Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of boxes
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- Acknowledgements
- Chapter 1 Developing countries and the concept of development
- Chapter 2 Development of the international economic order, 1450–2000
- Chapter 3 Growth and stagnation: theories and experiences
- Chapter 4 Technology and development
- Chapter 5 Population and development
- Chapter 6 Health, health care and development
- Chapter 7 Education and development
- Chapter 8 Economic development, structural transformation and primary exports
- Chapter 9 Industrial development
- Chapter 10 Agricultural development and rural development
- Chapter 11 State formation and political aspects of development
- Chapter 12 Cultural dimensions of development
- Chapter 13 The international economic and political order since 1945
- Chapter 14 Foreign aid and development
- Bibliography
- Author index
- Subject index
Chapter 2 - Development of the international economic order, 1450–2000
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of boxes
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- Acknowledgements
- Chapter 1 Developing countries and the concept of development
- Chapter 2 Development of the international economic order, 1450–2000
- Chapter 3 Growth and stagnation: theories and experiences
- Chapter 4 Technology and development
- Chapter 5 Population and development
- Chapter 6 Health, health care and development
- Chapter 7 Education and development
- Chapter 8 Economic development, structural transformation and primary exports
- Chapter 9 Industrial development
- Chapter 10 Agricultural development and rural development
- Chapter 11 State formation and political aspects of development
- Chapter 12 Cultural dimensions of development
- Chapter 13 The international economic and political order since 1945
- Chapter 14 Foreign aid and development
- Bibliography
- Author index
- Subject index
Summary
The differences in income levels, which characterise the present-day international economic order, are not self-evident. In the past these differences used to be much smaller. Around 1500 by far the greater part of the world population made its living in agriculture. Although some countries were richer than others, most people in most countries lived close to subsistence levels. The distribution of world income by region was therefore relatively equal (Bairoch, 1980; Cipolla, 1981: p. 220; Maddison, 2001). In contrast in the year 2000, the average income per capita in the twenty-seven richest countries was no less than fourteen times as high as that in the fifty-one poorest countries (see Table 1.1).
How did the present diversity of levels of economic development and welfare in the world economy come about? In order to examine possible answers to this question, this chapter will offer a rough outline of the history of European expansion and the development of the international economic order associated with it.
International economic order
Instead of presenting a formal definition of the slippery concept of international economic order, Box 2.1 identifies some of its important characteristics (Lewis, 1978b; Maddison, 1985; Maddison, 1989; Streeten, 1984).
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- The Dynamics of Socio-Economic DevelopmentAn Introduction, pp. 35 - 67Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005