Globalization : Perak's rise, relative decline, and regeneration

"The Introduction describes how the waves of economic globalization-the driver of Perak's long-term rise, relative decline, and its subsequent regeneration-began to influence the outcomes of the state when global trade networks deepened in the first half of the 19th century. Three advances propelled the first wave of globalization, greatly benefiting the rise of tin-rich Perak. First, a steam-engine transport revolution. Second, the British-led industrial revolution spawned burgeoning demand for raw materials, and colonial expansion into territories distant from Britain with major trading ports or with rich natural resource endowments. Third, the move to free trade. Between the First and Second World Wars, global trade volume fell and the world 'de-globalized'. The wars made shipping risky and sharply increased costs. Industrialized economies embarked on tariff increases, and the Great Depression encouraged trade protectionism globally. After World War II countries began to reduce tariffs and international trade started to revive in globalization second wave. The exponential growth of containerisation made shipping cheaper and more predictable. The seamless sharing of knowledge and ideas across borders enabled by the internet allowed firms to shift manufacturing to countries with lower labour and tax costs. Although globalization raised GDP worldwide, it led to the 'Great Divergence' between industrialized economies and the rest: the industrialized world took a larger share of global wealth than exporters of primary products. The benefits of globalization have also been unevenly distributed within national borders. Areas where economic activity has remained largely focused on the export of primary commodities have tended to lag."