On of the strongest arguments for globalization and free trade, is that nations that do business together don’t go to war. The corollary of that is that  continued economic growth depends upon no major wars.  In other words,  global prosperity depends on politics. 

But can the two be separated.  Politics impacts economic growth and in many ways, as peoples of the world seek a higher or better standard of living, economics impacts politics.  We’ve created a kind of global feedback loop.  The result is that the chain of globalized growth and prosperity is only as strong as its weakest link. These ideas are part of The Road to Global Prosperity, a    new book by Johns Hopkins University Professor, Michael Mandelbaum.

My conversation with Michael Mandelbaum: