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A Financial Times/Harris poll of rich countries has shown that significant numbers of respondents were against globalisation. More than 1,000 people were surveyed in each of six countries -- the US, Germany, UK, France, Italy and Spain.
In response to fears about globalisation and rising inequality, the public in all the rich countries surveyed want their governments to increase taxation on the rich, and caps on pay for corporate executives.
Citizens of rich countries want governments to cushion the blows they perceive have come from liberalising their economies to trade with emerging economies.
Respondents in Britain, France, the US and Spain were three times more likely to say that globalisation was having a negative effect on their countries; the number in Germany is smaller. Less than 20% in the US, France, Spain and the UK said that globalisation was positive.
Though Europeans support the principle of free competition within the European Union, in France, Germany and Spain people want their leaders to play a greater role in managing their economies.
Not more than 30% of respondents in all the European countries, and a little over 40% in the US, thought that people had equal chances of fulfilling their potential irrespective of social background, in their countries.
The view of policymakers that opening economies to free trade is beneficial to rich and poor countries alike is not shared by the citizens of rich countries.
July 24, 2007
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