Usually used to refer to the emergence in recent years of a global economy based on the principle of free trade. Trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) accelerated this process. Advocates of globalization say it ensures growing prosperity for everyone; in the U.S. it has resulted in benefits for consumers, since it enables large retailers to import goods at low prices. However, globalization also allows U.S. companies to move their operations to low-wage regions of the world, thus causing a loss of domestic jobs. Critics also point to the downside of the economic interdependence that globalization has produced: an economic crisis in one area will produce a ripple effect throughout the world, as happened as a result of the economic crisis that began in the United States in 2008. Still other experts are concerned that economic globalization gives too much power to multinational corporations, at the possible expense of human rights and democracy.