Global Trends
Will Drive
Economic
Development

“Partner’s Perspective” is a regular feature that provides a forum for Quick Start’s colleagues working in economic development.

By Jeffrey A. Rosensweig

Dr. Jeffrey A. Rosensweig
Goizueta Business School,
Emory University

For a reprint of the original article in Adobe Acrobat PDF format, click here.

lobal trends that seemed durable until Sept. 11, 2001, do not seem so secure now. Before that tragic day, borders were increasingly open for business, stimulating a global economy that could help poor regions both at home and abroad.

It’s important that we do not learn the wrong lessons from 9-11. As much now as before, Georgia’s economic development links closely to several global trends — specifically, the movement of people, goods, services, ideas and capital across national borders.

First, the movement of people across borders has been key to Georgia’s economic prosperity, with a surge in the Hispanic population helping to fuel our rapid growth. As a result, workforce development has become critical to Georgia’s future.

We need to educate and train our young people, including immigrants, so that they can become leaders in the globally linked economy that will define Georgia. The U.S. baby boomer population is aging, and we can only maintain our economic vitality and fiscal solvency by attracting hardworking, young immigrants while maintaining our national security.

Second, Georgia must continue the global trade not only of commodities such as kaolin and agricultural products, but also of manufactured goods such as automotive equipment and industrial machinery. Producing such world-class manufactures for export is tied to our ability to attract foreign investment, adding to our already-strong domestic industries. And attracting foreign companies to Georgia is inextricably linked with our strategies for workforce development, namely Quick Start.

International trade in goods has been on an amazing upward trend ever since the Korean War. A half-century of stellar growth was slowed by the 1970s oil crises and stopped in 2001, but preliminary data show that global trade returned to growth in 2002.

Third, service industries have been globalizing at an accelerating rate, with services such as education and travel and tourism boosted by modern jet travel and telecommunication advances. For example, Georgia’s colleges and universities are able to project themselves globally through modern communications such as innovative websites, thereby attracting tuition-paying students from a truly global market. Parents of high schoolers will learn how easy it now is for their children, or any children worldwide, to apply to colleges online. Georgia should be well placed to participate in this growing service industry, as we have elite research universities and national-leading technical colleges.

And foreign tourists will continue to see Georgia as a secure and wonderful place to visit. From our Golden Isles to north Georgia mountains to historic trails, we should see tourism as an economic development priority for our entire state. After all, what state is home to both Nobel laureates Martin Luther King and Jimmy Carter? We combine natural beauty, hospitable people, and a culture and history attractive to tourists with dollars to spend.

Fourth, our lives are impacted more each month by the ability to share ideas and to gain knowledge and new perspectives over the worldwide web. Children in rural Georgia hamlets access websites and have virtual “pen pals” all over the world. Allowing them to pursue their native curiosity (although, with parental supervision!) will prepare all our diverse students for the 21st-century global business world they will face.

Why do I believe that globalization is inevitable despite the many people with firm conviction who protest against it? Often at such protests, the opponents hold up signs pointing onlookers to their various websites. How ironic — the opponents of globalization themselves rely on the new technology that is binding the globe together and allowing us to share ideas in real time in a way that will transform the face of workforce development. In Georgia, we will learn from the best practices of others in this field worldwide, but I predict we will gain “exports” from our considerable advantage in adult training and education.

Finally, foreign investment can bring in both financial capital and new technologies needed to create productive new jobs. Fortunately, tremendous effort is spent in Georgia attracting foreign capital. Often, this foreign investment aids economic development in poor counties away from metro Atlanta.

There is a worldwide competition for scarce capital. The tragic events of 9-11 may have led to the tightening of borders for the movement of goods and people, but capital is similar to ideas in that it can flow unimpeded by physical borders.

The only way to win this competition, since we live in a developed nation that will always have higher wages than the many poor nations of this earth, will be through the superior skill-level and thus focus and training of our workforce.

For a reprint of the original article in Adobe Acrobat PDF format, click here.