"Against the chorus of globalisation's proponents and detractors, the authors propose an approach for measuring globalisation and its consequences. Undertaking a comprehensive review of the literature on globalisation and using data from the MGI and KOF indices, the authors build a framework for defining globalisation and analyzing the relationships among economic, political, and social variables. In particular, they apply the methodology to analyze the effects of globalisation on tax policy, government spending, economic growth, inequality, union power, and the natural environment and consider additional avenues for research, analysis, and decision making. In the process, they hope that by introducing objective measures to enhance our insight into the functioning of the complex global system."--Jacket.