“This important book should change the way we think about globalisation. There have been two big globalisation booms over the past two centuries. The first caused divergence between rich and poor nations while the second, since the 1970s, has caused convergence. With elegance, economist Richard Baldwin tells us why.”

– Jeffrey G. Williamson, Harvard University

Professor Richard Baldwin’s The Great Convergence: Information Technology and the New Globalization aims to change the way we understand globalisation and its impact on societies. Richard Baldwin argues that revolutionary advances in information technology and computing transformed globalisation around 1990 in ways that few governments and companies have yet to understand. While the “Old Globalisation” was mostly about goods crossing borders, the “New Globalisation” is driven by ideas and know-how crossing borders. These massive flows of knowledge transformed the global economy, allowing, for example, emerging markets to grow at unprecedented rates and helping 650 million people rise out of poverty. But the knowledge flows were also disruptive. Under the “New Globalisation”, rich-nation firms can combine their knowhow with low-wage workers abroad. This new high-tech-low-wage combination has disrupted the livelihoods of workers and communities in ways that spurred social and political upheaval across Europe and the US. Policies based on “Old-Globalisation” thinking are failing to address community concerns and have stoked distrust of elites and governments.

Date: Thursday 9 March 2017

Time: 5:30pm to 7:00pm: Lecture followed by Discussion 7:00pm to 7:20pm: Book Signing (Books available for purchase from 5:00pm)

Venue: Ground Floor, The Braggs Lecture Theatre, North Terrace Campus, The University of Adelaide

RSVP: Register Here

Enquiries: eucentre@adelaide.edu.au

Biographies

International Guest Speaker: Richard Baldwin is Professor of International Economics at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Policy Director of the Centre for Policy Research (CEPR), Founder and Editor-in-Chief of VoxEU.org and an elected Member of the Council of the European Economic Association. He was a Senior Staff Economist for the President’s Council of Economic Advisors in the Bush Administration (1990-1991) following Uruguay Round, North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Enterprise of the Americas Initiative (EAI) negotiations, as well as numerous US-Japan trade issues including the Structural Impediments Initiative (SII) talks and the Semiconductor Agreement renewal. He was Co-managing Editor of the journal Economic Policy from 2000 to 2005, and Programme Director of CEPR’s International Trade programme from 1991 to 2001. He has also worked as consultant for the numerous governments, the European Commission, OECD, World Bank, EFTA, and USAID. The author of numerous books and articles, his research interests include globalisation, international trade, regionalism, and European integration.

Moderator: Kym Anderson AC is the George Gollin Professor of Economics at The University of Adelaide. He has worked with both GATT (now WTO) in Geneva and the World Bank in Washington, D.C., as lead Economist (Trade Policy). He has published more than 350 articles and 35 books which have received awards from each of the Australian, European and American Agricultural and Applied Economics Associations. He was awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 2015.

Introduction by Professor Christopher Findlay, Executive Director of the Institute for International Trade and Executive Dean of the Faculty of the Professions at The University of Adelaide.