Globalization has brought indisputable good to the world. Only a doctrine-obsessed Marxist would deny that. Since the modern advent of more free trade and economic liberalization between market, over 1 billion people have moved out of poverty.

But with the recent economic downturn and the costs that the world’s developed and emerging markets will pay in tighter belts, may public opinion swing against more Globalization and toward deglobalization? That’s the question this article in The Economist sets out to answer.

It details how support for freer trade and the like have slipped in recent years. In America, for instance, the belief that free trade is beneficial to American society has gone from 78% in 2002 to 59% in 2007. Since then it has slipped into the minority
opinion as “[a] CNN poll in July 2008 showed that, for the first time, a small majority of Americans saw trade as a threat, not an opportunity.”

And a poll conducted by the Davos-based World Economic Forum found that “62% of respondents in 20 countries” trust companies less and that public opinion is strongly behind state regulation.

Free market institutions and support for them may be even more tenuous in the current climate in the developing world than in the rich world.

Does all this mean that we will see a period of deglobalization? The article doesn’t draw any strong conclusions, and it’s too early to tell. But current polling does suggest that it will be too easy for protectionist-minded politicians to play on public concerns. Nothing would more worsen an economic crisis than protectionism, but that might be enacted anyhow by shortsighted politicians.

Economic advisors though may do a lot to ameliorate any harmful legislations and the world economic is so interconnected that even the most vulgar leftist would have a mean effort ahead of him. Globalization will probably become less of a buzzword this world, but it will still be with you after the crisis has passed.