Global economic crisis and global development: Reflections on the emerging panorama

The task of this essay is to reflect, necessarily tentatively and speculatively, on the actual and potential implications of the global economic crisis of the late 2000s for global development. Using a conception of development which centres on poverty, inequality and vulnerability among groups of people across the world, the essay explores two key areas in which the consequences of the global crisis are clearly apparent: on the one hand, trade and production, and, on the other, global migration. The discussion emphasises the very mixed picture which is emerging, such that bald statements that the crisis is either 'good' or 'bad' for development are misleading. Rather, careful distinctions need to be drawn between different social groups in different social and territorial contexts, such as between the urban and rural poor, between formal-sector and informal-sector workers, between migrant workers and native-born workers, or between different kinds of national economies and societies.