SOAS Research Online

Abstract

Globalization offers participating countries new opportunities for accelerating growth and development but, at the same time, it also poses challenges to, and imposes constraints on policy-makers in the management of national, regional and global economic systems. While the opportunities offered by globalization can be large, the question is often raised whether the actual distribution of gains is fair and, in particular, whether the poor benefit proportionately less from globalization and could under some circumstances actually be hurt by it. The risks and costs brought about by globalization can be significant for fragile developing economies and the world’s poor.1 The fear that the poor have been by-passed or actually hurt by globalization has been highlighted by the findings from a number of recent studies, which point towards a continuing high inequality in world income distribution and limited, if not a lack of, convergence among participating national economies and across regions as globalization has proceeded.2 There is much empirical evidence that openness contributes to more within-country inequality. China is a good example, with coastal provinces benefiting but not inland provinces.