What are some pros and cons of globalization?

The major pro of globalization is that it has helped the overall world economy and, in many ways, has helped the economies of specific countries.  When globalization occurs, free trade thrives.  This has allowed many countries to become much richer than they had been. The most prominent example of this has been China.  Before the latest round of intensive globalization, China was a very poor country. Now, China is still not a rich country, but its economy has grown tremendously, pulling millions out of poverty. This sort of thing has happened around the world.  According to the link below, a billion people worldwide have been pulled out of poverty in the last 20 years or so, largely due to globalization.  This is clearly a very important positive aspect of globalization.

The major con of globalization is that it hurts specific parts of various countries.  When free trade increases, there is greater competition between people in different countries for jobs.  Inevitably, people in some businesses in some countries are hurt.  In rich countries, for example, blue-collar workers tend to lose out to cheaper labor overseas.  This can devastate specific industries and specific regions of the countries that lose out.  This is a major reason why populist politicians like Donald Trump can get so much political traction railing against free trade.

There are many other pros and cons of globalization. For example, globalization exposes us all to a greater diversity of cultures.  We can now watch soccer from England or cricket from India no matter where we live.  We can hear music or watch movies from other countries.  This enriches our lives.  On the other hand, globalization, in some people’s minds, kills indigenous cultures. Certain cultures, they argue, come to dominate the world and unique cultural traditions are lost. In other words, economic globalization is not the only kind of globalization, but it is the kind that gets the most attention.

Globalization has helped the world and its people in many ways, but it has also contributed to various problems that did not previously exist.