The scholarship examining the extent at which trade liberalization (henceforth refers to as economic globalization) impacts poverty levels is limited. This essay examines the relationships between economic globalization and poverty levels in African countries. For instance, a 2006 UNDP report illustrates that just 7.2 percent of Bayelsa and Rivers State (Nigeria) residents were poor in 1980, but in 2004, the poverty index figures rose exponentially to 44.3 percent; Nigeria’s national rural poverty index jumped from 28.3 percent in 1980 to 48 percent in 2000. Also, the 2010 Human Development Report on Nigeria’s Multidimensional Poverty was at 43.25 percent and its population living below $1.25 a day was at 67.98 percent . The reason for this decline, the report noted, must do with the destructive impact of globalization on the local economy in Nigeria. The report avers that more than 70 percent of the residents’ income comes from the informal sector; consisting of farming, fishing, and other related income-generating activities . As Nigeria’s economy, has been fully incorporated into the international economic system, the country’s poverty indexes too seem to have been rising alongside. This seeming relationship between globalization and poverty in Nigeria may run contrary to how economic globalization has been publicized as something beneficial to all. Western institutions have touted trade liberalization as essential for the stability of advanced economies, and as a
Africa’s trade networks experienced many continuities, in their culture, and changes, in their trade economics, from 1000 C.E. to 1750 C.E.
That this was also the decade in which globalization came into full swing is more than a minor inconvenience for its advocates” (Rodrick). If globalization is supposed to present an advantage to developing countries, why have there been so many setbacks? Indeed, both sides will have its winners and losers regardless of which side of the development coin they live on, but for the most part globalization has lifted millions out of poverty, improved the standard of living, and increased life expectancy rates all while keeping developed nations relatively competitive to their developing counterparts. Globalization’s value is that it seeks to create an economic equilibrium in the world, where parties are free from barriers and can benefit from one another through a more efficient allocation of resources. This allows all participating nations to contribute to an integrated economy and where all nations willing to embrace globalization have the potential to benefit. Regardless, the path to successful integration to the global economy has not always been easy. There is contention towards globalization as some argue that it is detrimental to developed nations, while many developing countries that were forced to hastily open up their markets and integrate failed. However, if implemented properly, globalization has proven that it can benefit all parties involved and that the potential gains outweigh the losses.
The first RTA I chose to discuss is a Non-Reciprocal Trade Arrangement called Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). USTR.gov states, “In 2013, U.S. goods imports from sub-Saharan African under AGOA and the related GSP program totaled $26.8 billion, more than three times the amount in 2001, the first full-year of AGOA trade.” There are challenges for this agreement as the site later states, “Exports of U.S. poultry have been effectively excluded from the South African market for 15 years due to a range of trade barriers and other measures.” This agreement has potential to assist the African economy in numerous ways as the exports can create large revenue for Africa and can also provide employment opportunities. The difficulty lies with changing trade barriers that could begin to cause more products and materials to have higher taxes associated.
For individuals in very poor and economically unstable countries, globalization tends to do more harm than good. Through the economic, political and cultural examples stated above, globalization has not aided these countries climb out of poverty, develop an influential government or have a strong cultural identity, in fact, it has done the exact opposite. L’Huillier quotes Charles Darwin, “if the misery of our poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by out institution, great is our sin” (2017 381). The business model that globalization suggests is an unattainable utopia for those in developing countries. These traits of poverty and war have always existed yet, many of today’s countries are the way they are because of the models that are favored and paraded under globalization
One puzzle of the world economy is that… Why are some countries so much richer than other? Or to put it differently, why have some economies’ per capita income been growing at faster rates than others? Most likely, there are numerous factors that play a role. This essay is an attempt to enumerate and discuss at least some factors.
Trade networks in Africa from 1000-1750 CE changed, such as the increase of the slave trade, yet continued to have some of the same characteristics, such as the exports.
