CLIL History

M7 Different Aspects of Globalization MATERIALS Economic Globalization The developments in transportation and communication, the use of new bank and financial technologies, and the opportunity for multinational corporations to relocate their productions have caused the unification of the world s markets. During the second half of the Seventies new forms of economic and financial cooperation between developed and developing countries began to be adopted. As a result, national economies across the world became interdependent by eliminating trade barriers and allowing the free movement of goods, services, technologies and capitals. As the necessity to govern globalization grew, new supranational agencies were created. One such institution was the World Trade Organization, or WTO, which came into being in 1995 and promoted trade between nations. Economic globalization has not eliminated inequality between the North and the South of the world but it has greatly reduced it. The creation of new opportunities for developing countries has contributed to the reduction of poverty worldwide. Better availability of products and services and easier access to capitals and commodities are two of the positive effects of globalization. Nevertheless, the free circulation of capitals makes financial speculations easier and it is now clear that, in an interconnected economic world, a crisis in one country quickly spreads to different areas. 15 September 2008: the day bankruptcy was declared at the Lehman Brothers Headquarters. ACTIVITY 4.A Read the text Economic Globalization and complete the chart by inserting the causes and consequences of economic globalization. Causes Consequences The developments ... ................... .................. Unification of ... ................... .................................. . ... ................. ......................... .................. ... ................. ......................... .................. ... ................... ..................................................... . The adoption of ... ................... ........................ ... ................. ......................... .................. ... ................. ......................... .................. National economies across the world ........................... ... ................... ............................................................ . Many of them eliminated ................................................... ... ................... ............................................................... ... ................... ............................................................ . . Some supranational ... ................... .................... . The necessity to ............ ......................... . ....... ... ................... ..................................................... . Better availability of ............................................................. ... ................... ............................................................ . Free ................... ........................................................ . Financial speculations ... ................ .................... . ... ................... ..................................................... A crisis in one country ....................................................... ... ................... ............................................................ . 59