Review on Rivoli's Book Part II

The textile industry in the world went from the United Kingdom to the United States, then to Japan, to Southeast Asian countries such as South Korea and Hong Kong, and finally to China. All in all, the locations of the textile factories always move to the countries where the labors are the cheapest.  This demonstrates that given perfect mobility between countries, industries generally flow to the countries where the major inputs are abundant and cheap.

Industrialization has provided people a better living standard through higher productivity. With lower production costs and subsequently lower prices, goods are more affordable for most people. Also, jobs in the urban areas are generated. As a result, people living in the rural countrysides are able to move to the urban area, land a job and earn a living. For most of the young girls living in rural areas of China described in the book, this is one of their few opportunities to live a different life from their parents and grandparents. However, industrialization also brings in the problem of poor working and living condition, as a consequence of the race to the bottom. Many firms remain competitive in the market by urging workers to work long hour and allowing few breaks, as is demonstrated by the sweatshop stories from China, where "young women are forced to work seven days a week, 12 hours a day, earning as little as 12 to 18 cents an hour". This inhumanely severe working condition  has called general attention as to the well-being of the workers. Viewing both the positive and negative sides of industrialization, I am convinced that industrialization is beneficial to the society in general, since it improves the total productivity and thus people's living standard. Yet, it requires a stronger regulation from the government as to the labor's rights. This can be achieved by formulating stricter regulation or by providing incentives for firms.

The most informative part that I have found in Part II of Rivoli's book is The Unwitting Conspiracy, where the author argues that industrialization, while providing poor working and living conditions for the workers, has given rise to people's awareness of work safety and labor's rights. Additionally, it is industrialization that has brought the environment issues into public attention. Meanwhile, winners of the globalization, that is, wealthy people, demand a cleaner environment; this leads to efforts of protecting the environment. I found this highly interesting since labor activists and environmentalists are generally considered to be indignant protestors against production pollution. The argument that the inter-reaction between producers and protestors has provided working classes better working place reveals that no progress in human history is made by a sole force. It is always joint efforts that fuel the development of human history. Further, industrialization cannot be deemed as absolutely virtuous or vicious. This is an innovative yet more objective way to view the history of economic development, which I find highly educative and inspiring.