Trade, Growth, and Poverty

A key issue today is the effect of globalisation on inequality and poverty. Well over half the developing world lives in globalising economies that have seen large increases in trade and significant declines in tariffs. They are catching up the rich countries while the rest of the developing world is falling farther behind. Second, we examine the effects on the poor. The increase in growth rates leads on average to proportionate increases in incomes of the poor. The evidence from individual cases and cross-country analysis supports the view that globalisation leads to faster growth and poverty reduction in poor countries. Copyright 2004 Royal Economic Society.