A Future Perfect: The Challenge and Hidden Promise of Globalization.

By Micklethwait, John and Wooldridge, Adrian

New York, NY: Crown Business, 2000. (386 pages)

Reviewed by Nick Greifer, Manager, GFOA Research Center, Chicago, Illinois.

A Future Perfect is a clearly written introduction to globalization that provides an overview of

A Future Perfect is divided into six sections. After the introduction in section one, the next section explores the three "engines" of globalization: technology; financial markets, and government policy. Public investors should pay particular attention to this section, as it sheds light on the volatility of financial markets abroad and domestically.

Section three provides case studies of global businesses. In addition to the well-known example of General Electric, it uncovers globalization occurring in unlikely places such as the run-down neighborhood in Los Angeles known as "Toytown," where a cluster of small businesses import supplies and export finished toy products to various parts of the world.

Section four is about the political institutions that support--and thwart--globalization. Although some prophets of globalization view the nation-state as under attack from multinational corporations, nonprofits, and governmental bodies such as the United Nations (UN), they argue convincingly that it is alive and well. The authors make a more nuanced argument: "By and large, governments have not ceded sovereignty to such bodies [as the UN] as shared it with them on the basis of carefully designed rules that are packed with out clauses. They treat international organizations as instruments of national policy.... By contrast, governments have been much freer in ceding sovereignty to regional bodies." The preeminent regional body is the European Community.

Section V is about who wins and loses--as nations and as individuals--in the globalizing economy. The last section is an argument in favor of a "kinde, gentler" globalization for nations and individuals.

The book aims to 1) describe globalization and 2) make a case for it as an overall positive phenomena enhancing individual freedom. Whether or not readers agree with the latter argument, the book provides an excellent, balanced description of how global integration has unfolded. In the process, it punctures some myths, such as:

* large multinationals will dominate the world economy (countered by statistics and case studies such as "Toytown" businesses cited above);

* globalization is a zero-sum game; and

* the traditional business cycle has ended.

These arguments echo those made by Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist Paul Krugman (see The Accidental Theorist), who decries the "globaloney" from optimists that argue that technological advances have eradicated the business cycle and the pessimists predicting the demise of the nation-state and other ills attributed to globalization. In so doing, the authors of A Future Perfect keep good company.

A Future Perfect can be obtained for $27.50 (hardcover) from Crown Publishers at Random House, Inc., 1540 Broadway, New York, NY 10036 (212/782-9000).