international trade
This PDF is a selection from a published volume from the
National Bureau of Economic Research
Volume Title: Globalization and Poverty
Volume Author/Editor: Ann Harrison, editor
Volume Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Volume ISBN: 0-226-31794-3
Volume URL: http://www.nber.org/books/harr06-1
Conference Date: September 10-12, 2004
Publication Date: March 2007
Title: Globalization and Poverty: An Introduction
Author: Ann Harrison
URL: http://www.nber.org/chapters/c10713
Globalization and Poverty
An Introduction
Ann Harrison
1
Overview
More than one billion people live in extreme poverty, which is defined by the World Bank as subsisting on less than one dollar a day.1 In 2001, fully half of the developing world lived on less than two dollars a day. Yet poverty rates are much lower today than twenty years ago. In the last two decades, the percentage of the developing world living in extreme poverty has been cut in half.
While poverty rates were falling, developing countries became increasingly integrated into the world trading system. Poor countries have slashed protective tariffs and increased their participation in world trade. If we use the share of exports in gross domestic product (GDP) as a measure of globalization, then developing countries are now more globalized than high-income countries.2
Does globalization reduce poverty? Will ongoing efforts to eliminate protection and increase world trade improve the lives of the world’s poor?
There is surprisingly little evidence on this question.3 The comprehensive
Ann Harrison is a professor of agricultural and resource economics at the University of
California, Berkeley, and a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
I would like to thank Pranab Bardhan, Ethan Ligon, Margaret McMillan, Branko Milanovic, Guido Porto, Emma Aisbett, Don Davis, Alix Zwane, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments and suggestions.
1. The poverty estimates in this
National Bureau of Economic Research
Volume Title: Globalization and Poverty
Volume Author/Editor: Ann Harrison, editor
Volume Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Volume ISBN: 0-226-31794-3
Volume URL: http://www.nber.org/books/harr06-1
Conference Date: September 10-12, 2004
Publication Date: March 2007
Title: Globalization and Poverty: An Introduction
Author: Ann Harrison
URL: http://www.nber.org/chapters/c10713
Globalization and Poverty
An Introduction
Ann Harrison
1
Overview
More than one billion people live in extreme poverty, which is defined by the World Bank as subsisting on less than one dollar a day.1 In 2001, fully half of the developing world lived on less than two dollars a day. Yet poverty rates are much lower today than twenty years ago. In the last two decades, the percentage of the developing world living in extreme poverty has been cut in half.
While poverty rates were falling, developing countries became increasingly integrated into the world trading system. Poor countries have slashed protective tariffs and increased their participation in world trade. If we use the share of exports in gross domestic product (GDP) as a measure of globalization, then developing countries are now more globalized than high-income countries.2
Does globalization reduce poverty? Will ongoing efforts to eliminate protection and increase world trade improve the lives of the world’s poor?
There is surprisingly little evidence on this question.3 The comprehensive
Ann Harrison is a professor of agricultural and resource economics at the University of
California, Berkeley, and a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
I would like to thank Pranab Bardhan, Ethan Ligon, Margaret McMillan, Branko Milanovic, Guido Porto, Emma Aisbett, Don Davis, Alix Zwane, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments and suggestions.
1. The poverty estimates in this
References: Agénor, Pierre-Richard. 2004. Does globalization hurt the poor? International Economics and Economic Policy 1 (1): 21–51. Aisbett, Emma, Ann Harrison, and Alix Zwane. 2005. Globalization and poverty: What is the evidence? Paper presented at a conference in honor of Jagdish Bhagwati’s 70th birthday Bardhan, Pranab. 2000. Social justice in a global economy. Geneva: International Labour Organization ———. 2003. International economic integration and the poor. In Global governance: An architecture for the world economy, ed. H. Siebert, 49–61. Berlin: Springer. ———. 2004. The impact of globalization on the poor. In Brookings trade forum 2004, ed Besley, Timothy, and Robin Burgess. 2003. Halving global poverty. Journal of Economic Perspectives 17 (3): 3–22. Bhagwati, Jagdish. 2004. In defense of globalization. New York: Oxford University Press. Bhagwati, Jagdish, and T. N. Srinivasan. 2002. Trade and poverty in the poor countries. AEA Papers and Proceedings 92 (2): 180–83. Chen, Shaohua, and Martin Ravallion. 2000. How did the world’s poorest fare in the 1990s? World Bank Development Research Group Working Paper no. Deaton, Angus. 2001. Counting the world’s poor: Problems and possible solutions. ———. 2003. Measuring poverty in a growing world (or measuring growth in a poor world) Dollar, David. 2001. Globalization, inequality and poverty since 1980. Background paper Dollar, David, and Aart Kraay. 2001. Trade, growth and poverty. World Bank Development Research Group Working Paper no. 2615. Washington, DC: World Bank. ———. 2002. Spreading the wealth. Foreign Affairs 81 (1): 120–33. Goldberg, Pinelopi, and Nina Pavcnik. 2004. Trade, inequality, and poverty: What do we know? Evidence from recent trade liberalization episodes in developing Harrison, Ann, and Gordon Hanson. 1999. Who gains from trade reform? Some remaining puzzles Harrison, Ann, and Jason Scorse. 2004. Moving up or moving out? Anti-sweatshop activists and labor market outcomes Harrison, Ann, and Helena Tang. 2005. Trade liberalization: Why so much controversy? In Economic growth in the 1990s: Learning from a decade of reform, ed. Hertel, Thomas W., and L. Alan Winters, eds. 2005. Poverty and the WTO: Impacts of the Doha development agenda Kanbur, Ravi. 2001. Economic policy, distribution and poverty: The nature of the disagreements Krueger, Ann. 1983. Trade and employment in developing countries. Vol. 3, Synthesis and conclusions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Lee, Ha Yan, Luca Antonio Ricci, and Roberto Rigobon. 2004. Once again, is openness good for growth? NBER Working Paper no Panagariya, A. 2002. Trade liberalization and food security: Conceptual links. In Trade reforms and food security, 25–42 ———. 2004. Opponent’s comments on “Subsidies and trade barriers” by Kym Anderson Ravallion, Martin. 2004a. Competing concepts of inequality in the globalization debate ———. 2004b. Looking beyond averages in the trade and poverty debate. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper no Rodriguez, Francisco, and Dani Rodrik. 2000. Trade policy and economic growth: A skeptic’s guide to the cross-national evidence Valdes, A., and A. F. McCalla. 1999. Issues, interests and options of developing countries Winters, Alan L., Neil McCulloch, and Andrew McKay. 2004. Trade liberalization and poverty: The evidence so far