Provides an alternative account of the forces underlying globalization. Argues that energy rents in general and the search for new sources of energy rents after the productivity slowdown in the 1980's in particular are the root cause of outsourcing and globalization. Prior to the two energy crises (1973 and 1979), energy rents were generated by massive energy deepening. Wanting to restore growth levels in their aftermath, the West turned to globalization as a means of increasing energy availability and energy rents.