Economic Development and Globalization

By Christopher Woodruff
310
2026

Description

The effects of globalization on economic development have been both positive and negative. Globalization has paved the way for new markets, enhanced trade and investment, and fostered cross-border technology and knowledge transfers. These developments have contributed to greater economic growth, improved productivity, and job creation in numerous areas worldwide. However, globalization has also given rise to intensified competition, income disparity, and environmental damage in certain regions. The text analyses views opposed to prevailing Western economic thought. Two of these views are the dependency theory, which explains the underdevelopment of the third world in terms of the economic and political domination of the industrialized world, and neo-Marxism, which sees international class conflict as a struggle by workers and peasants in the developing world against their own political elite, who are in alliance with the elite of the developed world. Globalization is the process of international integration arising from the interchange of world views, products, ideas and other aspects of culture. The term globalization has been increasingly used since the mid1980s and especially since the mid1990s. It is currently a popular and controversial issue, though often remaining a loose and poorly defined concept. Sometimes too comprehensively, the term is used to encompass increases in trade and liberalization policies as well as reductions in transportation costs and technology transfer.

About Author

Christopher Woodruff is Professor of Development Economics at the University of Oxford. He is a leading expert on enterprises in developing countries, and a pioneer in the use of field experiments in understanding enterprise dynamics in developing countries. His recent work includes measurement of rates of return to capital investments in microenterprises, the effect of formal registration on enterprise performance, the use of business plan competitions to identify small enterprises with potential for rapid growth, and the use of temporary wage subsidies to understand the willingness of microenterprises to expand employment. His previous work examined the ability of informal contracting and private institutions such as trade associations to govern trading relations in the absence of functioning state institutions. Geographically, his research spans a broad area of the developing world - Mexico, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Ghana and Eastern Europe. In addition to his position at Oxford, Professor Woodruff is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and a Senior Fellow of the Bureau of Research on Economic Analysis and Development (BREAD), a Research Fellow at the Centre for Competitive Advantage and the Global Economy (CAGE) and the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). He is also the Scientific Coordinator for the DFID - CEPR joint research venture on Private Enterprise Development in Low Income Countries (PEDL).

Table of Content

Preface 1. GLOBALIZATION: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE..................................................................1 1.1 Economic Globalization 1.2 Noneconomic Dimensions of Globalization 1.3 Opportunities and Risks 2. NEW FORMS OF PRODUCTION AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE........................................................................14 2.1 International Trade 2.2 The New Global Production Structure 2.3 Implications for Business Decisions and Strategies 2.4 Patterns of FDI and TNC Strategies At the Global Level 3. INEQUALITIES AND ASYMMETRIES IN THE GLOBAL ORDER..........................................................................54 3.1 Inequalities in Global Income Distribution 3.2 Basic Asymmetries in the Global Order 3.3 High Capital Mobility and Low Labor Mobility 4. FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT ..........................................................80 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Global FDI Flows: Theoretical Perspectives and Taxonomy of Approaches 4.3 Some Stylised Facts on Global FDI Inflows and Outflows 4.4 Motives and Drivers of Global FDI Inflows: Review of Key Related Empirical Literature 4.5 Global FDI Incentives and Policies 4.6 Conclusion 5. GLOBAL PRODUCTION NETWORKS ...............................................103 5.1 Introduction 5.2 History and Evolution of GPNS 5.3 GPNS, Globalisation and Development 5.4 Role of Services in GPNS 5.5 Emerging Research on Production Networks 5.6 Conclusion and Policy Suggestions 6. EQUITY MARKETS .................................................................................119 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Globalisation of Emerging Equity Markets 6.3 Liberalisation, Cross-Border Capital Flows and Emerging Markets Finance 6.4 Equity Required Rates of Return and Corporation Finance in Emerging Markets 6.5 Conclusions and Recommendations 7. BOND MARKETS.....................................................................................136 7.1 Introduction 7.2 What Is Bond Finance and How Does It Matter? 7.3 A Brief Overview of the History of Bond Finance And the Development of the Research Field 7.4 How Is Bond Market Development Measured? 7.5 Emerging Areas of Research 7.6 Conclusion 8. BRAIN DRAIN, GAIN AND CIRCULATION ........................................152 8.1 Introduction 8.2 High-Skilled Migration Data 8.3 Brain Drain 8.4 Brain Gain 8.5 Brain Circulation and Networks 8.6 Conclusion 9. FOREIGN AID EFFECTIVENESS ..........................................................173 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Does Foreign Aid Promote Growth and Development? 9.3 Aid Dependency 9.4 Does Aid Delay Democratisation and Good Governance? 9.5 Aid and Dutch Disease 9.6 Conclusion 10. POVERTY AND INEQUALITY................................................................191 10.1 Introduction 10.2 Depth 10.3 Breadth and Multidimensionality 10.4 Duration 10.5 Fuzzy and Vague Approaches 10.6 Relationship Between Poverty and Inequality 10.7 Spatial Patterns of Poverty and Inequality 10.8 Conclusion 11. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RIG