Trying To Measure Globalization

The aim of this book is to conduct a critical survey of the main tools devised for the synthetic measurement of globalization processes. To this end, the first part of the book discusses the meaning of the concept considered, highlighting the different and often contradictory interpretations put forward in its regard in the literature. Subsequently analysed are the passages and issues that must be addressed when constructing an instrument intended to measure a social phenomenon of such complexity as globalization. Stressed in particular is that the researcher’s subjectivity is repeatedly involved in these passages, so that no instrument can have objective validity. Given these premises, the book presents the principal tools employed in attempts to measure globalization, starting with those whose unit of analysis is the state. In this regard, particular space is devoted to indexes which take a multidimensional approach to the concept of globalization. There follows a comparison among the results obtained using these indexes, and criticisms are made of the ways in which the latter have been constructed. A limitation, or if one wishes a paradox, concerning such tools is that they measure in relation to states a process which has as one of its principal features the fact that it extends beyond the confines of states. For this reason, the final chapter considers whether globalization can be measured with different units of analysis – in particular people and cities. The books concludes with discussion of the general limitations of globalization indexes.

Globalisation is a timely and controversial topic. Against the chorus of globalisation’s proponents and detractors, the authors propose an approach for measuring globalisation and its consequences. Undertaking a comprehensive review of the literature on globalisation and using data from the MGI and KOF indices, the well-respected authors build a framework for defining globalisation and analyzing the relationships among economic, political, and social variables.

Understanding the impacts of globalization requires good data, and national statistical systems were not designed to measure many of the transactions occurring in today’s global economy. The chapters in this two-volume set identify biases and gaps in national statistics, examine the magnitude of the problems they pose, and propose solutions to address significant biases and fill key data gaps.

This report introduces the Global Integration Index, which assesses the progress of globalization across traditional areas, such as trade, investment and institutional arrangements, and includes new areas of digital connectivity and environmental cooperation. Building on ADB’s framework to measure progress in regional cooperation and integration, the index confirms Asia’s deeper global economic linkages, enabling comparison with other regions and across dimensions.

Yong Zhao, a distinguished professor at Michigan State University who was born and raised in China, offers a compelling argument for what schools can--and must--do to meet the challenges and opportunities brought about by globalization and technology.

"The substantial increase in the complexity of global supply chains and other production arrangements over the last three decades has challenged some traditional measures of national income accounts aggregates and raised the potential for distortions in conventional calculations of GDP and productivity. This volume examines a variety of multinational business activities, including how multinational enterprises arrange their financing and assign ownership of intellectual property to avoid tax and regulatory burdens, and assesses their impact on economic measurement. Several chapters consider how global supply chains complicate the interpretation of traditional trade statistics, and how new techniques, such as extended supply and use tables, can provide new information about global production arrangements. Other chapters examine the role of intangible capital in global production, including the intangible output of factoryless goods producers and the problems of measuring R&D in a globalized world. The studies in this volume also explore ways to enhance the quality of the national accounts by improving data collection and analysis and by updating the standards for measurement"--

This book deals ethnographically with economic globalization from below in its broadest sense, from producers to traders to vendors to consumers across the globe.

Companies know that globalizing their web sites should produce revenue growth. This book aims to show web developers how to do it, presenting spotlights on real companies who have globalized their sites and the benefits they've received.

An accessible, introductory text on contemporary China, this book covers the social, economic, and political factors responsible for China's revolutionary changes, and interweaves this structural analysis with a consideration of social changes at the micro and macro levels.