Globalony???!!!

Source: "The case against globaloney: At last, some sense on globalisation," Schumpeter, The Economist, April 20th 2011

I quote:

Only 2% of students are at universities outside their home countries; and only 3% of people live outside their country of birth. Only 7% of rice is traded across borders. Only 7% of directors of S&P 500 companies are foreigners—and, according to a study a few years ago, less than 1% of all American companies have any foreign operations. Exports are equivalent to only 20% of global GDP. Some of the most vital arteries of globalisation are badly clogged: air travel is restricted by bilateral treaties and ocean shipping is dominated by cartels.

Far from “ripping through people’s lives”, as Arundhati Roy, an Indian writer, claims, globalisation is shaped by familiar things, such as distance and cultural ties. Mr Ghemawat argues that two otherwise identical countries will engage in 42% more trade if they share a common language than if they do not, 47% more if both belong to a trading block, 114% more if they have a common currency and 188% more if they have a common colonial past.

I would suggest that figures on the percent of people living outside their own borders or being educated abroad imply regionalization rather than globalization; Europeans go to other European nations if they live abroad, etc.

Of course globalization as a term applies more to international trade in high tech items such as high performance aircraft, high-tech weapons, and modern ships built in high-tech facilities.