Economic globalization is creating a world marketplace that provides greater opportunities for many, but it is also increasing risks, reports the British newspaper The Guardian. The interdependence of nations in the emerging world economy makes it possible for an apparently isolated event—such as the devaluation of the Thai baht in 1997—to spark financial panic worldwide. “Thirty years ago,” notes The Guardian, “the gap between the richest fifth of the world’s people and the poorest stood at 30 to 1. By 1990 it had widened to 60 to 1 and today it stands at 74 to 1. . . . Among the biggest beneficiaries of globalisation are criminals, who can now exploit worldwide markets for drugs, arms and prostitutes.”