Unequal & Uneven Development

Recall from Chapter 1 that, because development is uneven, inequality exists between countries in the core and periphery of development.

Inequality-adjusted HDI

To measure the extent of inequality, the U.N. has created the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI). The IHDI modifies the HDI to account for inequality within a country. Under perfect equality, the HDI and the IHDI are the same.

If the IHDI is lower than the HDI, the country has some inequality; the greater the difference in the two measures, the greater the inequality. For example, a country where only a few people have high incomes, college degrees, and good health care would have a lower IHDI than a country where differences in income, level of education, and access to health care are minimal. The lowest scores (highest inequality) are in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

IHDI By Country, 2018

The lower the score, the greater the inequality. Europe has the highest score, hence the least inequality. South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa have the lowest scores and therefore the greatest degree of inequality.

Developed countries have the lowest gap between HDI and IHDI, indicating a relatively modest level of inequality by worldwide standards (Figure 10-17). The U.N. lacks data from several countries in Southwest Asia & North Africa, so they appear as gray in Figure 10-16, but the U.N. does estimate an overall IHDI score for the region.

IHDI By Region

South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa have the lowest scores and therefore the greatest degree of inequality.

Pause & Reflect 10.2.1

Based on their IHDI scores, how would you expect Mexico and Bolivia to differ from the United States?

Core & Periphery

Immanuel Wallerstein, a U.S. social scientist, describes the relationship between developed and developing countries as one of “core” and “periphery.” According to Wallerstein’s world-systems theory, in an increasingly unified world economy, developed countries form an inner core area, whereas developing countries occupy peripheral locations.

Countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America contain three-fourths of the world’s population and nearly all of its population growth. However, these countries find themselves on a periphery, or outer edge, with respect to the wealthier core regions of North America, Europe, and Japan. Since the original formulation of world systems theory, an increasingly important element has been the emergence of countries classified as semi-periphery. These are countries that are either intermediate in level of economic development or situated close to both core and periphery regions.

The relationship between developed countries and developing countries appears on a traditional projection as a north-south split because most of the developed countries of the core (except for Australia and New Zealand) are in the Northern Hemisphere’s temperate zone north of the Tropic of Cancer, whereas many developing countries are to the south. However, an unusual north polar projection portrays more graphically the core-periphery relationship between developed and developing regions.

Core & Periphery: North-South Divide

Developed regions are located mostly to the north and developing regions further south. In world systems theory, developed regions are classified as core and most developing regions as periphery. A handful of developing countries are now classified as semi-periphery.

Core & Periphery: North Polar Projection

When seen from the North Pole, developed regions form an inner core and developing regions an outer periphery.

Global investment arrives from the core through hierarchical diffusion of decisions made by transnational corporations. Particular core and periphery regions have special connections. The development prospects of Latin America are tied to governments and businesses primarily in North America, those of Africa and Eastern Europe to Western Europe, and those of Asia to Japan and to a lesser extent Europe and North America. As countries such as China, India, and Brazil develop, relationships between core and periphery are changing, and the line between core and periphery may need to be redrawn.

Core & Periphery Interact

Used cars are being exported from a core country (Germany) to a periphery country (Benin).