Globalization is the economic integration of trade, production and finance on a world scale. Principally demonstrated by an increasing trade-intensity of production, an increasing share of foreign direct investment in production, and an increasing share of portfolio investment in production, globalization is strongest in the production of manufactured goods that are increasingly assembled in the global factories that serve as the coordinates of international supply network. However, the slowdown in globalization that has happened since 2008 begs the question: is globalization inevitable? And if it is not, is it uniformly good?

Part 4 of this Episode critically evaluates globalization and finds the propositions of some of its proponents less than convincing even as it contributes to global human inequality.