Why Global Commitment Really Matters

In this study Howard Lewis III and J. David Richardson explore the gains that workers, companies, and communities achieve from choosing to engage with the global economy. Why Global Commitment Really Matters! follows two earlier Institute publications that explored the benefits of exporting. This study summarizes new research on American importing, international investment, and technology transfers that shows similar benefits.

All types of global commitment seem to generate greater productivity, higher pay, stronger growth, and better survival rates. These in turn rejuvenate entire industries and their workforces and communities as they allow better firms and jobs to supplant those with less desirable traits. Exports, imports, investment, and technology transfer form a family of global commitments that spawns a family of economic rewards. The study shows that exactly the same patterns are being discovered in similar new research abroad. Little of this new research has made its way into the mainstream of public debate over trade and economic policies.The authors supplement their research survey with profiles of real American exporters, importers, multinational companies, foreign affiliates, and technology partners. They also weigh criticisms and alternative interpretations of the research, and examine the problems of those left on the margins of the global economy.

Howard Lewis III, former deputy director, was a visiting fellow at the Institute for International Economics. He was formerly with the National Association of Manufacturers from 1980 to 2000, where he was assistant vice president for international economic policy (1980-87), vice president for trade policy (1987-97), and vice president for economic policy from 1997 to 2000. During these two decades, he participated in major trade debates as a policy analyst and lobbyist. His areas of expertise include government policies affecting US exports. He coauthored Why Global Commitment Really Matters! (2001, Institute for International Economics) with J. David Richardson.

J. David Richardson, senior fellow (retired), has been associated with the Institute since 1991. He is also professor of economics in the Maxwell School of Syracuse University and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. He has written extensively on trade, globalization, and international economic policy issues. He is author or coauthor of Global Competition Policy (1997), Competition Policies for the Global Economy (1997), Why Exports Matter: More! (1996), Why Exports Really Matter! (1995), and Sizing Up U.S. Export Disincentives (1993).