109 Work, Exchange, and Technology in America’s Global Economy

The last quarter of the twentieth century revealed the promise and peril of the new era of globalization. Changes in technology and America’s economic integration into world markets developed new opportunities for growth on a scale unimaginable to policymakers in the post-World War II era. However, unforeseen side effects demonstrated America’s economic and political vulnerabilities. Global markets inspired profit fantasies for corporate America, but blue-collar workers in the traditional manufacturing industries were seized with anxiety as they saw their jobs exported to lower-wage countries. A period of deindustrialization coincided with the rise of a new labor market in service-sector jobs. The erosion of working-class manufacturing jobs and the rise of sophisticated financial markets widened the income gap, resulting in social and political consequences. Technology pushed globalization by opening a worldwide web of information and commercial exchange, but it too came with costs. These seismic changes in work and global exchange created a new economy for the twenty-first century, but they also inspired an ongoing debate over economic values and the role of government that continues to affect America’s political culture.