Outside the Box - by Marc Levinson

About the Book

The author offers a brief history of globalization through the stories of the people and companies that built global supply chains. The two spheres - the private sector and government - did not go global in tandem, and many developments in one sphere were far more impactful in the other than imagined at the time. The book narrates the development of global supply chains in response to trends in both, telling stories ranging from a Prussian-born trader in New Jersey in the 1760s who dreamed of building a vertically-integrated metals empire, to new megaships too big to call on most of the world's ports leaving half empty, as globalization entered a new stage in its history around 2006. Bringing the story up to the early 2020s, the author illustrates how we're not experiencing the end of globalization, only its transformation. As one type of globalization is declining, a new one is on the rise. --

Book Synopsis

From the acclaimed author of The Box, a new history of globalization that shows us how to navigate its future

Globalization has profoundly shaped the world we live in, yet its rise was neither inevitable nor planned. It is also one of the most contentious issues of our time. While it may have made goods less expensive, it has also sent massive flows of money across borders and shaken the global balance of power. Outside the Box offers a fresh and lively history of globalization, showing how it has evolved over two centuries in response to changes in demographics, technology, and consumer tastes.

Marc Levinson, the acclaimed author of The Box, tells the story of globalization through the people who eliminated barriers and pursued new ways of doing business. He shows how the nature of globalization changed dramatically in the 1980s with the creation of long-distance value chains. This new type of economic relationship shifted manufacturing to Asia, destroying millions of jobs and devastating industrial centers in North America, Europe, and Japan. Levinson describes how improvements in transportation, communications, and computing made international value chains possible, but how globalization was taken too far because of large government subsidies and the systematic misjudgment of risk by businesses. As companies began to account properly for the risks of globalization, cross-border investment fell sharply and foreign trade lagged long before Donald Trump became president and the coronavirus disrupted business around the world.

In Outside the Box, Levinson explains that globalization is entering a new era in which moving stuff will matter much less than moving services, information, and ideas.

Review Quotes

"Outside the Box is an intriguing synergy of social-sciences analysis, a useful aide memoire, a captivating read. Marc Levinson synthesizes well and writes smoothly, with a light touch of irony--very smart non-fiction."---Linda Quest, International Social Science Review

"[The] exploration of trade's future is particularly thought-provoking. . . . One lesson of Mr. Levinson's absorbing, centuries-long survey is that evolving global systems are always vulnerable to unexpected events."---Matthew Rees, Wall Street Journal

"A valuable and stimulating contribution to the literature which can be profitably (and enjoyably) read by economist and non-economist alike."---Ian Harwood, Society of Professional Economists

"Levinson provides a captivating account of globalisation by interlinking historical events that we know a great deal about with more obscure ones. Globalisation is not over - just different. I, for one, am glad it is ongoing as it will allow Levinson to produce a follow-up book."---Alex Gray, Financial World

"Marc Levinson's Outside the Box is a timely and fascinating discussion of globalization."---Andreas Grein, Journal of Economic Literature

"Ostensibly a history of international trade through three distinct 'globalizations, ' Outside the Box is most useful as a chronicle of how the pre-2008 model of complex, globe-spanning, just-in-time manufacturing has been exposed as fragile, inefficient, and opaque."---Mike Jakeman, strategy+business

"Smart and exceptionally well-timed."---Justin Fox, Bloomberg

"This book is an interesting addition to the reading list of professionals and policymakers, which will help them think outside the box to integrate globalization and resilience for a sustainable global supply chain that is essential during this uncertain and challenging times. Nevertheless, this book can also serve as an idea-generating platform for academic readers in the field of globalization and international trade."---Satya Sahoo, Journal of Maritime Affairs

"Winner of the Gold Medal in International Business / Globalization, Axiom Business Book Awards"

About the Author

Marc Levinson is the author of several books, including The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger (Princeton) and The Great A&P and the Struggle for Small Business in America. He was formerly finance and economics editor at The Economist and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He lives in Washington, DC.