increasing international trade and financial flows since the Second World War have fostered sustained economic growth over the long term in the worlds high-income states. Some with idle incomes have prospered as well, but low-income economies generally have not made significant gains. The growing world economy has not produced balanced, healthy economic growth in the poorer states. Instead, the cycle of underdevelopment more aptly describes their plight. In the context of weak economies, the negative effects of international trade and foreign investments have been devastating. Issues of trade and currency values preoccupy the economic policies of states with low-income economies even more than those with high incomes because the downturns are far more debilitating.1The topic that I have selected for my chapter evaluation essay is that of Economic Development. This paragraph above is the best summary of the chapters contents. In this chapter the author discusses the influence of development on the three worlds of countries. These worlds are benchmarks set to assess countries economic states relative to each other. When looking through the topic of development, two drastically different ways to assess it arise. The majority of the western world looks at development in terms of per capita GNP. This means each country is evaluated on a level playing field, comparing the production of each country in economic value. Opposite this style of evaluation is that of the alternative view, which measures a countrys development on its ability to fulfill basic material and non-material needs. Cultural ties are strong in this case as most of the population does not produce for wealth but merely survival and tradition.Throughout the chapter the text exerts more emphasis on the economical evaluation of a countries development rather than the alternative method. It begins to branch off quickly into the classification of countries deriving ...
