Political Limits to Globalization
Author(s)
Acemoglu, Daron; Yared, Pierre
DownloadAcemoglu_Political limits.pdf (189.0Kb)
PUBLISHER_POLICY
Publisher Policy
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
Terms of use
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
We live in an unprecedented age of globalization,
where technology, ideas, factors of
production, and goods are increasingly mobile
across national boundaries. The current wave
of globalization is distinguished from previous
ones in part because of the major role of information
technology. Nevertheless, globalization
is not irreversible. Openness to international
trade, finance, and technology is a choice that
countries make, and despite the facilitating role
of information technology, many countries,
even many leading players in the world economy
including the United States, China, India,
Brazil, and Russia, could decide to close their
borders. A major cause of the end of the previous
(also historically unprecedented) nineteenth
century wave of globalization was disillusionment
with the international economic order, in
large part precipitated by the Great Depression
(e.g., Harold James 2001). Another, somewhat
less emphasized though not necessarily less
important cause was the rise of nationalism,
militarism, and international conflict (e.g.,
Ronald Findlay and Kevin H. O’Rourke 2007,
Reuven Glick and Alan M. Taylor 2005).1 The
previous wave of globalization took place in the
context of the 100 years following the end of the
1 Militarism is defined as the doctrine or policy of
“aggressive military preparedness,” which typically leads
to a country’s maintaining a strong military capability to
defend or promote its national interests.
growth in a partially de-globalized world†
Political Limits to Globalization
By Daron Acemoglu and Pierre Yared
Napoleonic wars, which were unusually peaceful
for European powers; it came to an end following
the most widespread conflict that human
society had experienced until then, World War I.
Date issued
2010-05Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of EconomicsJournal
American Economic Review
Publisher
American Economic Association
Citation
Acemoglu, Daron, and Pierre Yared. 2010. "Political Limits to Globalization." American Economic Review, 100(2): 83–88.© 2010 AEA
Version: Final published version
ISSN
0002-8282