What does globalization do for individuals?

The title is a little bit misleading, but several of my students have expressed ideas in opposition to globalization that seem to sound like neo-dependency theory--ideas that globalization and world trade tends to disadvantage poor people in poor countries.  

If you're one of these folks, you might be interested in this post from Chris Blattman (a world-class development economist) on Mexican export-processing factories. He cites two studies examining the effects of participating in this labor market on individuals.

Effects are mixed.  The key passage:

1. Workers earn better wages than in non-export oriented industries;
2. Women who get jobs have taller children;
3. But youth drop out of school earlier to take the jobs; and
4. For those that drop out, their wages in the long term are lower than if they had stayed in school and gone to work for the factories later.

If you're interested in this stuff, you can also get to the papers through Blattman's blog. 

There is a longstanding debate about these issues--the effects of globalization on the poor--and we will talk about the environmental piece of this debate in PSCI 3206 later in the semester.  Scholars generally agree nowadays that globalization can be either harmful or helpful to individuals, though it probably does more good than bad, economically.

Of course, we don't just value economic outcomes, and there are good reasons to be concerned about the effects of globalization on particular groups of individuals.