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In this review, we address three principal questions that have dominated the debate over the distributive effects of globalization. First, how has globalization affected inequality among countries? Second, how has globalization affected inequality within countries? Third, how has globalization affected the ability of national governments to redistribute wealth & risk within countries? We conclude that despite the proliferation of research on the consequences of globalization, there is no solid consensus in the relevant literature on any of these questions, largely because scholars disagree about how to measure globalization & about how to draw causal inferences about its effects. We also suggest possible foci for future research. 4 Tables, 6 Figures, 81 References. Adapted from the source document.

Well over a trillion dollars worth of state-owned firms have been privatized by governments all around the world since 1980. Economists argue that privatization increases efficiency by placing decisions in the hands of markets rather than public officials. The IMF is sufficiently enamored of privatization that it has included for more than a decade stipulations about the sale of state-owned assets as condition for the receipt of its loans. The evidence that privatization directly increases efficiency, however, is not nearly so clear as most economists would have us believe.