Facts and Myths in the Globalization Debate: How Our National Policies are often Misguided and How the United States Can Continue to Keep Its Global Edge

Few topics provoke more heated debate than globalization. Globalization is considered essential for companies that want to survive in today's economy, but it is also blamed for job losses and the economic decline of the United States. Executives say they hire from abroad because of deficiencies in the U.S. workforce and skills shortages, while worker advocacy groups say it is all about cheap labor.

Wadhwa will discuss how the contentious public debates on globalization and outsourcing commonly use data that isn't grounded in reality. He will show why globalization and outsourcing are the new reality and how this trend will continue to build even more momentum. Finally, Wadhwa will provide concrete advice and ideas on how the United States can regain its edge in the global economy by understanding the new reality and focusing on its strengths such as entrepreneurship and innovation. By effectively harnessing its highly educated and skilled workforce, and balancing immigrant intellectual capital, the United States can continue to be the winner rather than the victim of globalization.

Vivek Wadhwa, currently a visiting scholar at UC-Berkeley, is a senior research associate with the Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School and an executive in residence/adjunct professor at the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University. He helps students prepare for the real world, lectures in class and leads groundbreaking research projects. He advises several start-up companies, writes a column for BusinessWeek.com and contributes to several international publications. Since joining Duke in 2005, he has researched globalization, its impact on the engineering profession and the sources of the United States' competitive advantage. Mr. Wadhwa holds an MBA from New York University and a BA in Computing Studies from the Canberra University in Australia.