The robust global growth is reducing the number of people living in extreme poverty. And, for the first time in decades, the average incomes of developing and developed countries are converging. Forces of globalization have intensified competition and fostered rapid improvements in productivity; these factors have exerted downward pressure on prices.
Financial globalization, in turn, has  BIS Review 58/2007  1  contributed to a broad-based decline in risk premia on various markets and asset classes, which has enabled much greater access to financing for households, firms and countries around the globe. On the whole, despite many structural changes brought about by globalization, the economic environment has become more stable and seemingly more predictable.