My former student Charlie Wang kindly requests that I re-post a link to my November 2010 EconLib essay, “Free Trade and Globalization: More than ‘Just Stuff‘; my vanity compels me to oblige Charlie’s request. Here’s my conclusion:
The fear that globalization makes the world less interesting culturally is baseless. The effect of free trade is twofold: first, it gives us more prosperity and, second, this prosperity creates diversity and dynamism. Both of these effects are good reasons for opposing the antediluvians who would obstruct international trade.
