The Employment Effects of Free Trade and Globalization – A Study Paper (2001)

This report is one of four study papers, commissioned in order to better understand the human consequences of globalization. It attribues the current acceleration of globalization to corporate mergers and the rise of neoliberal ideology. It sees negative effects of globalization in terms of increased income and wealth disparities within and between nations and the loss of democratic control of economic policy and regulation, as nations race to the bottom with efforts to attract international capital investment. While fewer trade restrictions tend to motivate increased economic efficiency in the long run, there are shorter run costs of transition, and these usually fall more heavily on labor, while financial capital, being mobile, can reap more of the benefits.