Nathan Degaro
BA 715
Applied Microeconomics
06/21/2016
Impacts of Free Trade
A global market is the way of our times and has been the projection of nations
since history started being documented on paper. Some argue that globalization has
taken away jobs, however the net increase in goods has been led to an increase in goods
per capita with our ever-growing global population. Countries no longer are subsisting
but rather thriving in our modern times. Globalization is positive as it supports good
diversity, allows for specialization, and decreases market shock; globalization does all of
this while having minimal impacts on overall unemployment globally.
To equate globalization to unemployment is not fair. Historically, globalization is
not a new concept. As early as 3000 B.C. we saw trading within regions and economies
supportive of each other (History of Trade). Shortly after, in 1000 BC we see the multi–
continental trade between North Africa all the way to Mongolia, which is the first true
sign of globalization (History of Trade). If we state globalization is the cause of
unemployment, we would see larger numbers of the unemployed as history progresses.
A rise of unemployment however is not the case. We see thriving economies, and people
moving from farms into the cities via periods such as the Industrial Revolution and the
Mass Migration. Because globalization is such a historic concept, unemployment would
be the majority rather than the minority as we see today. Unemployment cannot be solely
caused by globalization.
Globalization often is blamed for unemployment, however unemployment has
been relatively consistent. Statistically if we view the global market’s unemployment
rate, we see minimal impact over the last 25 years. In 1991, the globe had an
unemployment rate of 6.3% according to the World Bank (World Development
Indicators). As recently as 2014, we actually see the rate of unemployment hovering
around 5.9% (World Development Indicators). Globalization has expanded rapidly
during the last 25 years with the use of technology and improvements in transport.
