Source: BBC
By Douglas Heaven
Your book talks about the new globalisation. What’s new?
Profile: Richard Baldwin
Richard Baldwin is Professor of International Economics at the Graduate Institute, Geneva and Policy Director of the Centre for Economic Policy Research, a London-based network of more than 500 economics researchers across Europe.
He is the author of The Great Convergence: Information Technology and the New Globalisation
It’s no longer about the flow of trade, but the flow of expertise. Nobody makes stuff anymore, they organise the production of making things. Cars aren’t made anywhere, they’re made everywhere, with parts sourced from Mexico, Canada, China and Japan. That’s the world we already live in.
What distinguishes your Fords or Mercedes from other companies is their ability to make this global process work. The bulk of the manufacturing may be done in factories around the world, but the core business stays in the US and Germany, where they have the technical, managerial and marketing know-how needed for car production.
But it’s not going to stay that way. With the move from trade in goods to trade in know-how or expertise, all jobs – not just hands-on manufacturing ones – will change.
“Low-skilled jobs are not coming back. Even if you bring these jobs back home from where they have been outsourced, we won’t see people doing them.” (Credit: Getty Images)
Categories: America, Europe, Germany, Technology, The Muslim Times, USA