11/11/15
Labor and Global Economy
David Bensman
Reaction Paper #4 Globalization and world trade has been a vital aspect of are world for centuries whether it be goods or services. In this reaction paper, I will be reflecting on the book, The Children of NAFTA by David Bacon. Bacon’s main idea in his novel is that government policies shape trade and investment decisions. Now although in recent years, neo-liberal ecoomists say that the international division of labor is a natural result of changes in technology and education, Bacon evaluates the NAFTA Agreement and suggests that maybe Mexico did not receive the benefits promised in the agreement. Through the different case studies comparing between 1st world companies and 3rd world …show more content…
NAFTA was a precedent as the first trade agreement between bordering economies in which the United States used its political muscle to negotiate a free trade arrangement with Canada and Mexico. With the rise of international business and globalization, weaker countries felt they needed to join regional trading blocs in order to compete and sustain economic growth. Trade became pivotal to the global economy due to increased awareness of the economic disparities amongst states resulting in the need for greater economic integration within the global economy. Today, NAFTA is the largest free trade area in the world. The NAFTA agreement aimed at not only promoting trade within North America, but also improve work and living conditions within the …show more content…
These policy packages contained economic restructuring plans that were meant to implement neoliberal principles within these three economies. Scott stated the United States had the “go-it-alone power, which removes the status quo as an option for other states” (McBride, p83) This put pressure on the defendant states who are reluctant to adopt these policies but don’t have much of a choice. All in all the NAFTA agreement eroded the state's power to make decisions on the national level which resulted in different factors becoming powerful actors within the decision-making