This is essentially what happened in the last few decades, when China ceased to be isolated and became deeply integrated into the world economy. When the country joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, its population of 1.28 billion was larger than that of the 34 advanced countries that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (1.16 billion).
But that was a one-time adjustment, and wages are rising rapidly in China, as it moves beyond low-income manufacturing to more sophisticated products. India, the only other country with a comparable population, is already well integrated into the world economy. As globalization continues, it must be a more gradual process.
9. There is only one Mexico
For years, American workers have also competed with low-income Mexicans following the enactment of the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994. As in China, the new dynamic has improved the long-term economic prospects for the United States, but in the short run it was bad for many American workers.
But it was also a unique fit. Even before President Trump, the trade deals under negotiation, for the most part, were no longer focused on facilitating imports from countries with low labor. The main objective was to improve trade rules for American companies that do business in other rich countries.
10. The offshoring revolution is almost over
In the past, if you were an American company that needed to operate a customer service call center or do some labor-intensive information technology work, you had no choice but to hire a bunch of Americans to do that. The emergence of cheap, instant global telecommunications has changed that, allowing you to work wherever costs are lower.
In the first decade of the 2000s, American companies did just that on a large scale, finding work in countries like India and the Philippines. It is a slightly different version of the previous analogy involving the farm; a customer service operator in Kansas was suddenly competing for a job with millions of low-income Indians.
But it is not as if the Internet could be invented a second time.
Feeling a theme here? In the early years of the 21st century, a combination of globalization and technological advances put American workers in competition with billions of workers worldwide.