ABSTRACT
In this chapter I intend to scrutinize the present crisis by putting it in relation with some aspects of globalization and with the economic policies of the main countries that govern it. The liberalization of international markets has enabled some developing countries to exploit the competitive advantages of low labour costs to set off intense processes of growth and accumulate huge reserves of dollar assets. In the advanced countries it has induced a slowing down of domestic investments and labour demand, besides an increase in the immigrant labour supply, and underpinned a lengthy process of income redistribution from wages to profits.
