The Economics Book

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Growth and development

KEY THINKER

Andre Gunder Frank (1929–2005)

BEFORE

1841 German economist Friedrich List argues against free trade and for protectionism in domestic markets.

1949–50 Hans Singer and Raúl Prebisch claim that the terms of trade between poor and rich countries deteriorate over time.

AFTER

1974–2011 US sociologist Immanuel Wallerstein develops Frank’s development theories to devise world-systems theory. This uses a historical framework to explain the changes that were involved in the rise of the Western world.

Rich countries claim that they do not set out to keep poor countries poor—rather that relationships between them ...