"The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger" Discussion

"For workers, of course, this has all been a mixed blessing. As consumers, they enjoy infinitely more choices thanks to the global trade the container has stimulated. By one careful study, the United States imported four times as many varieties of goods in 2002 as in 1972, generating a consumer benefit--not counted in official statistics--equal to nearly 3 percent of the entire economy. The competition that came with increased trade has diffused new products with remarkable speed and has held down prices so that average households can partake. The ready availability of inexpensive imported consumer goods has boosted living standards around the world.²

As wage earners, on the other hand, workers have every reason to be ambivalent. In the decades after World War II, wartime devastation created vast demand while low levels of international trade kept competitive forces under control. In this exceptional environment, workers and trade unions in North America, Western Europe, and Japan were able to negotiate nearly continuous improvements in wages and benefits, while government programs provided ever stronger safety nets. The workweek grew shorter, disability pay was made more generous, and retirement at sixty or sixty-two became the norm. The container helped bring an end to that unprecedented advance. Low shipping costs helped make capital even more mobile, increasing the bargaining power of employers against their far less mobile workers. In this highly integrated world economy, the pay of workers in Shenzhen sets limits on wages in South Carolina, and when the French government ordered a shorter workweek with no cut in pay, it discovered that nearly frictionless, nearly costless shipping made it easy for manufacturers to avoid the higher cost by moving abroad."

This section was by far the most interesting largely impart to its economic implications. A great debate among economists is whether or not productivity or employment should be the priority and the case of the container is the epitome of this debate. Consumers benefited from having more goods available at a cheaper price. This occurred because it was easier for foreign goods to be shipped abroad. The average worker, however, lost power in debating wages due to the greater competition. It was interesting to see how a simple container can have such a mixed impact on the world economy. 

The author saw the development of the shipping container as a contribute to globalization because it allowed more goods to be shipped around the world faster and cheaper. Although it is not a direct form of transporting goods, it does make the shipping easier. As more goods traveled around the country, the global economy became more competitive and companies were able to expand their markets worldwide. 

Consumers will benefit from this globalization because prices become cheaper and a larger variety of goods is made available for purchase. Business owners also benefit because they can expand their markets and produce and transport goods at a cheaper price. Being confined to a single location once prevented trade, but containers contributed to increased trade around the world.