Globalization influenced billions of people around the world and almost all aspects of their lives. According to the International Monetary Fund, the four basic features of this process are increased trade, migration of people, movements of capital, and dissemination of information and knowledge. Investigating the underlying mechanisms that brought about these changes is essential for understanding the nature and the course of globalization and its impact on different spheres of human activity.
Trade is a central component of the process, and the increase in trade between nations during the previous century ignited the formation of the globalized economy. The growing trade between nations led to the emergence of the global market. This tendency facilitated other changes in the economy that are associated with globalization. Movements of capital are driven by the difference in the cost of labor in various regions of the world, which stimulates capitalists to move production to the developing countries. This difference in conditions for workers also motivates individuals to migrate between countries in search of new opportunities and a better quality of life. The development of media and especially the growing availability of internet technologies created the fourth feature of the globalized world – the fast and efficient spread of information. This aspect of the modern, together with the growing value of knowledge, resulted in the situation when information became an important commodity that is sold and bought at the market.