Globalization has been an enormous driver of growth in emerging countries, including in the two largest countries in the world. It has thus reduced overall world inequality. It has lifted millions, indeed hundreds of millions, out of poverty. At the same time, inequalities within countries have increased. This is most obvious in a number of emerging economies.
But in advanced economies too, the benefits of globalisation have not been equally distributed. Growth has been more subdued than in emerging economies; the income of the median household in many countries has stagnated over the past decades; the middle classes’ perception of the future has worsened. While this fact is more or less universally true, the causes and effects differ somewhat across countries.