One of our comment threads discussed this essay by Kyle Markley that makes the economic case for globalization.

All significant economic change creates a disaffected group of people, people whose economic situation is threatened by economic change. Such people bear the cost of adjusting themselves to the new realities of doing business. These people see that they have something to lose, and naturally have a desire to preserve the existing order of things.

…A person who advocates free economic competition domestically must advocate free economic competition internationally, or be a hypocrite. A person who advocates protectionism in international affairs must for the same reasons advocate protectionism domestically, or be a hypocrite.

…In my judgment, American labor will see a net shift away from computer-related fields into all others (where there will now be a relative underproduction) but particularly into the biomedical fields.

One of the Internet entrepreneurs that I interviewed three years ago for my book was in the process of studying bioinformatics. Like Markley, he saw the wind blowing in that direction and wanted to catch the trend. Even though he was a computer programmer and not a biologist, he felt that he could adapt. He said, “It’s just code, right?”

For Discussion. In the past, economic progress has created more winners than losers in the United States. Are there factors that could make things different today?