Chair: Natalia V. Nikulina, Senior instructor, International Economic Relations Department, Khabarovsk State Academy of Economics and Law

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taken us years to complete. Now, with the advancement of science and technology, we can communicate with not only someone across the world, but with more than one of them, as if they were both standing right next to us. No matter where they are or where you are, you can communicate with them. The globalization of communication has indeed helped us greatly. Economic globalization has also helped a lot. Trade used to be only with neighboring countries and for a few countries willing to pay expensive prices and wait for weeks for overseas trade to go back and forth. Now, someone in New York can trade with someone in Hong Kong in a matter of days. A global trade marked has provided increased competition, leading to lower prices, greatly helping consumers worldwide, allowing them to buy things at more affordable prices.

The biggest downside I see with globalization is the spread of culture, customs, and traditions. While if the spread was equal for every culture the effect would leave a great mix of cultures and traditions worldwide, this is not the case. It seems that the only culture to be spreading is the American way of life, and it seems to be spreading like a plague. A life of fast food, loud music, and a very fast paced life has started to suffocate the many other cultures of the world. The globalization of the American lifestyle is a horrible thing. After looking at the pros and cons of globalization, we can see life after globalization could not get much better. However, if you look at it from the point of view of any other country with its own lifestyle being destroyed by the American one, the benefits are purely economic, and globalization is otherwise a very destructive thing.

In fact, in the last 250 years there have been three globalization waves. There have also been three periods of substantial growth since 1850. The first growth spur occurred between 1850 and 1914. Annual growth rates were very high during this period, especially for those countries that are now considered developed or industrialized nations, such as England, Germany, and France1. The main sources of growth during this relatively long period were transportation and communication. During the two World Wars, and especially during the decade prior to the Second World War, the world economy suffered substantially. Obviously, the worse happened during the great depression in 1929 and the years that followed. The economic recovery did not take place until after World War II in 1945. During this period the United States of America emerged as a leading economic and military power and has dominated the world since then.

The second rapid economic growth period of the world began immediately after WWII with the world following the footsteps of the USA. The consensus is that this period of exceptionally rapid economic growth came to end in 1973 with the Arab Oil Embargo, which resulted in a substantial increase in oil prices. Once again the world economy suffered. Although due to a built-in stabilizing mechanism imbedded in the economic systems of major industrialized countries, and with interventions from respective central governments, the world did not witness another “great depression”. Nevertheless, the productivity suffered substantially, and the output almost became stagnate. An important consequence of this slowdown pertains to less developed countries. However, the discussion is beyond the scope of the present study. Interested readers should consult Reynolds, who addresses the consequences of this slowdown for developing countries. A new era of growth began in1990s. The fuels for this third round of rapid growth are information technology and economic freedom. According to a Wall Street article new growth of 90s was more encompassing and includes numerous developing countries2 Today we have meet with a new globalization wave which brought the world to the economic collapse. Independent experts sure that industrial developed countries fore example the USA is quilt but I think not only countries but also the

1According to O’Rourke and Williamson (1999)

2Wall Street 1997