Lynch, Gittell to discuss globalization and N.H.

New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch will join University of New Hampshire Professor Ross Gittell to discuss “Globalization and What it Means for the New Hampshire Economy” in a forum next week at the university.

The forum, to be presented from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16, in the Squamscott Room of Holloway Commons on the UNH campus, is part of a year-long program about globalization being under way at the university.

“The well-being and future prospects of all New Hampshire citizens depend significantly on the state’s positioning in the global economy,” said Gittell.

He said the state has “done relatively well in the global economy,” with more than 2,500 New Hampshire firms exporting about $2 billion annually to over 140 countries. The state also ranks seventh among the 50 states in the share of jobs in manufacturing dependent on exports.

Gittell said globalization of the state’s economy will continue to accelerate, pushed forward by “advances in transportation and telecommunications technologies that lower the cost of trade and make it easier and faster to conduct business globally. It will continue to be pulled forward by worldwide consumer demand for products and services at the lowest cost possible and the flow of investment capital to nations that offer the greatest economic returns. In addition, the public policy and institutional, ideological, and cultural factors that accelerated globalization in the late 20th and early 21st century are all active. The net results are continued moves toward a more open and a more interdependent world economy and greater worldwide flow of goods, services, money, capital, technology, people, information, and ideas.” – JEFF FEINGOLD