Whilst raising money for African charities at school I developed an interest in global inequality and alternative policies that can help low-income nations escape the poverty trap. Reading ’23 Things’ by Ha-Joon Chang, I was intrigued by his view on blaming free-market policies like SAPs that exposed sub-Saharan Africa to international competition, slowing economic growth. Hence, this extended my research to the other side of the
This shows that due to the international investment and trade many poor countries succeeded and their Poverty rate fell. For example in China, the poverty rate fell 68 percent between 1981 and 2004. This evidence shows that due to the globalization poor countries are improving their country and also poverty has sharply declined. This is another positive impact of
The global wealth distribution continues to be defined by a massive inequality of wealth between advanced capitalist countries and the least developed countries. The gap between the thirty richest and the thirty poorest countries, in per capital income has grown from 17:1 in 1980 to 27:1 in 2002 . Despite massive aid and trade liberalisation programmes, development strategies in poor countries have not resulted in sustainable economic development but have instead resulted in ‘massive underdevelopment and impoverishment, untold exploitation and oppressions’ . Despite the success of some newly industrialising countries, most notably China, many of the world’s poorest countries continue to be reliant on the export of raw materials and agricultural
In West and South Africa the rulers of empires took control of trade, this trade was supported by the goods of wealthy eastern city states. Trade in Africa was thriving years before the Europeans arrived.Africa participated in a system of regional and international trade; However, people were affected in both positive and negative ways.
Such ways to decrease poverty includes economic growth, which allows for more job opportunities. These job opportunities will boost the overall economy in all structures of government, which will later decrease the poverty rates within the host country. Both informal and formal job opportunities are presented in these democratic countries. It is proven that, in Latin America, informal jobs was the primary generator of jobs in the 1990s with 60 per cent of new jobs created by micro-enterprises, own-account workers and domestic services. In africa, if rural and agricultural sectors are included, the figure is closer to 90 per cent. This is a vast number because Africa is a very diverse country, so there are many different areas of work. One area of Africa is rural, while another area is industrialized and
This paper seeks to indubitably forward that the expansion of capitalism has hindered ‘the developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America’, therefore contributing to poverty: The state of being extremely poor’. Capitalism is an economic system, dependent solely on capital: the force that increases the productivity of labour, creating ‘wealth of nations.’ Adam Smith expressed capitalism’s exclusivity, driven by the ‘invisible hand’ mechanism, exclusive to developed countries and capable of causing such poverty. The British Empire, competitive pricing and globalisation reflect this. Postmodern scholar, Ricardo Hausman challenges my analysis, arguing that capitalism has not spread enough.
Today’s world is shrinking. Not literally of course, but the advances in technology make it easy to span thousands of miles of land and sea, so people can immediately communicate with each other. The internet has connected the world instantly, and planes make traveling from one side of the world to the other a piece of cake compared to the long, dangerous sea voyages of the past. People move and migrate constantly, all the while exchanging ideas and goods. Trade has always played an important role in human history. Whether the swapping of an apple for an orange, or $12 million dollars for a new dam, the fluid movement of goods and services from one to another is how humans have been able to receive things they might not have had
Globalization is the proximate and multidimensional set of political, economic, social, and technological integration around the globe. The increasing interconnectedness among countries can be seen through the prism of globalization. Essentially, the lives of people living in distant cities like Bangalore and Silicon Valley are brought closer as a result of this phenomenon. Drivers of this adjacent include; the expansion of trade, technological exchange, labor movement and investments (Stearns 2017). The discourse of globalization encompasses several multidisciplinary themes. The paper, however, concentrates on the economic factors, “which, entails the closer economic integration of countries of the world through increased flow of goods, services, capital and even labor.” (Stiglitz 2007: 4). The paper focuses on economic globalization and elucidates whether the globalization has reduced poverty and inequality or had reproduced the reversed implications. Meanwhile, the paper reveals if the developing world has benefited from the set. This seems to be the central question that policymakers, development economists, and politicians have been grappling with for years. The paper is presented in three parts. Part one reflects on the historical context of the problem statement. The second part compiles literature and juxtaposes with cases to corroborate the globalization-poverty-inequality triangle. Finally, the conclusion represents the author’s viewpoint on the
One of the most common claims made against globalization is that it increases world poverty. Often this claim is supported with a statistic showing the high rates of poverty in a given