The Effect Of Globalization On National Income Inequality

Research Question of the Article: Does globalization adversely affect national income inequality? Especially the poor of the developing nation?

Main Arguments and Theories: Bussmann, Oneal & de Soysa (2005) analyze the effect of ‘globalization’ on ‘national income inequality’ with a case study of seventy-two countries for the years 1970-90. The paper focuses on the accumulation of foreign direct investment stocks and their subsequent impact. The research finding did not show any evidence of globalization adversely affecting income inequality at the national level; neither does Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) have an adverse effect on the income inequality level of developing nations. However, the ratio of FDI to GDP is unrelated to the Gini index in the eight statistical tests. The statistical tests and regression analysis involving OLS techniques with pooled time series data suggest that the lower one-fifth (poorest) population’s income is uncorrelated with FDI, although the economic importance of FDI for low- and middle-income is often discussed as part of the globalization debate. Additionally, research findings also suggest that the greater inequality associated with trade-based measures of openness is also not related. Moreover, MNCs and International commerce have no relationship with increasing marginalization of the lowest twenty-percent income group. Investigating the effects of multinational corporations in the research study suggests that there is limited support for the Kuznets curve. Additionally, income inequality is curvilineal related in cross-national estimations and not in individual time series, vis-à-vis average real income. Lastly, socialist states with relatively equal distribution of wealth have to do so at the expense of economic growth.

The data on foreign investment and inequality assists in the assessment of the political, economic, and social indicators stating the well-being of the nation and the population’s standard of living. The research findings suggest that globalization is not a contributing factor to increasing inequality levels in terms of national income. For example, the ratio of FDI to GDP does not relate to the distribution of incomes in developed and developing regions of the world. Additionally, the poorest one-fifth of the society does not receive the effect of FDI, and neither do the alternative measures for openness of the economy, which are associated with higher income inequality. Alternative measures include Sachs and Warner’s (1995) measure of free trading policies and trade-to-GDP ratio. However, FDI has the potential to increase the incomes of people below the poverty line in developing countries when the FDI increases average incomes without adversely affecting the income distribution in the country. Similar results for trade are also evident from the statistical analysis of the research paper.

Closing Thoughts: The research highlights the existing literature indicating the promotion of globalization as a contributing factor towards growth in average incomes of people living in developing countries; although, people living below the poverty line in those countries can have adverse effects if not appropriately integrated. However, the authors conclude with future research opportunities exploring alternative economic strategies that benefit the poor, such as increasing the absolute income of the poor with an increase in the respective share of national income. On the other hand, the strategy of increasing the national economic growth rate also benefits the poor with its unique consequences. The paper also concludes with a categorical statement mentioning the lack of justification for the claim that global economic integration adversely affects the poor. Interestingly, globalization has managed to reduce income inequality at the international level. Lastly, dual economies have high inequality, and the relative labour productive in the sector of agriculture has an unequal association.

Discussion Question: Does globalization adversely affect the people living below the poverty line and positively affect the population earning average income level? Is it just to say that globalization mostly damages the poor in real terms?

Works Cited

Bussmann, Margit, John Oneal, and Indra de Soysa. “The effect of globalization on national income inequality.” Comparative Sociology 4.3-4 (2005): 285-312.