Questions: Development Geography and Global Inequality

Question 1

Which of the following best explains why GDP per capita is considered an insufficient measure of development?

• A. GDP is too difficult to calculate accurately in low-income countries
• B. GDP measures aggregate output but not its distribution, nor health or education outcomes — countries can have high GDP while most citizens have low welfare
• C. GDP per capita is not used by international organizations for development comparisons
• D. GDP only measures industrial production and excludes agricultural and service output

Answer: (B)

GDP per capita is an average that conceals inequality — a country with extreme wealth concentration can record high GDP while most citizens lack access to healthcare or education. The Human Development Index (HDI) was created precisely to supplement GDP with health (life expectancy) and education dimensions, reflecting a multidimensional conception of development.

Question 2

Dependency theory views underdevelopment in peripheral countries as simply a temporary lag — the same stage that wealthy countries passed through 200 years ago.

• T. True
• F. False

Answer: False

This is the modernization theory position (Rostow's stages), not dependency theory. Dependency theorists like Frank argue that underdevelopment is actively produced and maintained by the relationship between core and peripheral countries — peripheral integration into the global economy on unequal terms transfers wealth to the core, making underdevelopment a structural condition, not a transitional phase.

Question 3

How does world-systems theory explain why peripheral countries often remain peripheral even when they participate actively in global trade?

Model answer: World-systems theory argues that the terms of trade between core and peripheral countries are structurally unequal: peripheral countries export low-value raw materials and cheap labor while importing high-value manufactured goods and technology. This exchange transfers surplus value to the core, reproducing the hierarchy rather than closing the gap. Participating more in trade on these terms deepens dependency rather than reducing it.

Wallerstein's framework identifies a semi-periphery as a buffer zone and notes that the entire system is held together by a capitalist world-economy that allocates different roles to different regions. Countries like South Korea and Taiwan industrialized by actively restructuring their insertion into the world economy (e.g., through industrial policy, technology transfer, and strategic export orientation) — they changed the terms of their participation rather than simply trading more.