Globalization and Poverty (National Bureau of Economic Research Conference Report)

Over the past two decades, the percentage of the world’s population living on less than a dollar a day has been cut in half. How much of that improvement is because of—or in spite of—globalization? While anti-globalization activists mount loud critiques and the media report breathlessly on globalization’s perils and promises, economists have largely remained silent, in part because of an entrenched institutional divide between those who study poverty and those who study trade and finance. Globalization and Poverty bridges that gap, bringing together experts on both international trade and poverty to provide a detailed view of the effects of globalization on the poor in developing nations, answering such questions as: Do lower import tariffs improve the lives of the poor? Has increased financial integration led to more or less poverty? How have the poor fared during various currency crises? Does food aid hurt or help the poor? Poverty, the contributors show here, has been used as a popular and convenient catchphrase by parties on both sides of the globalization debate to further their respective arguments. Globalization and Poverty provides the more nuanced understanding necessary to move that debate beyond the slogans. Globalization and poverty: an introduction / Ann Harrison Why are the critics so convinced that globalization is bad for the poor? Emma Aisbett. Comment by Xavier Sala-i-Martin Stolper-Samuelson is dead: and other crimes of both theory and data / Donald R. Davis and Prachi Mishra Globalization, poverty, and all that: factor endowment versus productivity views / William Easterly. Comment by Aart Kraay Does tariff liberalization increase wage inequality? some empirical evidence / Barnko Milanovic and Lyn Squire. Comment by Douglas A. Irwin My policies or yours: does OECD support for agriculture increase poverty in developing countries? Margaret McMillan, Alix Peterson Zwane, and Nava Ashraf. Comment by Mitali Das The effects of the Colombian trade liberalization on urban poverty / Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg and Nina Pavcnik. Comment by Chang-Tai Hsieh Trade liberalization, poverty, and inequality: evidence from Indian districts / Petia Topalova. Comment by Robin Burgess Trade protection and industry wage structure in Poland / Chor-ching Goh and Beata S. Javorcik. Comment by Irene Brambilla Globalization and complementary policies: poverty impacts in rural Zambia / Jorge F. Balat and Guido G. Porto. Comment by Matthew J. Slaughter Globalization, labor income, and poverty in Mexico / Gordon H. Hanson. Comment by Esther Duflo Financial globalization, growth, and volatility in developing countries / Eswar S. Prasad, Kenneth Rogoff, Shang-Jin Wei, and M. Ayhan Kose. Comment by Susan M. Collins Household responses to the financial crisis in Indonesia: longitudinal evidence on poverty, resources, and well-being / Duncan Thomas and Elizabeth Frankenberg Does food aid harm the poor? household evidence from Ethiopia / James Levinsohn and Margaret McMillan. Comment by Rohini Pande Risk and the evolution of inequality in China in an era of globalization / Ethan Ligon. Comment by Shang-Jin Wei Globalization and the returns to speaking English in South Africa / James Levinsohn. Comment by Raquel Fernandez 'Globalization and Poverty' brings together experts on both international trade and poverty to provide a detailed view of the effects of globalisation on the poor in developing nations.