Abstract
Advanced digital technology enables the new globalization. Together, these forces have improved living standards for millions of people, but there is also a dark side to the story. Digital technology and globalization create “losers” as well as “winners,” leading to economic and social disruption. Developing countries are especially at risk; their advances in recent decades may be reversed (Bremmer, Us vs. Them: The Failure of Globalism. New York: Penguin Random House, 2018). They need to address the negative impacts to reap the full benefit of digitally enabled globalization. This chapter highlights the negative impacts of digitally enabled globalization on individuals, communities, and nation-states, then reviews proposals for mitigating these impacts, derived from literature. Various proposals involve curbs on monopoly power, regulatory reform, restoring the proper role of government, improved education, labor market reform, universal basic income, and increased international cooperation. At the level of implementation, there is significant integration among these proposals. For example, curbing monopolies will involve regulatory reform, and increased international cooperation may be necessary to achieve other reforms. This topic is timely: a recent statement of purpose by nearly 200 CEOs of global corporations suggests that business leaders may be ready to acknowledge the dark side of the new globalization and join efforts to mitigate the harm.
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Notes
- 1.
Scholars use descriptors such as developing, developed, advanced, or emerging to differentiate countries and economies. For instance, in its annual World Economic Outlook reports, the International Monetary Fund classifies countries as “advanced economies” or as “emerging market and developing economies” (IMF 2019, 133-134). Advanced economies include Canada, Estonia, Germany, Japan, Singapore, Slovenia, and the United States (39 total). The emerging or developing economies include Afghanistan, Brazil, China, India, Iran, Liberia, Mexico, Nigeria, Qatar, and Paraguay (155 total). The IMF uses GDP at purchasing power parity, total exports, population, and other factors to determine classification. It notes, however, “This classification is not based on strict criteria, economic or otherwise, and has evolved over time. The objective is to facilitate analysis by providing a reasonably meaningful method of organizing data” (IMF 2019, 134).
- 2.
It may be too early to judge the impact of this enforcement action. When the fine was announced, FTC commissioners also urged the U.S. Congress to pass comprehensive privacy and data security legislation to strengthen the government’s position in relation to global media companies.
- 3.
To be fair, leaders of diverse enterprises might yearn for monopoly power; this motivation is not limited to digital technology companies.
- 4.
In the United States, regulations established in the 1930s (Glass-Steagall Act) prevented commercial banks from engaging in investment banking. This legislation was repealed in 1999).
- 5.
AWOL—Absent Without Official Leave, an expression often used by the military to describe someone who is missing form their assigned post.
- 6.
Teachers are a frequent object of reform. In its report on the digital economy, the World Bank included these remarks on teacher training: “Rethink curricula and teaching methods. Today’s education systems need to prepare students for a career and not only a job. Modern labor markets require creativity, teamwork, problem solving, and critical thinking in ever-changing environments… teachers now must instruct students in how to find information and apply it in a new and unexpected context. This requires changes in teachertraining” (World Bank 2016, 33).
- 7.
Larry Summers, a former Vice President of the World Bank, responded: “What’s so special about robots?” In other words, perhaps the tax should apply to all machinery that does the work once performed by humans. (Bremmer 2018, p. 143)
- 8.
Murray (2016, paragraph 7) stresses this point in arguing for UBI in the United States: “UBI is to be financed by getting rid of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, Supplemental Security Income, housing subsidies, welfare for single women and every other kind of welfare and social-services program, as well as agricultural subsidies and corporate welfare. As of 2014, the annual cost of a UBI would have been about $200 billion cheaper than the current system. By 2020, it would be nearly a trillion dollars cheaper.”
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Killian, L.J. (2021). Taming the Dark Side of the New Globalization. In: Park, S.H., Gonzalez-Perez, M.A., Floriani, D.E. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Corporate Sustainability in the Digital Era. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42412-1_18
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