Globalization Backlash? The Influence of Global Governance in Trade and Immigration

Please do not cite or quote without the permission of the authors. Abstract: The recent economic crisis accentuated a globalization backlash bringing anti-globalization sentiments to the surface. The spectre of the crisis lingers on with low growth and high unemployment across the OECD countries. Tensions there have been building for years, partly due to the distributional consequences of globalization and the ways these are perceived. However, global governance architecture of trade resisted these impulses whereas policies where the primacy of national institutions prevails such as migration policy were affected. In migration, international coordination is absent and this partly explains the differing responses to trade and migration. In some circumstances, policy-making has been myopic and while doing little to protect jobs and native workers, threatens the future competitiveness of economies by ceding ground in the contest for the best and the brightest. This paper investigates the crisis policy developments in the context of strong multilateral institutions in trade, but not in immigration