What hasn’t changed?

    FP‘s September/October cover story argues provocatively that what’s remarkable five years after the attacks of September 11 is how little the world has changed. Globalization, trade, the movement of goods and people have not come to a screeching halt. In fact, in many cases, economic and social forces that we expected to suffer ...

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607153_Dobson25.jpg

 

 

 

FP‘s September/October cover story argues provocatively that what’s remarkable five years after the attacks of September 11 is how little the world has changed. Globalization, trade, the movement of goods and people have not come to a screeching halt. In fact, in many cases, economic and social forces that we expected to suffer have actually grown.

  • Just 40 market days after 9/11, the Dow Jones closed above its September 10 mark.
  • Global trade in 2001 amounted to $8 trillion. Last year, it was $12 trillion.
  • In 2001, 688 million tourists traveled internationally. Last year, more than 800 million did.
  • Fourteen buildings taller than the World Trade Center have either been built, proposed, or began construction since 9/11.
  • Last year, the U.S. rejected fewer foreigners for H1B visas – the work permit for those who possess a special occupational expertise in, say, medicine, engineering, or science – than it did in 2001.

And then there are some indicators that perhaps aren’t so surprising given the dawn of the war on terror:

  • Growth in America’s budgeted defense spending between 2001 and 2006: 39 percent.
  • In 2001, the Pentagon was spending the same as the next 14 biggest militaries combined. By 2005, it was outspending the next 14 by $116 billion.

Carolyn O'Hara is a senior editor at Foreign Policy.

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