Is Globalization Good for the Poor? A Reply to Pogge

In an article from 2011, Thomas Pogge asks if globalization is good for the world’s poor. Pogge answers in the negative. As important evidence for the view that the globalization period has not been good for the world’s poor, Pogge cites a dataset provided by Branko Milanović (CUNY). In this article, we do not take issue with Pogge’s definition of “globalization”, “the world’s poor” or with the veracity of the empirical data he refers to in articulating and defending his view about globalization and the world’s poor. However, Pogge’s reference to a dataset showing that there has been an economic polarization between the wealthiest and poorest people of the world, is not, we contend, something that in itself offers strong support for his view that the global institutional order is a significant cause of this economic polarization. We believe that Pogge overemphasizes the impact of supranational institutions in relation to the question of what the main drivers have been of the economic polarization in question. Our thesis is that a high population growth in the poorest regions of the world, relative to the population growth in the richest regions of the world, can help explain a non-negligible amount of the economic polarization that has occurred between 1988 and 2005.