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Globalisation, Income, and Welfare: Imported Goods Variety and Quality

Author

Listed:
  • Azémar, Céline
  • Desbordes, Rodolphe
  • Eberhardt, Markus

Abstract

Did globalisation benefit consumers in poor countries? Using data on trade in goods for 138 countries, we measure the welfare gains from wider variety and higher quality of imported goods over the past quarter-century. The variety gains are large, a median 19 percent fall in the cost of living, and strongly pro-poor: poorer countries gained twice as much as richer ones. Because they derive from falling trade costs, variety gains made poor countries richer in real consumption even in the absence of income growth. Quality, by contrast, tracks income, and because income barely converged, neither did quality.

Suggested Citation

  • Azémar, Céline & Desbordes, Rodolphe & Eberhardt, Markus, 2026. "Globalisation, Income, and Welfare: Imported Goods Variety and Quality," CEPR Discussion Papers 21731, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:21731
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    File URL: https://cepr.org/publications/DP21731
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • F61 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Microeconomic Impacts
    • O19 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - International Linkages to Development; Role of International Organizations
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement

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