this most contentious issue, showing that globalization is part of the solution, not part of the problem. Anyone who wants to understand what's at stake in the globalization wars will want to read In Defense of Globalization.

FROM THE CRITICS
The New York Times
There is a need for someone to step into the breach and defend globalization using the language of the average Joe, as opposed to the calculus of a Nobel Prize-winning Joe. If anyone can rise to this challenge, it should be Jagdish Bhagwati. An esteemed international economist, Bhagwati is a university professor at Columbia and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He has advised the World Trade Organization and the United Nations. Born in India, educated in Britain and now an American citizen, he can claim to understand all points of view. He has won multiple prizes for excellence in economic writing. And when it comes to the merits of international trade and investment, Bhagwati's belief in the absolute rightness of his position rivals the most ardent of protesters: ''If reducing poverty by using economic analysis to accelerate growth and therewith pull people up into gainful employment and dignified sustenance is not a compelling moral imperative, what is?'' — Daniel W. Drezner

Publishers Weekly
In this elegant book, one of the world's preeminent economists distills his thinking about globalization for the lay reader. Bhagwati, a former adviser to the U.N. on globalization, sets out to show that "this process has a human face, but we need to make that face more agreeable." Armed with a wit uncharacteristic of most writing on economics and drawing on references from history, philosophy and literature as well as some "state of the art econometric analysis," he sets out to prove that the antiglobalization movement has exaggerated claims that globalization has done little good for poor countries. For example, supported by statistics from the Asian Development Bank, he argues, astonishingly, that in China the "aggressively outward economic policies" that characterize globalization reduced poverty from 28% of the population in 1978 to 9% in 1998. Nevertheless, Bhagwati does not advocate total laissez-faire economics and recommends that continued globalization should be "managed," prescribing policies he believes will "reinforce and ensure" its benign effects, such as taxing skilled workers who leave poor countries for jobs abroad, using nongovernmental organizations as corporate watchdogs, slowing financial liberalization and loosening intellectual property safeguards. This book might be seen as a companion piece to 2002's bestselling Globalization and Its Discontents by Joseph Stiglitz, Bhagwati's colleague at Columbia University; it should reach as broad an audience, if not broader. Don't be deceived by its relative brevity: this is a substantial study that is as about as enjoyable-and reassuring-a work of economics as may be possible to write in this uncertain age. (Mar.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Foreign Affairs
Globalization is a buzzword that has no precise definition. It takes on many meanings, drawing both fervent support and fervent opposition. Indeed, the term is so imprecise that it is possible to be simultaneously for and against globalization.

In Defense of Globalization focuses on its economic dimension, defined by Bhagwati as "diverse forms of international integration such as foreign trade, multinational direct foreign investment, movements of 'short-term' portfolio funds, technological diffusion, and cross-border migration." His main thesis is that economic globalization is an unambiguously good thing, with a few downsides that thought and effort can mitigate. His secondary thesis is that globalization does not need to be given a "human face"; it already has one. A thoughtful and objective evaluation, Bhagwati believes, will make this clear, and that is what he sets out to do.

Library Journal
In this thought-provoking work, Bhagwati (economics, Columbia Univ.) defends globalization against its many critics. He divides his analysis into the following: Part 1 describes the antiglobalization movement and its concerns; Part 2 analyzes the social implications of globalization; Part 3 concerns various facets of economic globalization, including short-term capital flows and the movement of people across borders; and Part 4 analyzes the changes, both domestic and international, that are necessary to make globalization more beneficial. Countering the current popular rhetoric that globalization needs a human face, which he calls a dangerous cliche, Bhagwati argues that globalization already "has a human face, but we can make that face yet more agreeable." He offers a history of globalization and explains why some people oppose it, including anticorporate and anti-American attitudes. Bhagwati convincingly refutes misconceptions about globalization and offers sound recommendations for governing it properly. Including extensive bibliographic footnotes for further research, this is a highly engaging work that belongs in all academic libraries. - Lucy Heckman, St. John's Univ. Lib., Jamaica, NY Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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