Global Networks and Flows

Global interactions operate through networks: sets of nodes (such as cities, ports, or firms) linked by flows (such as trade, money, information, or people). Contemporary capitalism runs on these networks. Goods are assembled from parts sourced across many countries, capital circulates in fractions of a second, and information moves through submarine fiber-optic cables that carry the overwhelming majority of intercontinental internet traffic. To understand globalization in practice is to understand who controls these networks, where the nodes cluster, and how the flows are governed.

Trade flows

International trade has grown far faster than global output over recent decades, a sign of deepening integration. A crucial enabler was the shipping container, standardized in the mid-twentieth cent