Globalization: Real or Imaginary?

            Donna Lee is a senior lecturer and the Deputy Head of the School of Social Science at the University of Birmingham (UK).  She is a renowned author and won the Bernard Crick award for excellence in teaching in 2000.  Mrs. Lee was present in the BMU auditorium to give a lecture on “Globalization and U.S. Trade Policy.”

            She began her lecture by saying that globalization itself has no clear cut meaning or definition.  She argues that it is an unstoppable force that creates a borderless world.  For example, she stated that you can get bird flu anywhere and everyone knows what a “Big Mac” is.  She continued to say that we live in an age of powerless countries where the market is all powerful and determining.  For example, governments come up with ways to be more competitive in a global economy by ways such as reducing taxes.  This in turn reduces welfare and these two points create what she described as a “neoliberal” argument.

            Donna continued by citing this argument as flawed because she says there is no such thing as the term “globalization.”  She argues by saying trade is regional.  The U.S. trades within its borders 56% of the time and Europe 73%.  Africa is the only continent that is “global” where its’ regional trade is only 9%.  However, this is a problem for Africa because the U.S. markets aren’t free, we have trade agreements, and our producers are heavily subsidized.  The U.S. government counters by saying Africa needs to “liberalize” and open their markets in order to access U.S. free trade. 

            Mrs. Lee finished with an example of the production of cotton.  The production of cotton is the largest African export.  In 2001-2002, the production of cotton rose 14% but earnings fell 31%.  The international political economy ensures under-development.  If a free market existed, 10 million Africans would be out of poverty.  Furthermore, the 2008 U.S. Farm Bill subsidizes the rich.  It allocates 280 billion for five years, where 73% of this money goes to 10% of the farmers.  Between 2001-2002, 40 million dollars were lost in Mali due to U.S. subsidies.  The subsidies deprive African farmers of vital income.  Donna wrapped up her presentation by saying that if subsidies were removed, the price of cotton would increase by 18-28% and the world’s poorest farmers would earn another 360 million dollars per year.

Pictured: Harvesting cotton.

            Donna Lee gave a very spirited and controversial argument about U.S. trade policy and how it all works.  Indeed, she had very convincing numbers to back up what she was saying.  It is a very tough topic to fully comprehend because of all the logistics behind it and trade among countries is quite convincing.  However, Mrs. Lee is an expert on the subject and she gave a very convincing argument that is hard to negate.  It was a very interesting lecture that truly gets one thinking about “global” problems.