---
title: "Globalisation and Who It Left Out"
description: "Transport, communication and policy changes linked economies more closely in the late twentieth century. Benefits and costs differed across people and places. Judging globalisation requires evidence a"
canonical: https://lightmysky.com/learn/history/globalisation-and-who-it-left-out-mt_O008yD5Jwa
source: https://lightmysky.com/learn/history/globalisation-and-who-it-left-out-mt_O008yD5Jwa.md
retrieved: 2026-11-12
---

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# Globalisation and Who It Left Out

Transport, communication and policy changes linked economies more closely in the late twentieth century. Benefits and costs differed across people and places. Judging globalisation requires evidence about those differences and a clear view of how to weigh them.

Subject: History · Area: World History · Ages 16 to 18
Page: https://lightmysky.com/learn/history/globalisation-and-who-it-left-out-mt_O008yD5Jwa

## Ready when they can

- Explain one technological change and one policy change that helped goods or investment cross borders from the 1970s onward
- Distinguish population-weighted comparisons of country averages from inequality within countries, and explain why falling poverty does not establish falling inequality
- Present a case for and a case against globalisation, explain what evidence could change your judgment, and distinguish factual claims from values

## Lesson: Who gained from globalisation

Globalisation means growing connections across borders through trade, investment and information. International trade existed long before 1980. Firms may locate design, parts manufacture and assembly in different countries. The place of final assembly therefore does not identify every stage's location.

Standard shipping containers reduced cargo-handling time and cost. Already used before 1970, they spread further afterward. Cheaper communication helped firms coordinate distant workplaces. Some governments lowered tariffs, taxes on imports, or eased restrictions on foreign investment. Technology and policy reduced different barriers; neither made all international exchange unrestricted.

*(drawing: An imagined phone chain. The cells show stages in different countries, not a map or historical data.)*

Between-country inequality compares country averages; within-country inequality compares people's resources inside a country. Specify income or consumption and adjust for prices. Population weighting gives larger countries more influence. A poverty rate is the share below a stated threshold. A falling poverty rate does not establish smaller income gaps.

Factual claims describe what happened and can be tested, whether they prove true or false. Value judgments state priorities. 'Trade reduced river pollution' needs evidence; 'Clean rivers matter more than cheaper goods' states how to weigh outcomes.

Trade can create export jobs, lower prices and spread technology. It can also displace workers or increase pollution where safeguards are weak. Effects in two towns cannot establish the overall balance.

To test causes, compare places differently exposed to trade and check earlier conditions and other changes, such as schooling or policy. Read trade totals alongside price-adjusted incomes, poverty rates and local jobs. State your priority and what could change your judgment. If you support trade for cleaner production, reliable evidence of increased pollution would weaken that reason.

**Recap.** Globalisation connects economies. Judge its effects using household and local evidence as well as totals, check other causes, and explain how you weigh benefits and costs.

*Lesson, questions and flashcards written for this dataset.*

## Practice

8 questions on this page, each with its working shown.

## Needs first

- [Measuring Development Gaps](https://lightmysky.com/learn/geography/measuring-development-gaps-mt_bboR-ofYrR)
- [Empire and Its Costs](https://lightmysky.com/learn/history/empire-and-its-costs-mt_i3Yw06vg5I)

## Optional connections

- [The Digital Age](https://lightmysky.com/learn/history/the-digital-age-mt_9aQnMPk7y-)
- [The Non-Aligned World](https://lightmysky.com/learn/history/the-non-aligned-world-mt_aHyHeLXH20)