The scorecard on globalization 1980-2000: twenty years of diminished progress

In order to assess the impact of globalisation on economic growth and health and other social indicators, this paper examines such indicators for all countries for which data are available, and compares the last 20 years of globalisation (1980-2000) with the previous 20 years (1960-1980).

The evidence presented in this study:

• does not prove that the broad decline in progress in the areas of economic growth, health outcomes, or other social indicators are a result of any one or more of these policy changes
• 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
• does not prove that the policies associated with globalisation have improved outcomes for most low to middle-income countries (to argue that this is the case, it would be necessary to show that outcomes would have been even worse in the era of globalisation if countries had not adopted these policies)

The authors conclude that if the basic facts presented in this paper were well known, discussions of globalisation and international economic policy would look very different than the ones we see today. At the very least, the burden of proof would be squarely placed on those who claim success -- by any available measure of human well-being -- for the last two decades of the experiment in globalisation.

[Adapted from the author]