Harvard's Globe

🍃Harvard's Globe

153,000 dots. Each one is $100 million in trade. They fly around a globe showing who sells what to whom. You see which countries export bananas and which ones export jet engines.

South Korea went from bananas to jet engines. Bangladesh is trying. Most countries aren't moving at all. The dots fall like snow.

Pretty.

But the point is: you instantly see who's not doing well and who figured it out.

📚 http://globe.cid.harvard.edu/

Why IR/Politics majors need this:

You can see economic power in real time. Which countries export raw materials versus advanced machinery. Who's economically vulnerable. Who's building strategic industries.

Open any trade flow visualization. The story writes itself.

Russia before 2022: fat pipeline to Europe, mostly hydrocarbons. That concentration was their weakness. Cut one pipe, watch the economy wheeze.

China: 5,000+ export categories. Cars, chips, cranes, underwear, everything. You can't sanction that. It's like trying to boycott air.