Globalization at warp speed: financial vs. physical globalization

This article discusses the fact that moving money around the world today i.e. financial globalization is much more rapid than physical globalization (ships, containers, etc.) and therefore is more subject to quick momentary impulsive disasters.

Globalization at warp speed - Washington Post
by Robert Samuelson
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/globalization-at-warp-speed/2015/08/30/152d3f0c-4d9d-11e5-84df-923b3ef1a64b_story.html

"In our mind’s eye, “globalization” evokes images of exports, container ships and supply chains. This physical globalization does not operate at warp speed. It takes time to deliver a cargo or construct a supply chain.

By contrast, financial globalization can operate at warp speed. With a few keyboard strokes, investors can dump stocks in one country and buy in another or do the same for bonds and currencies. Since the 1980s, this type of globalization has spread. Most countries have dismantled the restrictions that limited or prevented individuals and companies from moving money across borders. After World War II, these “capital controls” were widespread...

Large and unexpected events can trigger panic buying and selling around the world, as traders react to what they think other traders will do...

Cross-border money movements have grown and become more complex. These flows are too great to be bottled up; we can’t revert to widespread capital controls.
Still, globalization is quietly rewriting the economic rules in ways that suggest we may be losing control over events. We are not entirely at the whim of international markets — but we’re drifting in that direction. Not a comforting thought."