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After reading the February 19th Economist article, "Turning their backs on the world,"  do you believe it is wise for world governments to shy away from globalization during a period of economic crisis?

Read the Turning their Backs On the World

**** Two differernt disscussion for the one above. 

* Student disscussion 

After reading Turning their backs on the world, it seems that globalization is a positive thing. In the article, it states that poor countries are growing faster than large countries. This is a great thing that globalization is doing. I don't think that leaving poorer countries out to dry is in our best interests as humans. It was also stated that some countries rely heavily on exports in order to be sustained. Singapore and Taiwan were in the mix when it comes to survival off of exports. To a country like Singapore, where over 100% of their GDP is coming from exports, how can we not support globalization? It was also mentioned that in 2007, air-cargo traffic dropped 23%. I can only think of negative things when I see a statistic like that. That leads to loss of jobs, I can assume that a countries citizens losing their jobs can only have negative outcomes for the country and their economic status.

In sum, I came to the conclusion that world trade is a good thing and I support it. It seems to me that the large countries like the United States need smaller countries like Singapore in order to survive. It is hard for me to say that free trade is bad when talking about the survival of countries with higher exports. Leaving them out to dry can and most likely will drain their economy. On the contrary, Detroit did bank on car manufacturing for their economy and that lead them to going bankrupt. Every country that uses exports and imports for their main source of economy has a role in order for the world economy to thrive.

Two different responds for this one. 

* Student disscussion 

In my opinion I don’t think it’s a good idea to shy away from globalization during an economic crisis. When it comes to globalization, one of the biggest benefits has been poorer countries being able to catch up to the richer countries, in terms of GDP. These countries are making more goods, which in return is providing jobs for their citizens. The countries may not like it, but having bigger companies go in and build factories because labor and resources may be cheaper, is creating jobs for those countries. Also foreign direct investment is one of the easier ways to bring new technology, and teach new skills to a country. 

Trade also plays a major role for the smaller countries. Smaller countries can’t produce as much product, or have the variety of products, compared to larger countries because they are restricted by the amount of people they have. They are able to trade and buy goods from other countries that they might be lacking, to make up for not being able to produce it. Some smaller countries in particular also count on exporting many goods in order for their economy to keep functioning how it’s supposed to. If trade is reduced during an economic crisis, it could hurt these smaller countries even more.

and two differrent respond for this one as well.