Poor and Globalization A Panoramic View

In 2012, approximately 1.22 billion people were living in poverty across the globe and are currently faced with dire living conditions. They are faced with numerous inhibiting factors to sustain their livelihood, and have extremely limited opportunities for reprieve. Because of this high number of poverty stricken people, a debate has developed over the causes of poverty and what can be done to alleviate it. A large part of this debate is the role that globalization plays in helping or hurting the world?s poor. Is globalization truly a tool to help raise the poor out of their destitute state, or is it merely a way for the rich of developing countries to become richer at the expense of the poor?The aim of this research is to identify a relationship between globalization and poverty. We examine the share of national income held by the poorest 20% of the populations of developing countries from the year 1999 to 2010. The KOF Globalization Index is used to analyze the specific effects of various forms of globalization over this time period. The analysis conducted herein will serve to expand the current literature by examining specific aspects of globalization individually, as well as globalization in general, using more recent data.