The world market or economy is usually judged in monetary terms - basically, taking in a broad view of the different economies of the world (the economy of Asia, or Europe, or Africa, etc). However, with globalization, more and more economies are being merged and integrated with one another and slowly, the gaps between the different economies of different parts of the world are being bridged.
With the promotion of free trade, the emerging of financial markets across the world and the growing interdependence countries have on one another, instead of thinking of the world economy as separate parts, the world economy is gradually moving towards being one consistent part that incorporates and integrates the different economies of the world.
Similarly, global businesses are businesses which expand across the globe, transcending national boundaries, and do not limit themself to or are committed to a single home country. They typically generate a large amount of the revenue from overseas ventures and investments. These businesses are encouraged by the encouragement of free trade in the world economy today and with globalization, more and more global businesses have started to emerge.
This is a diagram from the IMF showing the prediction of the world economy's growth.
This is another graph showing the world's productivity performance (also from the IMF).Economic Developments: Focus on America (overseas) & Singapore (local)
Globalization has affected economic developments in every country all over the world. However, we shall focus on America and Singapore's economic developments so far.
America
America has the world's largest and most advanced economy, with a GDP (per capita) of $43,500 and GDP growth of 3.4%. Generally, private individuals, businesses and companies make most of the decisions in the market-based economy. In the past years, the economy has been steadily growing, the american dollar slowly gaining over the euro (currency used by most of the European countries excluding countries like England). Globalization plays somewhat of a part in this economic growth and development - again, with the promotion of free trade, individuals are able to make decisions, leading to a 'lean and mean' economy where countries all compete with one another.
Simply put, the US economy is a very strong one - this could be seen when the GDP and economy didn't stop growing or expanding, even under circumstances such as the advent of Hurricane Katrina and high oil prices in 2005/06.
Singapore
Singapore's economy is known to be remarkably secure and free of corruption. It is a highly developed free-market economy with a GDP (per capita) of $30,900 and a GDP growth rate of 7.4%. The economy depends primarily on exports, usually in consumer electronics and information technology.
Especially since Singapore is a small country with no natural resources to call its own, globalization is one of the primary reasons as to why Asian economies are generally booming. With the spread of global businesses, Singapore has been opened up to economic opportunities from abroad, something that is ultimately crucial for our survival. Without input from abroad, overseas investments and deals, Singapore will be stranded on its own and ultimately be unable to survive based on its own small economy. Asia's competitiveness has been increased through globalization, just like most other countries. This has since kept Singapore's economy up and running, and the economic development of Singapore is steadily increasing. This can be seen from this diagram (click to see it in bigger form):
Resources:
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2007/01/index.htm
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2007/01/index.htm#ch1fig
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/print/us.html
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/print/sn.htmlhttp://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/magazine/2000/0218/sr.globalization.html
http://www.christiansarkar.com/2005/12/the_globalization_index_how_gl.htm
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