Globalisation and poverty: How can global value chain research inform the policy debate?

This article reviews the link between globalisation and poverty, by drawing on evidence from global value chain studies on garments, horticulture and textiles. To date, most value chain studies concentrate on ties between global buyers and local suppliers, often ignoring labour. Revisiting the value chain model with a stronger poverty and labour focus shows how insertion into global value chains, and the dynamic processes that ensue within the chain, can have important pro-poor implications. The findings from the studies indicate significant employment and income gains to workers, especially women workers, from export manufacture. They also show how competitive challenges from within the chain, and through changes in trade rules, result in differentiated gains, with winners and losers among workers, and changing employment contracts. This raises important policy lessons for pro-poor development, in terms of developing country strategy and with respect to the impact of developed country policies and enterprise strategies.