Globalizátion: The irrational fear that someone in China will take your job

Chapter 2. Countries Control Their Fates: How Little Globalization Explains

When Margaret Lee's^[14] parents married in 1968, a single small cake was the only luxury gracing their austere wedding celebration. There were no bridal clothes for the event, no honeymoon trip to a picturesque location, or to any location at all. After the ceremony, they returned to a small, crowded apartment with little privacy, limited heat, and no amenities like hot running water. Their diet consisted almost entirely of rice and other grains. Despite the equivalent of a college education for each of them, they held menial jobs for which they received wages barely above subsistence. Their meager existence was typical of the overwhelming majority of mainland Chinese.

By 2000, they had moved into their own apartment; although small by western standards, it was lavish compared to their circumstances 30 years earlier. They had reliable electricity, central heating, and modern appliances. Their varied diet included meat and seafood, and they owned extensive wardrobes. The medical care they received was leagues beyond what had been available to them in 1968. They now had the opportunity and the means to travel, and their daughter was able to pursue an advanced journalism degree in the United States.

At first glance, this developmental miracle, taking place over a mere three decades and within a single generation, seems to capture the upside of globalization. Examined more closely, the fairytale story of China ...