World Bank Prescribes Globalization and Localization for Poverty

The next century will see the continuing growth in the number of the poor all over the world, and 1.5 billion people will have to subsist on 1 dollar a day in 2000, says a World Bank report quoted by AP. While there were 1.2 billion people in this category two years ago, about two billion will find themselves below the dollar-a-day line in 2015. Leading WB economist Joseph Stieglitz said that, in spite of certain progress in the elimination of poverty in some areas, particularly, in East Asia, indicators on the former Soviet Union have worsened. According to him, half the population of Russia and Ukraine today live below the poverty line, although this indicator did not exceed 2% in the early 1990s. So Mr. Stieglitz came to a disturbing conclusion: “We are losing the battle: poverty is on the rise.” The economist believes the trend toward growing poverty can be reversed by efforts toward globalization and localization. He cautions at the same time that globalization resembles a gigantic wave that can either drown countries or carry them on its crest. On the other hand, localization creates conditions when a local group in society, sort of a boat crew, is free to act self-sufficiently, having an incentive to work together.