Economic Globalization refers to the practices of companies to become better and to be

connected to their consumers around the world. This means they operate in different national
markets, from product design to marketing. For example, the well-known fast-food chain of
restaurants, McDonald’s, operates in almost all of the countries across the globe. McDonald's
specifically has franchises with over 39,000 locations in over 119 markets, and a lot of people
around the world recognize its brand and logo. The International trading system allows
different countries to expand their markets and allows access to their goods and services that
otherwise may not have been available domestically since the goods and services came from
foreign countries. A great example for this is technology and electronics goods and services that
we are now using, Apple, Samsung, Panasonic, LG, Toyota, Honda, and the other brands that
are known globally.
In the 16th and 18th Century, Mercantilism was the traders’ known practice of their
goods. There are competitions among countries to sell more goods as a means to boost their
country’s income or monetary reserves. They export more than they imported and in return
they receive gold. They adopted the Gold Standard at an international monetary conference in
Paris. Its aim was to create a common system that would allow for more efficient trade and to
prevent the isolationism of the mercantilist era. They established a common basis for currency
of prices and a fixed exchange rate system based on the value of gold. But the problem is that
gold is still restricted and limited the amount of circulating money. It reduced demand and
consumption and forced countries back to their currencies with fixed gold reserves. Some
blamed the Gold Standard during the Great depression that is considered as the worst and
longest recession ever in 1920-1930s.
The Fiat Currency is a currency that is not backed by any metals or precious stone and
does not have intrinsic value. This is what the modern world uses right now, such as the U.S.
dollar, Philippine peso, Japanese yen and such. The value of this kind of currency is dependent
on how a country’s economy is performing, how the country is governing itself, and the effects
of these factors on interest rates.
The Bretton Woods System was established to prevent the catastrophes in the early
decades of the century. It is a system through which a fixed currency exchange rate could be
created using gold as the universal standard. This system eventually failed. After the Bretton
Woods System, various countries also committed themselves to the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Its main purpose is to promote international trade by reducing or
eliminating trade barriers such as tariffs and quotas to revive the economy after the 2nd World
War.
In the 1980s and up to the present, Neoliberalism became the codified strategy on
economic policies and came to be known as the Washington Consensus. It encouraged minimal
government spending to reduce government debt. It seeks to transfer the control of economic
factors from the public sector to the private sector. Some say Neoliberalism would be good and
some say it is bad but as what we are experiencing right now, it became even worse. It
encourages monopolies, in which it increases the profits of corporations at the expense of any
benefits to consumers. Neoliberal policies have been proven to increase inequality. On one end
of the spectrum, those who earn a low income have limited spending power, at the same time,
those who become richer have a higher tendency to save, so much more to spend.
In conclusion, in this scenario, based on what we are experiencing today due to the
inefficient hands, that the rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer. Inequality is the price of
civilization and what they call greediness. No matter how hard you work you won’t get rich or
have a comfortable life unless you are lucky enough to be in a society wherein equality exists,
and that would be a privilege, in this world where inequality prospers.