Globalization, Labor Markets and
Inequality in Asia
This project, funded by the International Development
Research Centre (IDRC) in Ottawa, and administered by the University of Toronto,
is designed to throw light on the impact of more ‘open’ economic policies in
recent decades on inequality and poverty, as permeated through the operation of
labour markets. India is the centre-piece of this research program. But two
countries of East and South-East Asian countries are also intensively studied
to throw some light on the experience of more strongly export-oriented economic
growth in the East Asian region. Thailand experienced this type of growth in
more recent years than Korea and its growth is alleged to have been less
favourable to equality than the earlier Korean growth experience. Both these
countries also were severely affected by the East Asian currency crisis, but
again the experience of the crisis and the subsequent recovery is alleged to
have been less ‘pro-poor’ in Thailand than in Korea. The contrasts between the labour market experiences
of these two cases are of interest in illuminating the factors connecting
growth and equity, and should provide useful background to the interpretation
of the recent growth process in