Level 101
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Global Development and Inequality

Global Development and Inequality

An examination of the theories, institutions, and debates that have shaped the modern fight against global poverty and inequality, from Rostow and Prebisch to the Sustainable Development Goals.

60-Second Review

Express review

A condensed, point-by-point summary of the module, for reviewing right before a test or exam.

  1. Theories of Development and Underdevelopment. How economists have measured and theorized development, from GDP and HDI to dependency and world-systems theory.
  2. Postwar Development Strategies and Their Crises. Postwar development strategies, from non-alignment and import substitution to debt crisis and East Asian success.
  3. Development Success Stories and Global Goals. China and India's transformative growth, Africa's uneven progress, and the UN's MDG and SDG frameworks.
  4. Foreign Aid, Microfinance, and Poverty. Foreign aid, the Sachs-Easterly debate, microfinance, and how the World Bank measures extreme poverty.
  5. Measuring and Explaining Global Inequality. Measuring global inequality: within vs. between countries, the Gini coefficient, and Milanovic's research.
  6. Human Capital, Evidence, and Resource Wealth. Education, gender empowerment, randomized trials in development economics, and the natural resource curse.
  7. Debt, Climate, and South-South Cooperation. Remittances, debt relief, climate injustice and finance, and China's South-South development cooperation.
  8. Global Governance and Development's Future. Global governance bodies, NGOs, urbanization, food security, the digital divide, and displacement crises.

This is the starting point of Global Development and Inequality: you don't need any prior knowledge of this subject to begin.

Key points

Visual module map

1Theories of Development and Underdevelopment
2Development Success Stories and Global Goals
3Measuring and Explaining Global Inequality
4Human Capital, Evidence, and Resource Wealth
5Global Governance and Development's Future

Alternative visual view: a simplified sequence of some of the module's key points, in their order within the syllabus.

Your module mastery

0% (overall measurement)
Approximate breakdown by skill
Understanding of historiographical debate0%

A rough estimate based on the key points reviewed, not an exact measurement of actual mastery.

Final test

You need to review all key points to unlock the final test.

Optional mini-games

Extra practice, with no penalty, to reinforce the module's content.

Review Flashcards

Review each key point with cards that flip to reveal the summary.

Memory

Match each concept with its definition in as few attempts as possible.

Time Attack

Answer true or false statements before time runs out.

Chronological Order

Put the module's key points back in their original order.

Further reading

Bibliography and cited sources used to create this module.

  • Sen, A. (1999). Development as Freedom. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
  • Easterly, W. (2006). The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good. New York: Penguin Press.
  • Sachs, J. (2005). The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time. New York: Penguin Press.
  • Milanovic, B. (2016). Global Inequality: A New Approach for the Age of Globalization. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
  • Banerjee, A. and Duflo, E. (2011). Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty. New York: PublicAffairs.
  • Wallerstein, I. (1974). The Modern World-System. New York: Academic Press.
  • Rostow, W.W. (1960). The Stages of Economic Growth: A Non-Communist Manifesto. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • World Bank. Poverty and Inequality Platform. https://pip.worldbank.org
  • UNDP. Human Development Reports. https://hdr.undp.org