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This paper examines causal relationships between economic globalization, the three indices for product diversification of exports (Theil index, intensive margin and extensive margin) and economic growth in the unbalanced panel data framework in 139 countries over the period 1970-2010. We also consider the subgroup of the countries related to the income levels and run the panel Granger non-causality tests for heterogeneous panels. The empirical results indicate that there is a bidirectional causal relationship between economic globalization and economic growth. There is also a significant causal relationship that runs from all three indices for the diversification of exports to economic growth. After implementing various robustness checks, we observe that diversification of exports and economic globalization are positively related with economic growth merely in the upper middle economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scope of the paper is limited by focusing on developing countries in the context of the world economy. We mostly consider the effects of globalization on income levels and a country's rate of economic growth. This focus is supported by studies (Ravallion; Bourguignon) that find that the level of income and expenditures across a continuum of household income categories is positively associated with economic growth, although wealthy households may benefit more than those with lower income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the business cycle co-movement across countries and regions since 1950 as a measure for quantifying the economic interdependence in the ongoing globalisation process. Our methodological approach is based on analysis of a correlation matrix and the networks it contains. Such an approach summarises the interaction and interdependence of all elements, and it represents a more accurate measure of the global interdependence involved in an economic system. Our results show (1) the dynamics of interdependence has been driven more by synchronisation in regional growth patterns than by the synchronisation of the world economy, and (2) world crisis periods dramatically increase the global co-movement in the world economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical research has generally attributed the dismal performance of Africa's economic growth to country-specific socio-economic and geo-political factors. This paper shows that while country-specific issues matter for Africa's economic growth, common global economic factors do matter as well. The importance of common global economic factors has been augmented by increased globalization, the introduction of the World Trade Organization and the current global economic crisis. Using system GMM panel data techniques that extend previous literature on Africa's growth, the estimation results provide new insights into the positive relationship between the world business cycle and the growth rates of African countries. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question that drives this paper is: When can we expect firm upgrading by developing-country suppliers in global value chains will lead to improvements in labour conditions? To deal with this question we, (a) position firm upgrading in the global value chain approach, (b) investigate existing evidence and conceptualisations on how economic globalisation impacts on labour, and (c) develop some hypotheses on when we can expect firm upgrading and improvements in labour conditions to go together. We conclude that firm upgrading in developing-country suppliers in global value chains as a rule does not lead to improvements in labour conditions. Instead, the much broader and more forceful process of immiserising growth makes it very unlikely that workers in such relatively low-skilled production activities will enjoy improvements in labour conditions. Ethical sourcing may lead to improvements in labour conditions of core workers in final product manufacturers and key supplier firms, but it is as yet unclear to what extent such a business model can and will be disseminated. More generally, even though economic globalisation does selectively create new jobs, even labour conditions of core workers may be under pressure while the overall proportion of core workers appears to be declining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Brazilian National Development Bank ( BNDES) saw dramatic increases in its financial resources for lending after 2005. This article explains how the bank has been 'internationalized' alongside this growth in total resources, beginning with export finance and expanding to supporting foreign direct investments and other international economic activities. At the same time, legal and structural factors restrict BNDES' international activities in ways that are often poorly understood, but that keep many of the bank's resources inside Brazil or tightly linked to Brazilian firms. After a general explanation of these factors, this paper examines empirical claims about BNDES' lending to its South American neighbors, concluding that it is considerably more limited than both the bank's critics and champions contend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asia is an increasingly significant player in the global economy, and Asia's unprecedented growth and multifaceted disparities have generated many fascinating issues for scholarly research. This paper summarizes the diverse regional policy and practices of Asia in the context of globalization and transition. We argue that research on Asia is embedded in the complex economic-geographical processes and multiple trajectories of development. This paper highlights the important role of institutions and global-local interactions in regional development and public policy. Resumen. Asia es un actor cada vez más importante en la economía mundial y su crecimiento sin precedentes y las múltiples facetas de sus disparidades han generado un buen número de tópicos fascinantes para la investigación académica. Este artículo resume las diversas políticas y prácticas regionales de Asia en el contexto de la globalización y la transición. Sostenemos que la investigación sobre Asia está inmersa en los complejos procesos económico-geográficos y múltiples líneas de desarrollo. El artículo pone de relieve el importante papel de las instituciones y las interacciones globales-locales en materia de desarrollo regional y políticas públicas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a long tradition in the development literature that what a country exports matters for its growth prospects. Recent work has refocused on this issue by attempting to produce numerical scores for different types of product to identify the complexity or sophistication of a country's export basket. Based on the insight that the type of product an economy exports can have important implications for its economic performance and that goods exported predominantly by rich countries will have different characteristics from those exported by poor countries, Lall et al. (2006) put forward a means of classifying commodities based on the income levels of a product's main exporters. At around the same time, Hausmann et al. (2006), following a similar approach, put forward a slightly different form of product classification and Rodrik (2006) applied this specifically to an analysis of China. This paper highlights the difference between the approaches and its implications for the analysis of China, which appears less 'special' using the approach of Lall et al. It argues that the classification of products at a disaggregate level is a helpful starting point for assessing issues of trade competitiveness and that further work using either or both forms of classification is justified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study empirically focuses on examining the hypotheses of export premium (exporters are more productive than non-exporters), selection-into-exporting (more productive firms are ones that tend to become exporters) and learning-by-exporting (new export market entrants have higher productivity growth than non-exporters in the post-entry period). The propensity score matching method is used to adjust for observable differences of firm characteristics between exporters and non-exporters, allowing an adequate 'like-for-like' comparison. We also use the difference-in-difference matching estimator to capture the magnitude of different productivity growth between matched