During the last two decades, bilateral and multilateral donors' policy advice to developing countries has been centred on greater market openness and better integration into the global economy - a process that characterises globalization. This advice is of growing concern to many analysts as it subscribes to the problematic notion that as long as inequality is not increasing, economic progress through growth will reduce poverty.
This book provides a systematic analysis of the impact of globalization on poverty, paying particular attention to empirical evidence to try to establish...

'This study provides a balanced and serious evaluation of the trade and development challenges facing Central America in the next decade, especially those associated with DR-CAFTA. And there is a sobering and timely message within these pages. DR-CAFTA offers great opportunity, but it is no magic potion. Capitalizing on the opportunities andd mitigating the costs depends critically on the success by the Central Americans in developing an effective domestic agenda and handling the ensuing economic and social restructuring. The study provides useful guidance toward this objective, including how...

Trade liberalization can create economic opportunities for poor people. But are these opportunities available to men and women equally? Do the gender disparities in access to education, health, credit, and other resources limit the gains from trade and the potential benefits to poor women? This volume introduces the gender dimension into empirical analyses of the links between trade and poverty, which can improve policy making. The collection of chapters in this book is close to an ideal macro-micro evaluation technique that explicitly assesses the importance of gender in determining the...

Trade liberalization can create economic opportunities for poor people. But are these opportunities available to men and women equally? Do the gender disparities in access to education, health, credit, and other resources limit the gains from trade and the potential benefits to poor women? This volume introduces the gender dimension into empirical analyses of the links between trade and poverty, which can improve policy making. The collection of chapters in this book is close to an ideal macro-micro evaluation technique that explicitly assesses the importance of gender in determining the...

The World Bank has recently defined two strategic goals: ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity. Shared prosperity is measured as income growth among the bottom 40 percent of the income distribution in the population. The two goals should be achieved in a way that is sustainable from economic, social, and environmental perspectives. Shared Prosperity: Paving the Way in Europe and Central Asia focuses on the second goal and proposes a framework that integrates both macroeconomic and microeconomic elements. The macro variables, particularly changes in relative prices, affect...

This study documents the effects of the 2008-09 global financial crisis on poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). In doing so, it describes and decomposes the effects of the crisis on poverty using data from comparable household budget surveys for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay, and labor force surveys for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay. The study also provides macro-micro modeling of crisis and no-crisis scenarios for Mexico and Brazil, as well as...