Project Title
Bangladesh and Globalization: Woes and Wins
Faculty Mentor(s) Name(s)
Steve Elliott-Gower
Abstract
Bangladesh is widely regarded as an “economic miracle” with spectacular economic growth lifting millions of people out of poverty over the past two decades. Using World Bank data, other primary source data and secondary scholarly sources, this paper examines the role of globalization in this success story. Specifically, the paper examines the role of public and private international financial aid in Bangladesh’s rural electrification program, which laid the foundation for domestic economic development and Bangladesh’s export-driven economic growth. The paper also compares Bengal’s colonial-era globalization, which impoverished many of the region’s people, with Bangladesh’s 21st-century globalization, which has to a significant extent broken the country’s long cycle of poverty. Bengal and modern-day Bangladesh have been shaped by and have shaped globalization in a bidirectional relationship. The findings of this paper serve as both a cautionary and inspirational tale about the failures and successes (the woes and wins) of globalization.
Bangladesh and Globalization: Woes and Wins
Bangladesh is widely regarded as an “economic miracle” with spectacular economic growth lifting millions of people out of poverty over the past two decades. Using World Bank data, other primary source data and secondary scholarly sources, this paper examines the role of globalization in this success story. Specifically, the paper examines the role of public and private international financial aid in Bangladesh’s rural electrification program, which laid the foundation for domestic economic development and Bangladesh’s export-driven economic growth. The paper also compares Bengal’s colonial-era globalization, which impoverished many of the region’s people, with Bangladesh’s 21st-century globalization, which has to a significant extent broken the country’s long cycle of poverty. Bengal and modern-day Bangladesh have been shaped by and have shaped globalization in a bidirectional relationship. The findings of this paper serve as both a cautionary and inspirational tale about the failures and successes (the woes and wins) of globalization.