Thus integration into the global economy does not
guarantee productivity-enhancing structural change.
The effects of globalization on growth and poverty
are diverse and context-specific, and the forces of
globalization are inherently neither beneficial nor
deleterious for development prospects. Rather, the
difference in the ability of structural transformation
to sustain growth as well as the different speeds of
progress in poverty reduction can be explained by
countries’ internal patterns of economic growth and
the forms of integration they follow.
A comparative
analysis of globalization across the three developing
regions of Asia, Central, East, Southern and West
Africa and Latin America (Nissanke and Thorbecke,
2010) shows that globalization has worked best
for the poor through the growth channel when
globalization-induced growth generates more stable
employment opportunities at a steady pace for the
growing population and labour force.