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- Globalisation: winners, losers and geopolitics
Globalisation: winners, losers and geopolitics
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Globalisation brings jobs and cheaper goods, but not everyone benefits equally.
TNCs in host countries
Benefits: jobs, training and skills, investment in infrastructure, tax revenue and new technology.
Costs: low wages and poor working conditions, profits sent back to the headquarters country, environmental damage, competition for local firms, and the risk that the TNC moves away if costs rise.
Costs: low wages and poor working conditions, profits sent back to the headquarters country, environmental damage, competition for local firms, and the risk that the TNC moves away if costs rise.
Winners and losers
Consumers in rich countries get cheaper goods.
Workers in emerging countries gain factory jobs but may face poor conditions.
Workers in developed countries may lose manufacturing jobs as factories move abroad.
Shareholders and skilled workers often gain the most.
Workers in emerging countries gain factory jobs but may face poor conditions.
Workers in developed countries may lose manufacturing jobs as factories move abroad.
Shareholders and skilled workers often gain the most.
Geopolitics
Geopolitical relationships affect trade, migration and tourism.
Trade blocs, such as the European Union, remove trade barriers between members; the EU also allows free movement of its citizens.
Visa agreements, sanctions, tariffs and disputes between countries can encourage or restrict flows of goods and people.
Trade blocs, such as the European Union, remove trade barriers between members; the EU also allows free movement of its citizens.
Visa agreements, sanctions, tariffs and disputes between countries can encourage or restrict flows of goods and people.
Give one benefit and one cost of a TNC opening a factory in an emerging country.
- Benefit: it creates jobs and brings new skills and investment.
- Cost: much of the profit leaves the country, and wages may be low.
Answer: Jobs and skills, but profits leave and wages may be low.
TNCs bring jobs, skills, investment and taxes, but also low wages, lost profits, environmental damage and the risk of leaving. Consumers often gain; some workers in rich countries lose jobs. Trade blocs, visas, sanctions and disputes shape trade, migration and tourism.
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