"As noted above, this evidence does not prove that the policies associated with globalization were responsible for the deterioration in performance. But it does present a very strong prima facie case that some structural and policy changes implemented during the last two decades are at least partly responsible for these declines...

...For most of the low and middle-income countries, the link between policy and outcome remains to be shown. But in any case, there is certainly no evidence in this data that the policies associated with globalization have improved outcomes for developing countries. To argue that this is the case, proponents of these policies would need to show that outcomes would have been even worse in the era of globalization, if developing countries had not adopted these policies.

If the basic facts presented in this paper were well known, discussions of globalization and international economic policy would look very different than the ones we see today. At the very least, the burden of proof would be squarely placed on those who claim success -- by any available measure of human well-being -- for the last two decades of the experiment in globalization. By contrast, in most of the discussions now held, it is assumed that this experiment has largely succeeded, and those who challenge this assumption must bear a high, often insurmountable burden of proof.

So they acknowledge that this isn't proof, but they argue that the numbers offered pass the counter-factual ball to the other side of the debating table.

The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom - William Blake