Globalisation in remission

POLITICS has always been part of the narrative of investing, and just underneath the surface lies an ebb and flow of influences that can direct politicians and their policies. At our recent investment forum in Frankfurt, we considered some of the many factors that are keeping politics at the top of investors' minds today - like the Brexit decision in June, the US presidential election in November and Italy's upcoming referendum. As we took a closer look, we found that these events may not be part of the usual tide of relatively unrelated political occurrences; rather, they seem to be connected by a longer-running and deeper momentum.

Consider that from 1980 through to the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), the world witnessed a clear political trend towards globalisation, deregulation and closer international co-operation. This trend benefitted consumers globally as traded goods prices fell - albeit at the cost of hollowing out many domestic manufacturing industries - and it helped big multinational companies that could capit…