on globalization

My tailor made suit just arrived. For half the price of what it costs in London, I got it from a Hong Kong based tailor, in something like 6 weeks. They came for a weekend to a hotel close to school, took the measurements of all those interested, and now here we are with our bespoke suits. I have tried it and it really fits (it's the first tailor made suit that I ever buy). And I guess if I want further ones, I just have to email the tailor, since now he has my measures....

This makes me think again of how globalization and technology has changed the way business is made in so many things. The tailor had to fly in from HK, but beforehand we already had been assigned slots to be measured thanks to some website. We could check the status of the order online, and then track the package as it was travelling from the other side of the world.

Already in the 19th century people used China as a source of cheap fabrics (I think I read it already in some Gold Rush novels, that they used Chinese in China and in San Francisco as tailors). What has changed, however, is the lead times and the amounts of information available. The more information, the easier it is for such a transaction to take place.

Many people question the efficiencies of free markets. Carlos Salinas, former President of Mexico, was here to talk about the effects of the NAFTA agreement on his home country, which has been growing at slow paces since opening up its economy. Free markets are not the only solution for Mexico. Reforms, deregulation and change (in education, in entrepreneurship, in people's mentality) are as well necessary to be competitive in today's world. If 66% of university students in Spain want to be public servants, the Government should recognize there is a problem with mentality....

This is something my tailor (which is not rich) understood....