Abstract
To what extent can increasing inequality be explained by globalization? And if there is a connection, what if anything can and should be done about it? This chapter begins with an overview of how conventional trade theory has fared in predicting changes in inequality and how it has needed to be extended and expanded when, contrary to some received wisdom, greater global integration is associated with increasing inequality in developed and developing countries.
From there, the chapter goes well beyond these concerns to take in the effects of crises on inequality, globalization and gender inequality, openness and spatial inequality, and the effect of international migration on inequality. Finally, reviews of the latest developments in the design of national and global policy to address the challenges of globalization and inequality are presented. The literature reviewed is lively and flourishing. Having animated the economic analysis and policy discourse for the past half century, the globalization-inequality nexus seems set to continue in this vein in the coming decades.Keywords
Globalization, Inequality, New trade theory and inequality, Crises and inequality, Globalization and gender, Spatial inequality, International migration and inequality, National policy, Global policy
JEL Classification Codes
D31, D33, F15, F24, F61, F63, F68, 019, 024
Handbook of Income Distribution, Volume 2B
ISSN 1574-0056, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-59429-7.00021-2
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