Mondialisering en de mondiale welvaartskloof. Trends in inkomensverschillen in de wereld, 1950-1998

Samenvatting

Globalization and the Global Wealth Gap: Trends in World Income Inequality, 1950-1998. The article describes and tries to explain main trends in world income inequity after 1950 on the basis of data on per capita GNP corrected for price level differences as well as data on the income distribution within countries. International income inequality appears to have increased in the period 1950-1998, though not without fluctuations. The increase of inequality is stronger and more continuous when the People's Republic of China is left out, and virtually disappears when sub-Saharan Africa is left out. This is indicative of the impact of differential regional developments on world inequality. When the world is divided into eight regions, about 90% of international income inequality is explained by the differences between these regions. When within-country income inequality is taken into consideration, it appears that this contributes about 30% to global income inequality conceived as the sum of between-country (international) and within-country inequality. The last section deals with a question raised by the "anti-globalist" movement: does globalization lead to growing poverty in the world and a widening gap between rich and poor countries? On the basis of comparisons between various regions and countries, it is concluded that globalization or, more particularly, the import of foreign capital as such can have both positive and negative effects on the economic development of poor nations and the distribution of world income. The strength and stability of the national state organization is a crucial factor on which the effects of globalization depend. 7 Tables, 29 References. Adapted from the source document.