The claim of globalization critics that the income gap to industrial countries is bound to widen for essentially all developing countries as a consequence of economic globalization is in conflict with empirical evidence. Economic performance differs tremendously across developing countries. We discuss several factors such as capital accumulation, openness to trade and foreign indebtedness which may explain the varying experience with globalization in regard to per capita income growth and income distribution. Economic restructuring is shown to represent an important – though frequently neglected – link between globalization and country-specific performance. We conclude that national policymakers continue to have effective leverage to promote economic catching- up and poverty alleviation in the countries they govern.