The Great Convergence
eBook - PDF

The Great Convergence

Information Technology and the New Globalization

  1. English
  2. PDF
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

The Great Convergence

Information Technology and the New Globalization

About this book

An Economist Best Book of the Year
A Financial Times Best Economics Book of the Year
A Fast Company "7 Books Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Says You Need to Lead Smarter"

Between 1820 and 1990, the share of world income going to today's wealthy nations soared from twenty percent to almost seventy. Since then, that share has plummeted to where it was in 1900. As the renowned economist Richard Baldwin reveals, this reversal of fortune reflects a new age of globalization that is drastically different from the old. The nature of globalization has changed, but our thinking about it has not.

Baldwin argues that the New Globalization is driven by knowledge crossing borders, not just goods. That is why its impact is more sudden, more individual, more unpredictable, and more uncontrollable than before—which presents developed nations with unprecedented challenges as they struggle to maintain reliable growth and social cohesion. It is the driving force behind what Baldwin calls "The Great Convergence," as Asian economies catch up with the West.

"In this brilliant book, Baldwin has succeeded in saying something both new and true about globalization."
—Martin Wolf, Financial Times

"A very powerful description of the newest phase of globalization."
—Larry Summers, former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury

"An essential book for understanding how modern trade works via global supply chains. An antidote to the protectionist nonsense being peddled by some politicians today."
—The Economist

"[An] indispensable guide to understanding how globalization has got us here and where it is likely to take us next."
—Alan Beattie, Financial Times

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21
Modern 
humans 
appeared 
about 
200 
millennia 
ago 
in 
Africa. 
As 
the 
population 
rose 
and 
fell, 
the 
search 
for 
additional 
food 
expanded 
and 
contracted 
humanity’s 
geographic 
range. 
For 
seventy-five 
mil-
lennia 
or 
so, 
this 
consumption-moving-to-production 
happened 
only 
in 
Africa.
is 
chapter 
first 
relates 
the 
story 
of 
how 
humans 
hunted 
and 
gathered 
their 
way 
across 
the 
globe 
in 
Phase 
One. 
It 
then 
turns 
to 
explaining 
how 
the 
nature 
of 
globalization 
changed 
radically 
when 
a 
large 
share 
of 
humans 
got 
“stuck” 
in 
certain 
locales 
aſter 
the 
inven-
tion 
of 
agriculture.
Phase 
One: 
Humanizing 
the 
Globe
e 
detailed 
timing 
of 
modern 
humans 
moving 
beyond 
Africa 
is 
not 
fully 
understood, 
but 
it 
was 
certainly 
not 
linear. 
Given 
the 
close 
ties 
between 
climate, 
food, 
and 
population—and 
the 
vast 
climate 
change 
going 
on 
during 
this 
period 
(Figure 4)—humanity’s 
disper-
sion 
quite 
naturally 
waxed 
and 
waned.
Archaeological 
evidence 
shows 
that 
one 
group 
exited 
Africa 
during 
the 
last 
really 
warm 
period—something 
like 
125,000 
years 
ago. 
ey 
leſt
via 
the 
Egyptian 
route 
and 
entered 
the 
Fertile 
Cres-
cent. 
Contemporary 
DNA 
evidence, 
however, 
tells 
us 
that 
they 
did 
not 
survive.
A 
team 
of 
scientists 
led 
by 
Vincent 
Macaulay 
used 
evidence 
from 
mitochondrial 
DNA 
to 
prove 
that 
all 
non-African 
humans 
chapter 
1
Humanizing 
the 
Globe 
and 
the 
First 
Bundling

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. Introduction
  7. Part I: The Long History of Globalization in Short
  8. Part II: Extending the Globalization Narrative
  9. Part III: Understanding Globalization’s Changes
  10. Part IV: Why It Matters
  11. Part V: Looking Ahead
  12. Notes
  13. Acknowledgments
  14. Index