Globalisation On Australia

What has been the impact of globalisation on Australia? What are the future implications of globalisation on Australia?

Globalisation is not a new thing but has been around for the last 500 years. Globalisation has had quite a positive impact on Australia. Globalisation has brought Australia Growth and has increased domestic efficiency. Australia has been involved in the revolution of globalisation and it has affected Australia in many ways. Its main impact was on International convergence, economic Growth, development and quality of life, trade, investment and Transnational corporations, distribution of income, environment, financial markets, international business cycle and implications for government economic policies.

Globalisation has enabled Australian markets to be open to foreigners. As a result of this, international convergence has increased as other countries will rely on Australia to provide goods to be traded with another nation. International convergence is the tendency of economic systems to become similar in different ways. There is an increased significance of international trade and the trade dependency is increased. By Australia opening domestic markets to international investors, has increased trade between Australia and other nations. Many economies are converging in economic performance as a result of this. During 1997/98, the Asian Financial Crisis occurred in Asia but affected the Australian economy. This was because of the international convergence that had taken place linking Australian strongly to that of Asia’s. If one major economy in the world does badly, the global economy is affected. This was shown on September 11 2001. Because the terrorist attacks affected America so greatly, any economy linked to America (almost all economy) in respect to trade, agreements or some other way, were affected.

High income and newly industrialised countries have had the most advantage of globalisation by gaining large, faster amounts of economic growth and an increased trade and investment flows. Some areas have not gained as much out of globalisation and have been pushed into the global economy particularly developing and poor nations. The Quality of life in Australia has dramatically increased as the domestic market has been opened to foreign investors. By decreasing protection on domestic markets, local firms have become more efficient and because of this, standards of living have improved. With technological changes in transportation and communications are helping globalisation trends around the world. The main change in transport has been the falling costs and time of delivery over long distances. Improved transportation also permits increased contact with foreigners through tourism and increased awareness of cultures around the world including new idea and innovations. These innovations can help the economy become more efficient. Australia has experienced large amounts of growth in the IT industry due to the revolution of the sector in the last 10 years. This has resulted in a more rapid and sustainable growth rate at about 2-3 % per annum. Since 1992/93, Australia has experienced 9 years of growth above 2.5%. During 1999, telecommunications sector increased their output greatly as internet data transmission was getting faster, cheaper and more accessible to people. As a result of this, the manufacturing industry recorded real output of 1.9% of GDP. In a recent OECD publication, Australia was rated highly against 17 OECD nations for its involvement in the communications and IT sector. It was ranked; 3rd highest in ECT expenditure (as a % of GDP), 6th highest in personal computer access, 8th highest in internet hosts per 1000 people, and 3rd best internet access costs. Internet shopping has increased by 66% from 1999 to 2000 where over 1.3 million Australians purchased goods or services over the internet. As more technology is being used, the efficiency of firms will increase because cost of production will reduce. The main impact that computers and communications technology has had is an easier access to information in foreign markets, improved access to overseas FOP such as call centres and technical support ( because they are cheaper) and increased access to foreign media and cultures. It is evident that Australia has experienced growth even in the last 10 years where it was averaged out to be 4.2% of GDP.

Globalisation has impacted on trade and investment in Australia. Since the 1980’s, Australia’s trade policies have been used to keep domestic markets open to the global markets. The level of world trade has grown twice as fast as the growth of global world product. The Structural change in Australia has been to move the private sector to more competition from both domestic and international markets. Since the 1950’s, Australia has experienced high levels of protection in the CFT and motor vehicle sectors. Even though protection would reduce employment, during the 1970’s and 1980’s, during periods of heavy protection unemployment rates raised and were not efficient to compete with international markets. Ever since the late 1960’s, effective rates of protection have been on the decline. As protection decreased, imports increased and so have exports due increased efficiency in the domestic markets. The value of export and imports has risen 16% between 1975 and 2000 showing the impact that its had on the Australian economy. Globalisation has also change the structure of trade in Australia. There has been quite a significant amount of growth in the manufacturing and services industry where growth of 12.5 % in annual exports was recorded between 1986 to 1996. This change shows a change in the worlds demand and domestic structural reforms. Transnational corporations have played an important role in trade and investment flows.

Transnational corporations have had quite a significant impact on the world economy. They have changed global tastes and trends and are vital for the progress of an economy. Companies such as BHP and Ford have entered and shaped the international market.

It is argued that globalisation has brought greater inequality. It has widened the gap between the rich and poor nations. The process of globalisation has placed pressure on economies to keep their labour markets competitive and to keep wages low so they are able to attract foreign investment. Globalisation has caused corporations to become more competitive. For them to do this, try and minimise cost of production by outsourcing to countries where labour is much cheaper. This by some people sees transnationals corporations exploiting developing nations. On the other hand, people argue that people of that nation are being