Quick questions on Globalisation and the international economy explained: HSC Economics Topic 1

Globalisation is the process of increasing economic integration between countries through the flow of goods and services, capital (financial and physical), labour, technology and ideas across national borders.

Gross world product is the sum of all final goods and services produced by national economies. It is around $115 trillion in 2025 (IMF World Economic Outlook). World real GDP growth has averaged around 3.0 to 3.5 percent per year over the last decade, with major slowdowns during the 2008 GFC and the 2020 COVID-19 recession.

Cross-border financial flows include foreign direct investment (FDI), portfolio investment (shares, bonds) and short-term capital. Global FDI flows total around $1.5 trillion per year (UNCTAD), of which roughly two-thirds is intermediated by transnational corporations.

The international business cycle is the synchronised pattern of economic expansions and recessions across countries. Synchronisation has tightened since the 1990s due to:

Replace "trade has grown a lot" with "world trade's share of gross world product peaked near 61% in 2008 (illustrative ExamExplained/World Bank-style series)". Gross world product (around $115 trillion, 2025, IMF), the TNC/GVC 80% figure, and the China poverty-reduction figure (800 million, 1981-2019, World Bank) are the highest-value figures to keep current.

A top-band "analyse the impact of globalisation" answer states plainly where growth and development outcomes diverge (e.g. rising GDP with widening within-country inequality), rather than treating them as the same thing.

DESCRIBE first (direction, the anchor figures, any turning point), then EXPLAIN with the drivers of globalisation, then say what it implies (e.g. a plateau after 2008 signals slower - not reversed - integration).