The Internationalization of the World Economy and its Implications for National Welfare

Abstract

There is no generally accepted definition of internationalization or globalization. In the present essay we offer three alternative definitions, in terms of (ii) an enlargement of the set of trading countries, (ii) an enlargement of the set of traded commodities and (iii) the international sharing of technology, respectively. It is shown that if each country adopts a Paretian scheme of internal compensation then internationalization in each sense leaves at least one country better off and that if international compensation is admitted then internationalization in each sense makes every country better off.

JEL Classification: F10, F11