The Globalisation of Poverty: Impacts of Imf and World Bank Reforms [Hardcover]

Michel Chossudovsky (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1997 | ISBN-10: 1856494012 | ISBN-13: 978-1856494014

The author of this book contends that the reality of free trade and globalization is impoverishment for growing numbers of people. What is more, the unemployment and marginalization are not confined to the Third World, but also exist in the rich countries and the former Soviet Union. This overview of macroeconomic disaster in the making explains how and why the processes are related. It shows how structures of the global economy have changed fundamentally since the early 1980s, and how the leading international financial institutions, notably the IMF and the World Bank, have forced Third World and Eastern European countries to facilitate these changes. The consequences of the new financial order, as the author's examples from all parts of the world show, is a globalization of poverty.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: Zed Books (October 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1856494012
• ISBN-13: 978-1856494014
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,230,711 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A devastating critique of neoliberalism, May 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Globalisation of Poverty: Impacts of Imf and World Bank Reforms (Paperback)

Looking at case studies from around the developing world, backed up with a strong theoretical analysis of the IMF and World Bank's role in the international economy, the globalisation of poverty brings the reader to one stark conclusion: 'Poverty is an input on the supply side, (of the global economy.)' Particularly interesting is Chossudovsky's explanation of the economic 'miracle' of Vietnam, while his analysis of the Yugoslav disaster, co-sponsored by the IMF and international financial investors, is very timely indeed. As Chossudovsky explains, the IMF and World Bank reforms have not merely suppressed populist and socialist economic measures and achievements; they have also prevented the development of national capitalisms, by creating economies directed towards the needs of the capitalist core states, rather than to the national market. For those harbouring any illusions about the economic order which governs humanity at the end of this century, this book is a necessary read. It's a pity that Chossudovsky works at the University of Ottawa and not the LSE, an institution that definitely needs realistic economists like him.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Good thoughts on the eve of the Millennium, October 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Globalisation of Poverty: Impacts of Imf and World Bank Reforms (Paperback)

These are some wonderful thougts that have stimulated my mind into asking the question "CanAfricansThink?".This book exposes the disguise of mainstream economics which leaves human society's precious values at the hands of economic lust.All Africans need to know about this big con job being operated under the disguise of macro economics.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars disappointing, May 30, 2004

By 

Atte Saarela (Helsinki Finland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Globalisation of Poverty: Impacts of Imf and World Bank Reforms (Paperback)

This book is often thought-provoking, but ultimately too shallow. Too many of its conclusions are just stated without enough justification. Although not quite as quick to read, Stiglitz' "Globalization and its discontents" goes much deeper and has a more balanced point of view.