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Conclusions to Part VGlobalization has been proposed as a panacea for economic problems, becauseit is expected to bring economic growth and wealth to all. This conclusionis based on flawed assumptions. With free international capitalflows, globalization favors absolute advantage and not comparative advantage.While globalization may bring greater economic growth, thegrowth will not benefit all countries, and the costs of growth could outweighthe benefits at the margin. Empirical evidence shows that the benefitsof growth go to the already wealthy, while the costs, in terms of lostecosystem services, are borne by all—and perhaps by future generationsmost of all. Globalization also weakens the policy levers governmentshave to address issues of scale and distribution on their own. Particularlyproblematic are unregulated flows of financial capital, often speculative innature. Such flows allow the financial sector to capture a greater share ofglobal wealth. Not only do speculative flows fail to create real physicalwealth, but they also play an important role in generating financial crisesthat actually reduce its production.While international trade and finance can be desirable, they are morelikely to be so if they take place between independent nations with theability to make their own policies, and these nations recognize that economicgrowth brings costs as well as benefits. Nations must also recognizethat markets are complex systems subject to biophysical constraints anddestabilizing positive feedback loops which lead to crisis and are exacerbatedby globalization.Realizing the potential for widespread gains from internationalization,reducing the likelihood of future crises, and addressing those crises whenthey do occur demands that we redefine our paradigm of what is biophysicallypossible and our goals concerning what is desirable. Endlessphysical growth of the economy is an impossible goal. We must redefineour goal as improving the quality of life for this and future generations.This goal requires ecological sustainability and social justice. We must redefineeconomic crisis as the presence or imminent threat of poverty, misery,and unemployment. We now turn our attention to some of the policytools independent nations could utilize to attain the goals of sustainablescale, just distribution, and efficient allocation on a finite planet.