The process of globalization has implications for human rights, though the relationship between the two is not always clear. How does globalization effect human rights in local contexts? Globalization, Poverty, and Income Inequality examines the relationships between globalization and trade liberalization, and poverty and income inequality, using Indonesia as a case study. This empirically rigorous investigation finds that although increased trade tends to reduce poverty, there are exceptions. For example, globalization via trade in certified organic coffee has not helped low-income farmers. And globalized access to treatments for visual problems has been countermanded by rising digitization that negatively affects the visually disabled poor. Ultimately, the chapters describe an ambiguous relationship between trade liberalization and inequality, both of which can increase or decrease in proportion to one another depending on region and sector. This empirically driven work provides a nuanced view of the trade-poverty relationship, contributing balanced testimony to policy debates being held internationally.

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Richard Barichello is a professor in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems at the University of British Columbia. He is a member and former chair of the International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium and has published in a wide variety of economic policy journals. Arianto A. Patunru is a fellow in the Arndt-Corden Department of Economics at Australian National University. He coordinates the ANU Indonesia Project’s policy interactions and convenes the Australia–Indonesia High Level Policy Dialogue between governments. He is a co-editor of the Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies. Richard Schwindt is an emeritus professor of economics at Simon Fraser University. Among his many publications are the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Compensation for the Taking of Resource Interests and The Existence and Exercise of Corporate Power: A Case Study of MacMillan Bloedel Limited.

Contributors: Aris Ananta, Bustanul Arifin, Evi Nurvidya Arifin, Cyril Bennouna, Teguh Dartanto, James W. Dean, Faisal Harahap, Santi Kusumaningrum, Michael Leaf, Colin McLean, Pitman B. Potter, Budy P. Resosudarmo, Nia Kurnia Sholihah, Clara Siagian, Yusuf Sofiyandi, Yessi Vadila.