WIDER Annual Lecture 27
Globalization in crisis

The 2023 Annual Lecture was delivered by Pinelopi (Penny) Goldberg. She spoke about her research on the topic of globalization.

As the title of the lecture implies, this study is about globalization in crisis. Readers are no doubt aware that recent years have seen significant shifts in global attitudes, policies, and politics related to trade and globalization. 

These shifts are manifest most strikingly in events like Brexit in 2016, and the US–China trade war starting in 2018. But they are also evident in the recent emergence of more protectionist trade policy preferences in the United States and other countries—including industrial policies, efforts to ‘reshore’ and ‘friendshore’ manufacturing, and concerns around supply-chain resilience—that are partly a response to shocks like COVID-19 but are also driven by national security concerns, geopolitics, and the fight against climate change. These factors and forces reflect a distinct and broad backlash to and retreat from globalization, contributing to rising trade tensions and a more closed and unstable global trading system.