World public opinion: pro-Globalization with protections for environment and work

Stat house
May 2007

World public opinion: pro-Globalization with protections for environment and work
Majorities around the world believe economic globalization and international trade benefit national economies, companies, and consumers, but many think trade harms the environment and threatens jobs and want to mitigate these effects with environmental and labor standards. Even in developing countries where international trade is generating rapid growth, majorities believed that minimum international standards aimed at protecting the global environment should be established and enforced. In more economically developed countries, the impact of international trade on job security was of keen interest.

Support for globalization is remarkably strong throughout the world. Seventeen countries plus the Palestinian territories were asked if “globalization, especially increasing connections of our economy with others around the world, is mostly good or mostly bad” for their country. In every case positive answers outweigh negative ones.

“These findings clearly show that publics in both the developed and developing worlds view globalization and international trade as net positive forces,” says Christopher Whitney, executive director for studies at The Chicago Council on Global Affairs. “This may strengthen the political will to further deepen trade through market liberalization.”

The highest levels of support are found in countries with export-oriented economies: China (87 percent), South Korea (86 percent) and Israel (82 percent). In the United States, 60 percent think globalization is mostly good and 35 percent call it mostly bad.

There is an even stronger consensus around trade’s positive impact on national economies. Respondents in 14 countries were asked whether trade was good or bad for their economy. In all of them, majorities reply that it is good. The highest levels of approval are in China (88 percent), Israel (88 percent), South Korea (79 percent), and Thailand (79 percent). The highest negative views, though still held by minorities, are found in the United States (42 percent), France (34 percent), Mexico (27 percent) and India (27 percent).

Majorities in nearly all of the countries polled also consider trade good for their country’s companies, consumers, and their standard of living.

But respondents around the world express concern about the effect of trade on the environment. In four countries, the idea that trade is bad for the environment is the most common view: France (66 percent bad, 29 percent good), the United States (49 percent bad, 45 percent good), Argentina (46 percent bad, 27 percent good), and Russia (44 percent bad, 25 percent good). Opinion is divided in Armenia (36 percent bad, 37 percent good,), Mexico (41 percent bad, 41 percent good), and South Korea (49 percent bad, 47 percent good).

One way to mitigate the potentially negative impact of trade on the environment is to require minimum environmental standards as part of trade agreements. Large majorities in all 10 countries asked—ranging between 60 percent and 93 percent—say that trade agreements should include “minimum standards for protection of the environment.” Those in favor include two of the world’s largest developing economies: China and India. The Chinese favor environmental protections by 85 percent to 8 percent and the Indians endorse them by 60 percent to 28 percent.

There is also concern about the effect of trade on employment, especially in more developed countries. Eighty percent of French respondents believe trade has a negative impact on job security in their country and 73 percent think it is also bad for the creation of jobs there. In the United States, 67 percent consider trade harmful for U.S. workers’ job security and 60 percent call it detrimental for job creation.

One way to allay concerns about job losses in developed countries is to require trade agreements to include minimum standards on working conditions, thus avoiding a “race to the bottom” in search of lower costs abroad. Respondents in developed countries, not surprisingly, overwhelmingly support including such labor standards in international trade agreements, including nine out of ten respondents in the United States (93 percent), Israel (91 percent), Argentina (89 percent), and Poland (88 percent).

But adding labor protections to trade agreements also receives strong support in many less developed countries that are known for low-cost labor markets. In China, 84 percent favor them as do majorities in Mexico (67 percent), India (56 percent) and the Philippines (55 percent).

This is contrary to the widespread assumption that laborers in developing countries would oppose the imposition of higher standards because they desire the competitive advantages derived from lower labor costs. It is possible that the requirement of higher standards is attractive because it generates outside pressure to improve working conditions in their countries.

“It is clear is that publics around the world support the growth of trade,” said Steven Kull, editor of WorldPublicOpinion.org. “But it is also clear that many are looking for ways to soften its disruptive impact on the environment and jobs by including environmental and labor standards in trade agreements.”

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs and WorldPublicOpinion.org, in cooperation with polling organizations around the world, conducted the survey in countries representing 56 percent of the world’s population: China, India, the United States, Indonesia, France, Russia, Thailand, Ukraine, Poland, Iran, Mexico, South Korea, the Philippines, Australia, Argentina, Peru, Israel, Armenia—and the Palestinian territories.

The following documents are available in PDF form: full report , questionnaire , overview and methodology .

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