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An individual(s) who advocates or supports a particular stance on an issue.
From 1962 to 1989, South Korea's GDP growth averaged over 8%, year-on-year. Exports and international trade grew enormously, along with the purchasing power of South Korean individuals, supporting the argument that international exchange creates opportunities for developing countries. This idea also supports the way South Korea's economy began specializing in order to capture comparative advantages and grow more competitive in the global marketplace.
The rise of globalization has created interdependent markets that highlight the pros and cons of leveraging foreign exchange. Many proponents of global business argue that mutual benefits derive from the global specialization of products and services. The general stance is that the benefits of globalization outweigh the economic and social costs by achieving higher efficiency and by providing GDP growth in underdeveloped regions.
One pro-globalization argument involves how, based on per capita GDP growth rates, developing countries become wealthier. In the 1960s, non-globalized economies grew at an annual rate of 1.4% while globalized economies grew at 4.7%. Another relationship between globalization and GDP was seen in the 1990s when developing countries had 5.0% annual growth compared to only 2.2% annual growth in economies that had been globalized for longer. This correlation between globalization and annual growth demonstrates benefits to international trade, economic development, and standards of living.
Rise of Political Philosophies
A second argument in favor of globalization involves the rise of political philosophies, based on the assumption that free markets follow a natural trajectory towards democratic and capitalistic philosophies. This argument has two key assumptions, the first being that these political perspectives represent an overall improvement on standards of living and the second being that the correlation between globalization and these principles is significant. Using these assumptions, increasing global trade increases political stability and also increases job opportunities, technological progress, and equality.
Better Quality of Life
Although there is opposition to globalization from religious and social activists, proponents argue that the widespread availability of global goods, services, and ideas positively impacts the lifestyles of citizens. Some of the different areas where advocates claim globalization benefits individuals include:
Better access to external financing some as car and home loans
More opportunities for international travel and tourism
More opportunities to work abroad due to liberal immigrant laws and foreign worker programs
Greater consumption of worldwide entertainment including music, sports, fads and pop culture
The rapid spread of consumer products (e.g., food, clothing brands) to other countries
The development of a global telecommunications infrastructure and greater trans-border data flow using technologies such as the Internet, communication satellites, and wireless telephones, are also among the lifestyle benefits cited by globalization supporters.
Availability of Foreign Goods
A final argument supporting globalization's benefits focuses on how globalization leads to the increased availability of diverse products, services, and technology. Through pooling knowledge and exchanging more goods and services, domestic economies expand and benefit from technological and medical developments. This increase in variety, even in basic goods, allows someone in Spain to drink Italian wine and eat French cheese while typing on a Chinese keyboard. Global exchange can allow the best of all worlds through specialization and maximizing various comparative advantages that involve quality or efficiency.
Combining these arguments, those in favor of globalization theorize that a wider array of products, services, technologies, medicines, and knowledge will become available and that these developments will have the potential to reach significantly larger customer bases. This means larger volumes of sales and exchange, larger growth rates in GDP, and more empowerment of individuals and political systems through acquiring additional resources and capital. These benefits of globalization are viewed as utilitarian, providing the best possible benefits for the largest number of people.