Consumers expect more from globalization

Talks about the challenges to globalization have become louder, as the world economy is yet to clear the long shadow cast by the global financial crisis. But Chinese consumers differ in their views on the prospects of globalization.

The just issued annual report of the Bank for International Settlements, the so-called central bank of central banks, dedicates an entire chapter to refute protectionist arguments that have been part of a broader social and political backlash against globalization. The report insists that rolling back globalization would deal a major blow to the prospects of sustained and robust expansion of the world economy.

Some developed countries that have enjoyed most of the early benefits of improved living standards generated by globalization have ample reason to reassess their previous lack of policies to push forward reforms that can preserve the achievements of globalization while fixing its flaws, which could have contributed to the widening inequality within their economies. "De-globalization" is definitely not the solution to their problems.