It was once thought that globalisation would integrate everything into complex and varied supply chains, thereby avoiding the need to stockpile parts and materials. It was the age of “just-in-time”, invented by Toyota. But with the pandemic and other catalysing factors, the situation has changed: we are no longer heading towards deglobalisation, a prospect that did in fact loom when cross-border flows fell significantly –more in March and April 2020 than in the Great Depression of 1929–; rather, we have for some months been heading towards re-globalisation, albeit with occasional hiccups.
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