ABSTRACT
This chapter will show how the notions globalization, capitalism and markets can be used for analyzing economic globalization.We will look at the globalization of markets, from the local market that offers fruits from all over the world to contemporary financial markets that operate around the clock due to a shift work by traders around the globe. This will take us to analyses of global interdependency patterns, but this can only be done if one takes the theories that people have developed to understand the economy into account. Globalization is often seen as a form of convergence of associated production systems,
cultures and even political processes. The neoclassical economic model presents the idea of convergence of prices and products all over the world, as a result of arbitrage and the clearing of markets. Convergence of cultures is sometimes linked with a critique of “Western hegemony,” whereas the democratic polity is even referred to as the end of history.We show that a simple scheme of divergence-convergence cannot fully grasp matters as diverse as international consumption patterns, organizational structures and national policies. Therefore, we do not claim that the world is moving in one direction, we limit our discussion to economic cases for analyzing divergence and convergence. This chapter addresses a number of concrete questions. How has the view of trading with
others and of being dependent on them changed over time?What normative standpoints can be identified in the discussion of economic “Globalization?”What can be said about efficiency and inequality?What markets today are global? Throughout the text we relate the theoretical discussion to empirical examples. This framework is also used to understand the first financial crisis of the third millennium. We discuss these questions in the light of the large literature on economic globalization. The
discussion emphasizes markets and capitalism, and has a historical perspective,which means that we will look at economic and sociological theories that discuss aspects of economic internationalization and globalization. The discussion can only make a few stops on the journey into the history of economic ideas from Aristotle to today.We first try to give some flesh to discussion of economic globalization. The chapter then briefly discusses and defines capitalism. The next section deals with and defines markets. The third section covers globalization. These three
concepts will be used in the remaining sections to analyze the co-evolution of global economic processes and economic ideas about globalization. It should be said that these three notions are only tools to highlight what we think are the most central aspects, whereas others, as a consequence, are downplayed.
