One of Ours

GLOBALIZATION impoverishes developing countries while undercutting middle-class living standards in the United States. The reduction of trade barriers encourages the exploitation of child labor, fosters a race to the bottom in environmental standards, tears women in third-world nations away from their families, homogenizes disparate indigenous cultures and strips the gears of democracy in favor of rapacious multinational corporations. It also causes cancer in puppies....

...Economics professors disagree with almost all this, but the savvy ones recognize that they've been losing the rhetorical battle. Public opinion polls repeatedly show Americans to be wary about globalization. The problem is not that economists are starting to doubt their own arguments -- the problem is that the rest of society neither understands nor believes them. Between statistical evidence showing that trade is good for the economy and tangible anecdotes of sweatshops and job losses, most citizens trust the anecdotes...

...Critics of globalization will find a few things to admire in Bhagwati's outlook. He limits his defense of globalization to trade, direct investment and migration. The book's short chapter on capital markets echoes many of the concerns of globalization's critics. Bhagwati forcefully denounces ''the Wall Street-Treasury Complex'' that cajoled developing countries into eliminating capital controls...

...Bhagwati says at the outset that he wants to engage the ''mainstream'' elements of the anti-globalization movement. However, he never really grapples with mainstream critics like Dani Rodrik, who argues that economic growth leads to economic openness and not vice versa. There are also missteps in tone that will alienate some. At one point, Bhagwati dismisses a section of the environmental movement as a bunch of ''old folks turning to protect turtles and ospreys.'' At another point, he argues that migrant women receive psychic benefits from working in a liberated environment and providing for their families back home. His evidence? The experiences of his maid.

The book's fatal flaw, however, is its off-kilter relationship with the business cycle. During boom times, antiglobalizers score political points by stoking fears of cultural debasement and environmental degradation. During leaner years, naked self-interest becomes the salient concern: in the current economic climate, American opponents of globalization talk less about its effect on the developing world and more about the offshore outsourcing of jobs...