This reminds me of a fundamental concept of New Trade Theory. This is a theory that Paul Krugman won a Nobel Prize in Economics for in 2008 (although the theory

This reminds me of a fundamental concept of New Trade Theory. This is a theory that Paul Krugman won a Nobel Prize in Economics for in 2008 (although the theory first gained attention alongside "globalization" in the early 1990s). Tyler Cowen of Marginal Revolution provides a good explanation: Consider the simplest model (based on Krugman 1979). In this model there are two countries. In each country, consumers have a preference for variety but there is a tradeoff between variety and cost, consumers want variety but since there are economies of scale – a firm’s unit costs fall as it produces more – more variety means higher prices. Preferences for variety push in the direction of more variety, economies of scale push in the direction of less. So suppose that without trade country 1 produces varieties A,B,C and country two produces varieties X,Y,Z. In every other respect the countries are identical so there are no traditional comparative advantage reasons for trade. Nevertheless, if trade is possible it is welfare enhancing. With trade the scale of production can increase which reduces costs and prices. Notice, however, that something interesting happens. The number of world varieties will decrease even as the number of varieties available to each consumer increases. That is, with trade production will concentrate in say A,B,X,Y so each consumer has increased choice even as world variety declines. Increasing variety for individuals even as world variety declines is a fundamental fact of globalization. In the context of culture, Tyler explains this very well in his book, Creative Destruction; when people in Beijing can eat at McDonald’s and people in American can eat at great Chinese restaurants the world looks increasingly similar even as each world resident experiences an increase in variety. In essence, variety within local flavors/variants decreases, but the best brands are exported globally. When applied to furniture/interior decoration this means that you can find archetypes of the popular styles everywhere but that variations within those archetypes is very limited - every coffee shop, loft, restaurant of the same overarching style feels the same. The solution for those tired of one style - pick another completely different cultural style! Read more here: http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2008/10/what-is-new-tra.html http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2008/10/wha...