Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Beatriz and Veronica—and you and I—are players in a vast global chess game of com-
merce. As the world's economy evolves, modern technology is shrinking the planet, put-
ting the labor, natural resources, and capital of distant lands in touch with each other and
revolutionizing the way products are made and marketed. Globalization is a complicated
process that, frankly, nobody can control or even fully understand. But the people I met in
El Salvador made it more meaningful for me than any book or lecture ever could.
The rich world likes to imagine that globalization brings needed resources to poor na-
tions. And often, it does. In this equation, a company from a wealthy country decides to
have their product manufactured in a poor country. The company enjoys a much lower
payroll than if they employed workers back home, while still paying a wage that's con-
sidered generous in the local economy. It's a win-win. At least, that's the hope.
But in reality, all too often, globalization is driven not by altruism, but by an ambition
to open new markets to firms and products. The legally mandated responsibility of a cor-
poration is to maximize profits. And if that means exploiting cheap labor in poor coun-
