Dr. Denise Dimon (Director of the Ahlers Center for International Business and Professor of Economics at the School of Business Administration, University of San Diego) was selected as Women of the Year 2001 by the Women in International Trade (WIT), San Diego Chapter in recognition of her valuable contributions to the International Trade arena. This was the first time the WIT has given such an award which will now become an annual event.

Dr. Dimon spoke on "Globalization" and how it greatly enhances the opportunities available to those who have the skills and mobility to flourish in world markets. However, she mentioned that much of the world has felt disenfranchised from the benefits of the global system. The demonstrations at the G-8 meetings in Genoa this summer clearly demonstrated this and to some extent the terrible assault on New York and Washington was done to attack the capitalist system. The market system can help poor countries to escape poverty, as China is proposing. However, the eight largest industrialized countries (represented by the G-8 who met in Genoa) account for 68% of the world's production yet have only 14% of the world's population. So many countries, to date, have not felt the benefits of globalization. However, it may not be that globalization itself is the cause, but the fact that globalization has not reached many regions of the world.

Two dangers emerge: (1) potential political backlash against trade and globalization; and (2) new set of class divisions - between those who prosper in the globalized economy and those who do not; between those who share its values and those who would rather not; and between those who can diversify away its risks and those who cannot. This is not a pleasing prospect even for individuals benefiting from globalization as the deepening of social divisions harms us all.

We must make sure that we continue to remain open to the world and help those who may be hurt from the volatility of the global marketplace - those in our own backyard and those across the globe. A challenge for the 21st century is to engineer a new balance between the market and society - on that will continue to unleash the creative energies of private entrepreneurship without eroding the social bases of cooperation.

Dr. Dimon expresses her thanks for everything to Women in International Trade.

Denise Dimon, Ph.D. Director Ahlers Center for International Business and Professor of Economics University of San Diego 5998 Alcalá Park San Diego, CA 92110 tel: 619-260-4836 fax: 619-260-4891 http://business.SanDiego.edu/ib