ABSTRACT
Globalization in world commodity and factor markets has evolved in fits and starts since Columbus and de Gama sailed from Europe more than 500 years ago. This chapter begins with a survey of this history in order to place contemporary events in better perspective. It then asks whether globalization raised world inequality. This question can be split into two more: What happened to income gaps between nations? What happened to income gaps within nations? This chapter stresses on the second two questions, the reason being that answers to these have more relevance for policy and for the ability of a globally integrated world to survive. Indeed, at various points in the chapter, I ask whether global backlash in the past was driven by complaints of the losers. Finally, this chapter also stresses the contribution of world migration to poverty eradication.
