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First appearing as oikonomia, meaning “household management” by the Greek Philosopher Aristotle, economics has come a long way. Through the ages, many passionate researchers have given economics different shapes and forms. To illustrate a few examples: Thomas Malthus with his statistics on population, the founding father of modern economics named Adam Smith, and John Maynard Keynes suggesting demand-management policies. There are many names that contributed to the evolution of what we know as economics. One name that aspires to have the same impact is that of Dr. Constantine Passaris, professor of economics at the University of New Brunswick.
After years of research, Dr. Passaris decided to re-examine an economic pillar of the 21st century: globalization. This term encompasses the reduction of trade barriers and refined economic policy. Dr. Passaris’ evaluation included modernizing this economic term to better suit the 21st century, as it has existed long before today’s technological advancements facilitating global trade. His idea: combining the concept of globalization with the relevance of the Internet Technology Revolution of the late 20th century. This revolution has transformed the world into a global village by improving the connectivity between people and places, allowing any geographical distance or person to be one click away. He wished for a term with global outreach similarly to globalization but has the benefit of displaying electronic connectivity.
In an interview with IGI Global, an academic publisher for aspiring researchers hoping to bring innovation and positive societal change, he explains his idea for a term to better describe today’s globalization as well as its significance (IGI Global, 2018). With this, he states:
A few years ago, I was preparing a lecture on globalization. In that lecture, I wanted to use the word globalization as one of the pillars of the new global economy of the 21st century. I racked my brain trying to find a modern equivalent of the word globalization. (IGI Global, 2018)
It was not until after many hours of resorting to crafting a new word that he finished with “internetization” as his new term. “Internetization has made time and geography irrelevant,” continued Dr. Passaris. "The concept has sped up communications and made daily tasks easier and more efficient," (IGI Global, 2018).
During this interview with the inspirational professor, he explains that the introduction of his new word and its concept to the academic community and the general public occupied a lot of his time in the past two years. Within that period, he has written to the Oxford Dictionary in hopes of publishing his word in the next edition, but he sadly got turned down. He also wrote several articles published in academic journals and in the media. Above all, The Conversation, a publication with primarily Canadian academic readers as well as readers from various levels of government, focuses on debating and commenting on issues affecting the world of today and features two of Dr. Passaris’ particularly worthy of special mention. These are “Internetization: A New Word for our Global Economy” published in the Canadian edition, and “Forget Globalization – Welcome to the Age of Internetization” that can be found on the World Economic Forum’s website.
Furthermore, Brunswick News increased the outreach of his promotion of internetization though their article “New Word Created by UNB Economics Professor Going Global” in January 2018 as well as his new term being selected as one of the six most important predictions to watch in 2019 by Top Rank Marketing’s Top SEO Predictions & Trends for 2019. All in all, Dr. Passaris expressed enthusiastically his notice of academics around the world using his word in publications and attributing its fame to him. “This is a positive development that the new word is developing academic integrity and currency,” he states.
Dr. Passaris recapitulates that in time, internetization will replace globalization in the setting of modern classroom teachings. His beliefs reflect that globalization is an outdated concept and that internetization is a merging of the two most crucial factors of the new global economy of the 21st century: global outreach and connectivity. In the same way that economists have evolved the economic playing field in the past, Dr. Constantine Passaris is striving to accomplish the same.
He emphasizes, “Structural change and innovations are facts of life on the economic landscape. They occur at frequent intervals. They bring with them pervasive and foundational change to the economic environment. Indeed, in the distant future, it is very likely that as a result of significant structural change and new momentous innovations the new word internetization will need to be replaced with something else that is more appropriate for that period.”
In reflection to his request to the Oxford Dictionary, Dr. Passaris believes the concept internetization will soon one day be included in the dictionary, as it has been used in an encyclopedia, academic journals, online journals, and newspapers due to its importance to the academic community. Briefly, Dr. Constantine Passaris is an innovative professor that many students had the privilege to have. His dedication and ambition to modernize economics, similarly to past economists, is an inspiration to students at the University of New Brunswick and to other academics. Ultimately, it is only a matter of time before internetization is known across several languages and is pinned as “the word of the day” on any dictionary website.
Authors
References:
Allen, T. (2018, December 12). TopRank Marketing's Top 6 SEO Predictions & Trends for 2019. Retrieved from Top Rank Marketing: https://www.toprankblog.com/2018/12/seo-predictions-trends-2019/
IGI Global. (2018, July 12). Replacing Globalization with the Internet: Interview with Dr. Constantine Passaris. Retrieved from IGI Global: https://www.igi-global.com/newsroom/archive/replacing-globalization-internet-interview-constantine/3852/
IGI Global. (2019). About IGI Global. Retrieved from IGI Global: https://www.igi-global.com/about/
Lyons, B. (2015). Canadian Microeconomics: Problems & Policies (Eleventh Edition ed.). New York, NY: Pearson Custom.
Passaris, C. (2017, December 22). Forget globalization, welcome to the age of internetization. Retrieved from World Economic Forum: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/12/forget-globalization-internetization-sums-up-our-global-economy-better/
Passaris, C. (2017, December 5). Internetization: A new word for our global economy. Retrieved from The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/internetization-a-new-word-for-our-global-economy-88013
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