The Human Development in South Asia - Globalisation and Human Development (HDSA) points out that during the first phase of globalisation, incomes for about half a billion people in South Asia have declined. A paper on India shows that several public policies, which contributed to more employment and less poverty in the rural areas in the earlier decades, have been reversed in the 1990s. The economists' argument for poor human development during the first phase of globalization is based on statistics showing Government spending for rural areas is declining.