Globalization, Free Trade, And Outsourcing: A College Students Perspective - Part III

Abstract

As globalization becomes a growing factor in the US business world, it is important to understand what college students know and think about the subject. In the beginning of 2008, a survey was undertaken among a convenient and disperse group of students.  The survey was conducted in NY and Connecticut among undergraduate and graduate students.  The survey results were presented at Thirty Fifth Northeast Business & Economic Association conference in November 2008.  Between the time that the first survey was taken and the second, there have been seismic changes in the US. Then the elected president was George W. Bush, a Republican, and today the president elect is Barak H. Obama, a Democrat.  The Republicans, in general, and President Bush, in particular, were “internationalists” and strong advocates of free trade.  The Democratic party philosophy was more domestically-oriented being anti-free trade, in general, and NAFTA, in particular. Additionally, the economic situation was perceptually better then than now.  These changes were reflected in the attitudes of the college students that were surveyed. In 2009, the survey was repeated. After a devastating economic decline worldwide with millions of jobs lost in the US, the attitudes of college students in NY were again surveyed to measure any impact on their attitudes on globalization.