Ebola!

Since we met in class Tuesday, news outlets have confirmed the first case of Ebola in the United States.  Upon hearing this on NPR this morning, I couldn't help but think about how this relates to International Political Economy and Globalization.  In our globalized world, diseases flow as easily between countries as labor and capital.  We live in a world where West Africa can send us its diseases just as easily as we can send aid dollars or mission workers the other way.  This event also relates back to our discussion of volatility in Hong Kong and the effects of uncertainty on the market, as American and European airline companies saw a marked drop in share prices after reports that the infected individual traveled from Liberia to Texas on major commercial airliners.  While their is little chance that anyone on these flights will experience any medical issues (Ebola is only contracted through contact with the infected person's "bodily fluids"), the fear and uncertainty created by the event was enough to discourage investors in the short run.  It is stories like this one that reinforce the idea of how closely intertwined global society is today and how minuscule events across the globe can have a profound influence on the global economy.