News Release

November 27, 2001

From Malaysian jungles to Brazilian slums, globalization is improving people’s lives
New book shows the human face of globalization: ordinary people climbing out of poverty

As scholars and politicians argue over the economics of globalization, one side of the debate has been overlooked: the story of ordinary people in the global marketplace. In a new book from the Cato Institute, journalist Tomas Larsson takes the reader on a fast-paced journey around the world, offering a firsthand glimpse at what globalization means for people struggling to survive and prosper in economies everywhere.

"The Race to the Top: The Real Story of Globalization" debunks the arguments of the anti-globalization crowd by showing how ordinary people, not just businesses, benefit from access to global markets. Larsson travels from Thai brothels to Brazilian shanty towns, from Taiwanese factories to Malaysian villages, talking to small business owners, taxi drivers, tribesmen and leaders of democracy movements. The stories he tells should convince even ardent critics that the people directly affected by globalization are often the ones most likely to sing its praises.

But Larsson's book also tells the stories of those who suffer when globalization is hindered, either through protectionism or government intervention. He talks to Prasit Visedpaitoon, manager of a bicycle company in Thailand that was selling 200,000 bikes a year to Europeans until "antidumping" rules put him out of business. He talks about the Brazilian slum-dwellers who are there because their government takes from the poor to give to the rich. He talks to people around the world who suffer because of corruption, crony capitalism, or political oppression—and shows how globalization is bringing greater transparency and increasing their freedoms.

Everywhere he travels Larsson finds the naysayers and anti-globalization activists rebutted by the very people those groups claim to represent. Does globalization destroy cultural diversity? Only on a superficial level, Larsson says. Goods may be global, but their meaning is always local. They drink cognac in Taiwan, but the Taiwanese have not become Frenchmen, he says. And the flow of goods and ideas is a two-way process. China has french fries, but Americans now have Feng Shui for Dummies.

Ultimately, Larsson says, globalization works because it opens up opportunities. "It is the walls against trade, the walls that impede the flow of goods and ideas, that preserve poverty and prevent growth," Larsson says. "If you want to get rid of the big injustices, if you want to bring better opportunities—for all the inhabitants of the globe—you've got to pull those walls down."

The Race to the Top: The Real Story of Globalization