Economic Globalization

Dubai slowed, New Delhi wobbled and Irvine inched along. Two cables carrying Internet traffic under the Mediterranean Sea were snapped Wednesday, disrupting business half a world away. The Internet's speed and resilience have fueled the globalization of many kinds of work, such as call centers, software development and data entry. But the rare Internet traffic jam or accident can wreak havoc in far-flung places. In Irvine, Anjay Bajaj's business felt the effects immediately.

IT'S Sunday dinner in the Khanna family's spotless three-bedroom condo, and the matriarch, Ritu, is happy. She munches a spicy stew of cauliflower, carrots and peas with her husband, Vivek, and their teenage son, Kanishka. She and Vivek swap memories of growing up in Kolkata and sip Chardonnay. Daylight slips away. Then so does her husband. "There it starts," she says. Vivek sits up a little straighter. His BlackBerry begins to buzz more frequently. He seems ready to spring from the table.

Down one of the narrow cobbled streets that lend Lisbon its antique flavor, a little piece of old Europe is feeling a modern pinch. Some of Portugal's most famous painters have shopped at the Casa Ferreira, a fine-arts supply store nestled for the last 80 years in a thick-walled, low-ceilinged building in the 16th century Bairro Alto quarter. Despite its pedigree, the family-owned store is going through hard times as it fights cheaper Chinese rivals that have poured into Europe in recent years.

Something is stirring in eastern Germany. The region long dismissed as a drag on Europe's largest economy is beginning to shape the country's response to the pressures of globalization. An increasingly influential group of politicians, businesspeople, economists and professionals views the east as an exemplar of flexibility in the face of turbulent change and a growing source of ideas for confronting it.

Paved roads, free public schools and pastel-painted houses covering the lush hillsides testify to the relative prosperity that swept this Caribbean island during its stint as a banana republic. But with the Jan. 1 end to an era of preferential access to the European Union, the world's biggest banana market, farmers here are turning over their fields to more viable crops and waxing nostalgic about the days when anyone with a small plot of land and a good work ethic could make a decent living.

The global economy is on a growth streak that is shaping up to be the broadest and strongest expansion in more than three decades. Rising spending and investment by consumers and businesses worldwide are boosting national economies on every continent, pushing down unemployment rates in many countries and lifting business earnings and confidence. Of 60 nations tracked by investment firm Bridgewater Associates, not one is in recession -- the first time that has been true since 1969.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke on Friday cautioned U.S. lawmakers to avoid the temptation to impose protectionist trade policies in reaction to fierce international competition. Globalization has made countries increasingly connected economically, Bernanke told a conference that explored the forces of globalization. The opportunities for companies to sell their goods to more countries can generate wealth and boost living standards, he said.