Globalisation - Myths and realities 2002

David Coats, TUC, available free either as download from www.tuc.org.uk or from TUC Publications Department, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LS

This TUC report provides a labour movement perspective on globalisation. It points out that, applied in contradictory ways, the term often brings little clarity to debates on the shape of the world economy.

If globalisation is defined as "a rapid increase in trade across national boundaries", then it is not new, and the increase in trade since 1980 has largely been between advanced industrialised states, rather than worldwide.

Globalisation has not led to a "race to the bottom", says the report. Sub-Saharan Africa, where wages are the lowest, has not been the destination for most multinational investment.

Also, imports to the European Union from Asia accounted for less than 2% of EU GDP in 2000, compared with imports from other industrialised countries which account for 23%.