new export market entrants and non-exporters in the post-entry period up to two years. Drawing on 2,340 Chinese firms in the period 2000-02, we find evidence for export premium and self-selection, and once the firm has entered the export market there is additional productivity growth from the learning effect, in particular in the second year after entry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tremendous changes in technology, political and social frameworks, as well as the impacts of globalization, have put pressure on countries to become competitive. One strategy for creating an engine of economic growth is the creation of clusters. These clusters, be they naturally or artificially conceived, hold the promise of becoming the economic weapons of a country. Many studies have been done to understand the factors behind the successes and failures of clusters. One of the reasons behind the inconsistent success of existing cluster policy frameworks in managing cluster performance is the fact that clusters often are at different levels of development, and it will require different strategies to create, enhance, and sustain their competitive advantage. This paper aims to propose and demonstrate a more holistic framework designed to understand key cluster dynamics that drives cluster performance, which then will enable policy makers to work toward ensuring sustainable cluster development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of globalisation's most visible dimensions, foreign direct investment (FDI) is central to the prospects for developing countries in the world economy. Key issues include the direction of causation between FDI and growth, the potential role of the new information and communication technologies in attracting FDI flows (as well as the role of FDI in building such infrastructure), the process of skill acquisition associated with FDI, and the specific problems that Africa faces in attracting more FDI. Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals requires very fast growth in output and employment if global poverty is to be halved, and FDI could play a very positive role if its development benefits are maximised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the various aspects of globalization. Issues related to the macroeconomic effects of globalization are likely to continue for sometime. While the empirical evidence falls short of confirming the hypotheses of globalization proponents, opponents of globalization will continue developing counter-arguments such as that the assumed gains of economic globalization critically depend on the trends in the performance of multinational companies.

This introductory article provides an overview of the Development Studies Association's 2003 annual conference, the theme of which was Globalization and Development. A brief summary of the articles that have been based on three plenary addresses follows the overview, together with outlines of the contents of the seven other articles included in this special issue of the Journal of International Development. Opposing views about the role of globalization in international development, particularly as it relates to developing countries, are then summarized within in a broad historical context. Some of the published evidence concerning the economic impact of globalization is then presented, continuing the adversarial standpoints of opposing ‘camps’. The introduction is concluded with some discussion about future prospects for a ‘globalized’ world. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial competitiveness (IC), reflecting a country's ability to produce and export manufactures competitively, is closely associated with economic growth. How does globalization affect IC? While the topic is of great importance, empirical studies on the issue in the literature have been limited. This article attempts to close the gap by estimating the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) and international trade with cross-country data in 1985 and 1998. Taking advantage of a recently constructed IC index, we estimate several regression models of effects of FDI and trade on industrial performance. Results suggest that FDI and trade have a positive impact on IC, and increasing integration with the world economy through FDI and trade contributes to better industrial performance. ( JEL F02, F10, F21, L60) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bilateral Trade Agreements (BTAs) have been proliferating. Why are they so popular? What are their impacts on multilateralism and the world trade system? The article identifies the general and specific factors driving the growth in BTAs, and examines how BTAs in general and different types of BTAs are affecting the world trade system. Although the sheer number of BTAs is fragmenting the world trade system, the impact of individual BTAs often depends on their underlying motivation. The article also portrays scenarios for the future landscape of world trade and possible responses. Is the consolidation of BTAs into region-wide agreements a solution or simply a new problem? How can we multilateralise bilateralism and repair the world trade system? The article attempts to answer these questions, with or without Doha. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing globalization of the world economy, there has been a growing interest in the potential contributions of good governance to accelerating the rate of economic and social development in the developing countries, and enhance their smooth integration into the emerging global economy. Simultaneously, developed economies are experiencing an increasing proportion in the contribution of knowledge, information, and telecommunication sectors to their overall gross domestic product. This is placing increased focus on the role and contribution of national information infrastructure to economic productivity, and in extension, to the economic and social development of nations. In this article, the authors explore the link between information and communication technologies (ICTs), governance, and social economic development in the developing countries. They empirically conclude that contributions of ICTs to social–economic development are influenced by sociopolitical governance—leading to national development through more prudent and egalitarian application and use of the ICTs' portfolio. The contingent role of governance on ICTs and national development paves the path towards recognizing the importance of sociopolitical moderators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the debate about whether globalization was new or not. The article focuses on the debate about whether globalization was new or not. Since most scholars have taken global change for granted, but a significant and influential number continue to question the arrival of a new global era. Various economists contend that globalization has yet to rear its head. Limiting their analysis to economic matters, they contend that what one is seeing is not so much globalization as the continuation of an "internationalized economy". The world is in the midst of greater "internationalization", and that has continued from the previous century. These writers go on to elaborate models of a "globalized" versus an "internationalized" economy, and purport that global criteria have not been met. Among other things they claim that if "economic globalization" did exist it would not be dominated by a single nation-state; in fact the world is led by an American superpower. Just as the feudal and industrial eras are best seen as totalities, so too should globalization. Epochal change is a complex bundle of economic, technological, political, social, and cultural forces.

In an Economic Viewpoint published in the September 2005 edition of Economic Affairs , ‘Can Globalisation Depress Living Standards in the West?’, Professor E. J. Mishan argued that globalisation may reduce living standards in the West by decreasing the labour–capital ratio in developed countries as firms move production to countries where labour is cheaper and/or migrants to the West from the developing world bid down wage rates. In a reply to Professor Mishan's article, Dr John Meadowcroft argues that this view of globalisation is far too pessimistic and explains why free trade, not protection, will secure the prosperity of developed and developing economies. In a final comment, Professor Mishan responds to this critique of his analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]