As policymakers respond to the global recession, they should remember that the unprecedented global economic growth experienced in recent decades owes much to the removal of political and economic barriers to trade and investment. During that time, a division of labor on a truly global scale has emerged, presenting opportunities for specialization, collaboration and exchange that affirm—and might even astonish—the great Adam Smith. Falling trade and investment barriers, revolutions in communications and transportation, the opening of China to the West, the collapse of communism,and the disintegration of Cold War political barriers have spawned a highly integrated global economy with vast potential to produce greater wealth and higher living standards