In case we’re too focused on the local and urgent, here are some important and distant changes (over which we may or may not have influence) to ponder, summarized from an article in the Economist.
- Less Globalization
- Increased Digitialization
- Rising Inequality
Irving Wladawsky-Berger was central in IBM’s rise with the Internet around 2000, and has been blogging continuously while in that role, and subsequently.
“The covid-19 pandemic will accelerate change in the world economy,” says The Economist . It’s becoming increasingly clear that “the pandemic will lead to immense structural changes in the global economy: less globalized, more digitized, and less equal.” Supply chains will bring production closer to home to cut risks. Office workers will continue to work from their homes for at least part of the week. Lower paid urban service workers will face unemployment and need to find new jobs. The gulf between Wall Street and Main Street will widen. “The challenge for democratic governments will be to adapt to all these changes while maintaining popular consent for their policies and for free markets.”
Let me discuss the three key areas where The Economist expects long-lasting changes: globalization, digitization and inequality.
References
" How Covid Is Reordering the Global Economy" | Irving Wladawsky-Berger | Dec. 26, 2020 at https://blog.irvingwb.com/blog/2020/12/how-covid-is-reordering-the-global-economy.html
“The pandemic has caused the world’s economies to diverge” | The Economist | Oct. 8, 2020 at https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/10/08/the-pandemic-has-caused-the-worlds-economies-to-diverge
