The Great Convergence

Revolutionary advances in information and communication technologies (ICT) transformed globalization around 1990 in ways that few governments and businesses still fully understand.

Improved communication allowed companies in wealthy nations to transfer manufacturing to developing nations. But the key shift was not the outsourcing of factories, but the outsourcing of ideas, intellectual property, and knowledge that came with the jobs.

These new flows of information broke the monopoly that workers in wealthy nations had over the use of advanced industrial intellectual property. It was now possible to combine high-tech ideas with low-wage workers in developing nations.

Although this shift was profitable for companies and fueled spectacular growth in some developing nations, it also disrupted the livelihoods of workers in wealthy nations. In some communities, this disruption led to economic fragility and uncertainty, fueling anti-elite, anti-government, and anti-globalization sentiments in Europe and the United States.

Sounds familiar?