Jack McGillivray, Chapter 12, Question 3

Something I found extremely interesting was how the problems posed by globalization have such unintuitive answers. For example, if one doesn't like sweatshops the logical thing to do is stop buying products produced in them. However, this will only worsen the conditions for the people employed there. Sweatshops, even though they have awful and sometimes inhumane working conditions, build the wealth and human capital of poor countries. Another issue with similar circumstances is carbon emissions by third world counties, such as China and India. Previously the solution i would propose to this problem was issue an ultimatum to force a cut in emissions or face economic sanctions. However now I see that this may not only be ineffectual, but may actually exacerbate the problem. I think the ideal Wheelan proposes, a universal carbon tax, may work well, but would be extremely difficult to implement. Globalization has many drawbacks that come with it, and it is tempting to resist it in order to avoid these problems. However, when you compared the fear-mongering scare tactics of anti-globalization to the improved future for all of globalization, it is obvious which is the better choice.