Edited sentence: Contrary to "race to the bottom advocates" nations lowering trade barriers and abandoning or reducing the restrictive regulatory framework have experienced job growth, GDP growth, increases in income equality, increase in GDP per capita, a higher standard of living, lower infant mortality rates, higher literacy rates, greater income equality between genders, lower poverty rates, lower unemployment, shorter lasting periods of poverty for the states most poor, cheaper prices on goods and services, and higher quality goods and services.Far from a race to the bottom lowering trade barriers and regulatory restrictions appears to be a “Stairway to Heaven.“  See, "In Defense of Global Capitalism" by Johan Norberg