Book Review: A Splendid Exchange

Few recent phenomena evoke such strident reaction as "globalization." Proliferation of trade and communication changes our world in ways that may be improving in aggregate. but the distribution of benefits is far from uniform. William Bernstein laughs at the modernistic hubris associated with globalization protests, since trade has waxed and waned over centuries, and with its ebb and flow, the forces of globalization have also fluctuated. Clearly we are a flood tide (or were a few short months ago), and in A Splendid Exchange Bernstein traces the historical role that trade and its attendent forces of diversification or globalization have had during recorded history. This history focuses in the Indian Ocean trade as much as anywhere else, as first spices, then later slaves, Oriental goods, cotton, tea, and opium have been transshipped by various merchant classes--Roman, Arab, Jewish, Chinese, western Europeans, and Indians in turn.

Bernstein's point is simple. Trade is not inherently evil. It has been going on for centuries. Some globalization is clearly a good thing. Today's debate about winners and losers should be that, not a condemnation of trade and endorsement of autarky. The final chapter--"The Battle of Seattle" makes this point subtly, connecting "organized anarchists" to Chinese barbers in Mexico City in the 16th century.

The narrative necessarily skips large and potentially interesting sections of history in order to fit into a volume of salable length. But the selected episodes fit together well: ancient trade, explaining why the Europeans thought there were "Dark Ages, the economic underpinnings of the European colonial expansion, the disease effects of trade, the rise and impact of European trading empires, the tragedies of modern protectionism (which mind you, didn't necessarily cause the Great Depression), and finally the modern controversy over globalization. IN all, a useful context for debaters on both sides of the globalization issue.