The Globalization Gap: How the Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Left Further Behind (Financial Times Prentice Hall Books)

Description

Globalization is a fact of life,but how can we keep the poor from being left behind forever. Globalization is inevitable and inexorable -- but it's also magnifying the chasm between rich and poor. At home and abroad, new extremes of wealth and deprivation are increasingly threatening the stability of the entire global system. The Globalization Gap reveals how globalization is spreading poverty, disease, and the disintegration of traditional cultures. A few "winners" are using their wealth to buffer themselves against these radical transformations, writes Dr. Robert Isaak. But, in most places, the new wealth generated by globalization is not trickling down. The result? More misery -- and political upheavals that will endanger us all. It doesn't have to be this way, says Isaak: we can gain the promised benefits of globalization -- without the withering unfairness. Isaak presents a realistic blueprint for sharing opportunity and creating sustainable innovation everywhere, not just amongst the wealthy. Isaak shows how a new globalization can give the poor a powerful stake, both here and abroad. In so doing, he takes on the most crucial challenge of the 21st century: making globalization work for everyone. Isaak's ideas can lead towards a more stable, peaceful world, in which we can all build our futures -- rich and poor alike. Cover Contents About the Author Preface INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1 The Revolt of the Rich CHAPTER 2 Time versus Opportunity False Promises of Development PART I: THE RICH: WHO THEY ARE AND HOW THEY WORK AND WHY THEY SPEED THINGS UP CHAPTER 3 Who the Rich Are and How They Live Big, First, and Well Positioned Bigger Houses with Fewer People in Them Education Equals Savings and Investment The Truly Rich Are Really Thrifty Harried Leisure and Time Deprivation CHAPTER 4 Pyramids of Opportunity A Sea Change: Getting Rich on the Job CHAPTER 5 Corporate Wealth and Hedging CHAPTER 6 The Global Speed Trap: Diversifying to Ward Off Losses and Old Age How the Global Economy Is Speeding Up Attention Deficit Disorder: Metaphor for Cultural Disintegration? The Graying of the Rich: From Baby Boom to Bust PART II: THE POOR: WHO THEY ARE, HOW THEY LIVE, AND WHY THEY ARE DEPENDENT CHAPTER 7 Why the Poor Are Where They Are Income Inequality Is the World’s Middle Class Disappearing? Asset Inequalities Democratic Deficits versus Too Much Democracy CHAPTER 8 A Passage Through India Emerging Modernity Reinforcing Poverty Through Religion and Cultural Traditions “Indian Time,” Caste, and Aesthetic Design Confront Globalization High-Tech Bangalore and the Time Warp CHAPTER 9 Poverty Traps The Institutional Trap The Trade Trap The Educational Trap, the Gender Gap, and the Digital Divide The Debt Trap Cultural Traps and Governability Property Laws, Legal Traps, Limited Markets PART III: THE RULES CHAPTER 10 Origins of the Rules of Globalization Protecting Comparative Advantage: Making the Most of What You’ve Got The “Fixing” of Exchange Rates Oil Cartels and Petro-Dollars Democratizing Investment Banking Trade Rules From Scarcity to Ubiquity: Digitization and the Falling Cost of Information CHAPTER 11 How the Rules Rule the Poor How to Increase Poverty with Trade How Free Capital Flows Can Create the Poor The Competitiveness Mantra: Consolidate, Raise Productivity, Downsize, Outsource PART IV: CRISIS AND SOLUTIONS CHAPTER 12 Global Crises We Will All Face Too Many People in the Wrong Places The Spread of Plagues and Epidemic Diseases The Rapid Global Spread of Unemployment and Underemployment The Education Crisis: Elite Hierarchies Confront Desperate Demands for Tools and Open Access From Corporate Oligarchy to Chaos The Environmental Crisis American Unilateralism: Taxation Without Representation? Proliferation of Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Weapons CHAPTER 13 A Blueprint for Sharing Opportunity Keeping the Promise of Democratic Capitalism: Open Opportunity Why It Benefits the Richest of the Rich to Help the Poorest of the Poor Building High-Tech, Sustainable Communities Ten Steps for Replicating Sustainable Silicon Valleys Attracting Venture Capital: A Transparent NGO with a Nonbusiness Service Division Resistance to Free Market Ideology Due to the Democratic Deficit The Interface with Governments and International Organizations Acknowledgments Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z