'To Bless All Mankind' March 30, 2015 Issue

Post-crisis, the world reconnects its dots

The Monitor’s Editorial Board

Originally printed in The Christian Science Monitor, November 19, 2014.

One sign of humanity drawing closer is a rise in measurement of worldwide topics. We now have a global index on happiness, for example, as well as those on terrorism, carbon emissions, obesity, etc. Only a few studies, however, look at globalization itself, or the bonds that connect us across borders and that imply a universal nature to human activity.

The obvious connectors are trade, money, information, and people movements. These were all going up until the 2008 economic crisis and then either fell or leveled off. Global integration was down about 10 percent. The notion of “the world is flat” was in retreat.

Not to worry. The latest DHL Global Connectedness Index shows a rebound last year. Compiled by New York University’s Center for the Globalization of Education and Management and the IESE Business School, the index has yet to regain its pre-2008 heights. But at least a small recovery has restored faith in the upward march toward a smaller world (after all).

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