The Globalization of an American Export

In my opinion, one of the best definitions of globalization is found in the first paragraph of this page of the Globalization 101 web site.

When I was teaching a course on Globalization for the Powell Center for Economic Literacy, I would start off the course with that paragraph. I would ask the students about the various parts of the paragraph and what they thought was meant by each part, or if they could give me an example.

The Wall Street Journal had an excellent example of how globalization drives cultural and economic decision-making recently. The story is about how movies are pitched, written and produced in the U.S. as a result of the global marketplace. The short explanation is that proposals for Hollywood films need to be translatable (and I'm not talking about language) to foreign audiences. To truly understand what I mean, check out the graphics that are part of the article.

And please share your thoughts.