Winners and Losers

The globalization era brought dramatic poverty reduction. China alone lifted 800 million people out of extreme poverty, and middle classes expanded across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. For hundreds of millions of families, daily life improved in ways earlier generations never saw.

But working-class communities in developed nations often suffered deeply. Factory closings devastated towns across America's heartland and Britain's north. The promise that trade's winners would compensate its losers was largely unfulfilled, fueling resentment and populist politics.