Economic Growth, Health, and Education
NEW STUDY CASTS DOUBT ON BENEFITS OF GLOBALIZATION
In a study entitled "The Scorecard on Globalization 1980-2000: Twenty Years of Diminished Progress," economists Mark Weisbrot and Dean Baker, co-directors of the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), find that the era of globalization has brought substantially less progress than was achieved in the previous twenty years. "The data provide no evidence that the policies associated with globalization have improved outcomes for developing countries," the study concludes.
This analysis of data for a forty-year period challenges economists and policy makers who cite globalization as an engine of growth while pressing for policies that strengthen the trend. The study also serves as a backdrop to the upcoming release of the United Nations Development Program's Human Development Report on July 11.
Using standard measures of economic growth, health outcomes, education and literacy, the CEPR study compares the progress achieved during the period preceding globalization 1960-80, with the period from 1980 to 2000, which was characterized by the reduction of tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade, the removal of restrictions on international investment flows, and increasing intervention by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank on a wide range of economic and policy issues.
The authors observe that while this evidence does not prove that the policies associated with globalization were responsible for the deterioration in economic performance, "it does present a very strong prima facie case that some structural and policy changes implemented during the last two decades are at least partly responsible for these declines."
Requests for copies of the study should be directed to Mark Weisbrot at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, (202) 423-6762; 293-5380 ext. 228.
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