Steenbergen, Jacques --- "Competition and Trade Policy and the Challenge of Globalisation" [2011] ELECD 767; in Govaere, Inge; Quick, Reinhard; Bronckers, Marco (eds), "Trade and Competition Law in the EU and Beyond" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Trade and Competition Law in the EU and Beyond

Editor(s): Govaere, Inge; Quick, Reinhard; Bronckers, Marco

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9780857935663

Section: Chapter 1

Section Title: Competition and Trade Policy and the Challenge of Globalisation

Author(s): Steenbergen, Jacques

Number of pages: 15

Extract:

1. Competition and trade policy and
the challenge of globalization
Jacques Steenbergen

1.1 GLOBALIZATION: AN UNAVOIDABLE
CHALLENGE1

The globalization of markets as we know it now as a globally interdepend-
ent economy, was a virtually unavoidable consequence of technological
developments. We learned to produce services as well as industrial and
agricultural products on a scale that does no longer correspond with the
needs of national societies. The development of production both enabled
and required the development of trade and it has resulted in a gradual shift
from autarky to interdependence on an ever larger scale.2 We grew accus-
tomed to a standard of living and a pattern of consumption that is only
sustainable if we make use of modern technology. Disposable income and
cost of consumption are not only dependent on the ability to sell goods and
services beyond the borders of our domestic markets but also on cheap
imports. Globalization may mostly be perceived as a threat to employment
by imports and dislocation, but access to markets abroad is also a condition
for preserving our standard of living and employment in all sectors that can
only justify present levels of activity by access to foreign markets.
As I concluded in the 1970s together with G. De Clercq and R. Foqué in a
study that was published in English thanks to the support of Jacques




1
Section 1.1 draws on Foqué, R. and Steenbergen, J., `Regionalism: A constitu-
tional framework for global challenges?', in M. Farrell, B. ...