Governments across the world are discovering “homeland economics”

For a while, after the end of the cold war, it looked like the world really might be becoming a little bit more like the fabled global village. Motivated by a belief in the power of markets, globalisation took off in the 1990s. Governments loosened controls on travel, investment and trade. In 2001 China acceded to the World Trade Organisation, turbocharging trade between Asia and the West. The changes brought many benefits, reducing poverty and inequality, and were accompanied by a growing political freedom worldwide (see chart).