Globalization (Draft)

It is not difficult to notice that most headlines on newspapers nowadays are somehow related to globalization issues. By definition, globalization is a process whereby an increased portion of economic or other activity is carried out across national borders. It is definitely not a newly discovered phenomenon as people have been trading across the world throughout the course of human history but it has sped up greatly over the last half-century. No doubt, the world has became more interconnected and production of goods and services has increased due to globalization. However,it is evident that globalization has lead to a widening gap between the affluent and poor thus resulting in inequality. The strong nations get richer and the weak nations get poorer as they have less competitive advantages. Therefore, to tackle inequality, education policies which focus on equity has to be employed in order to reduce income inequity. Besides, we have to also ensure that the global economic growth is inclusive and benefits greatest number of people.

First of all, unequal distribution of resources such as education results in inequality as people who have access to it are able to reap more benefits. During expansion of market, when big companies find employees, they tend to hire well-educated people who have more knowledge and higher skills. Therefore, people from countries with under-developed education system are at disadvantage and they can only work in poorer labor conditions with low wages. There are more than 57 million children around the world who do not go to primary school (UK Gov, 2013). Every child should have the chance to go to school so well developed countries can provide education aid to help to build schools in poor countries while the local government should put more emphasis on education and try to get as many investments and resources as possible to improve the education standards so that children there could receive quality education, achieve higher academic outcomes and eventually secure good jobs. However, there are still large proportions of children in Africa and South Asia not making it into the classroom (UK Gov, 2013). The implication for education is strong so more efforts have to be put in to make sure students worldwide are given the best education possible which in turn increase the earning abilities of next generation and hopefully to reduce income inequity across the world eventually.

Next, another way to tackle global inequity is to encourage an inclusive economic growth so that benefits can be distributed equally and fairly. Right now some government and international organizations have been helping nations at the base of the economic pyramid but usually with little progression. Many people think of the poor as responsibility of the states and mere recipients of aids. However, people from poor countries can be creative entrepreneurs and value-conscious consumers who contribute to prosperity by doing their share too so they should be included in the growing world economy. There are increased number of companies who realized the potential of this market and have been producing and marketing goods to the poor while offering them opportunities to be producers, distributors and retailers (Akpofure, 2012). Those companies who do business with farmers actually give them complete business solution which includes products, financing and knowledge so that their business can be successful and at the same time have given precious experience to the poor. The ‘inclusive business’ model can be a great competitive advantage for the companies too as we can see the steady rise of developing countries across the world such as Brazil, India and China. More companies have to realize this benefit in order to develop an inclusive growth of economics.

In conclusion, globalization creates inequality between developed countries and developing countries. One researcher showed that developed countries like the U.S. and Japan are one hundred times as rich as developing countries such as Ethiopia, Haiti and Nepal. Therefore, it is important for developed countries to do something to reduce the inequality. They can provide aids to developing countries in developing a better education system as well as invest more on those countries to establish a global inclusive growth. The world needs to cooperate with each other more to correct inequality so that everyone gets benefits of it, especially those in need. 



References:

1. UK Gov (2013), Making sure children in developing countries get a good education, UK. Version 11 October 2013.           https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/making-sure-children-in-developing-countries-get-a-good-education (Accessed on 01 March 2014)
2. Akpofure I. (2012), International Development News- Business for the poor is not poor business. Version 24 September 2012. https://www.devex.com/news/business-for-the-poor-is-not-poor-business-79229 (Accessed on 27 Feb 2014)