Introduction to paper:

A question for reporters and editors: What do the following 10 geopolitical developments since the 1970's have in common?

1. Deregulation/privatization of specific sectors such as health care, financial services, telecommunications and other infrastructural areas in developed and developing countries.
2. The enactment of a free trade agreement in North America.
3. The institution of market-friendlier and more open policies throughout much of South America (with a few notable exceptions such as Venezuela and caveats such as the southern cone's own regional trade pact, Mercosur).
4. South Africa's opening to the rest of Africa and the rest of the world.
5. West (and parts of Central) Europe's progressive integration under the European Union's Single Market Program.
6. The collapse of communism in East Europe and the rest of the former Soviet Union.
7. China's engagement in world trade.
8. Moves toward market economies in South Asia.
9. Exploding trade and investment flows (particularly the share of them accounted for by developing countries).
10. Formation of the World Trade Organization.

Competitive forces, internal and external, have become more important in determining patterns of wealth creation and distribution. In fact, we are living through an unprecedented experiment in social reengineering-an experiment involving harnessing the power of competition through sudden, significant policy changes that we refer to as competitive shocks.

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