In the December 2001 edition of Prospect magazine John Lloyd argues that global protestors attack the only institutions - the IMF, World Bank and WTO - which can be the foundations of a fairer world order. But concedes that the protestors have at least galvanised reformist western politicians to produce a more coherent response to the legitimate grievances of the developing world.
Why is there global inequality,.
and is it getting worse?.
Pro globalisation.
There is mounting evidence that inequalities in global income and poverty are decreasing and that globalisation has contributed to this turnaround. For example, the World Bank notes that China's opening to world trade has brought it growth in income from $1460 a head in 1980 to $4120 by 1999. In 1980, American's earned 12.5 times as much as the Chinese, per capita. By 1999, they were only earning 7.4 times as much. The gap between rich and poor is also shrinking with most nations in Asia and Latin America. The countries that are getting poorer are those that are not open to world trade, notably many nations in Africa. (Care is required when statistics are used. See the note on statistics at the bottom of this page.) .
Poor countries that have lowered their tariff barriers have gained increases in employment and national income because labour and capital shifts from import-competing industries to expanding, newly competitive export industries. In addition to providing jobs, companies moving to developing countries often export higher wages and working conditions compared with those in domestic companies operating in the country. While wages are often lower in developing countries than those in developed countries they reflect lower levels of education and productivity. The experience in countries like Korea is that as countries develop their wage levels rise and the focus shifts from labour intensive to more capital and knowledge intensive industries.
