Globalization, Poverty, and Inequality since 1980
One of the most contentious issues of globalization is the effect of global economic integration on inequality and poverty. This article documents five trends in the modern era of globalization, starting around 1980. The first trend is that growth...
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Language: | English en_US |
Published: |
Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank
2013
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Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/01/17591342/globalization-poverty-inequality-1980br-globalization-poverty-inequality-1980 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/16430 |
Summary: | One of the most contentious issues of
globalization is the effect of global economic integration
on inequality and poverty. This article documents five
trends in the modern era of globalization, starting around
1980. The first trend is that growth rates in poor economies
have accelerated and are higher than growth rates in rich
countries for the first time in modern history. Developing
countries per capita incomes grew more than 3.5 percent a
year in the 1990s. Second, the number of extremely poor
people in the world has declined significantly. The share of
people in developing economies living on less than dollar 1
a day has been cut in half since 1981, though the decline in
the share living on less than dollar 2 per day was much less
dramatic. Third, global inequality has declined modestly,
reversing a 200-year trend toward higher inequality. Fourth,
within-country inequality in general is not growing, though
it has risen in several populous countries (China, India,
and the United States). Fifth, wage inequality is rising
worldwide. This may seem to contradict the fourth trend, but
it does not because there is no simple link between wage
inequality and household income inequality. Furthermore, the
trends toward faster growth and poverty reduction are
strongest in developing economies that have integrated with
the global economy most rapidly, which supports the view
that integration has been a positive force for improving the
lives of people in developing areas |
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