What made globalization possible?

Answer 1

1. Improved transport, making global travel easier. For example, there has been a rapid growth in air-travel, enabling greater movement of people and goods across the globe.
2. Containerisation. From 1970, there was a rapid adoption of the steel transport container. This reduced the costs of inter-modal transport making trade cheaper and more efficient.
3. Improved technology which makes it easier to communicate and share information around the world. E.g. internet
4. Growth of multinational companies with a global presence in many different economies.
5. Growth global trading blocks which have reduced national barriers. (e.g. European Union, NAFTA, ASEAN)
6. Reduced tariff barriers encouraging global trade. Often this has occurred through the support of the WTO.
7. Firms exploiting gains from economies of scale to gain increased specialisation. This is an important feature of new trade theory.
8. Growth of global media.
9. Global Trade Cycle. Economic growth is global in nature. This means countries are increasingly interconnected. (e.g. recession in one country affects global trade and invariably causes an economic downturn in major trading partners.)
10. Financial system increasingly global in nature. When US banks suffered losses due to sub-prime mortgage crisis, it affected all major banks in other countries who had bought financial derivatives from US banks and mortgage companies.
11. Improved mobility of capital. In past few decades there has been a general reduction in capital barriers, making it easier for capital to flow between different economies. This has increased the ability for firms to receive finance. It has also increased the global interconnectedness of global financial markets.
12. Increased mobility of labour. People are more willing to move between different countries in search for work. Global trade remittances now play a large role in transfers from developed countries to developing countries.