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The article “The Development of Underdevelopment" was written by Andre Gunder Frank in 1996. In the article, he criticized the modernization theory. He explained that in order to develop any development theory and policy, the economic history of the country should be known. Past experiences of underdeveloped countries and colonial countries are always different. Therefore ignorance of underdeveloped country's history leads to the failure of policy and development theories to measure the development and structure of the capitalist system in underdeveloped countries. It is believed that the contemporary developed countries may never be underdeveloped countries instead they were non-developed countries. The difference in income distribution and culture indicates the dual economies and societies in such countries. Due to this reason, only one part got positively affected by the outside capitalist relation while others faced the same problem which results in more underdeveloped. The statement of dual societies is false because even there is more than one society, the influence of the capitalist system is so high that it penetrated even in an isolated sector of the country. Underdevelopment of Latin America can be seen an example which is the result of world capitalist development. The industrial establishment had the largest impact on Latin America during the first and second world's war, also during the great depression. Therefore it can be concluded that underdevelopment is not due to the dual society or capitalist shortage.
Amin in his article “The Origin and Development of Underdevelopment” discussed Marx's work on non-European societies. Marx stated that the main factor that came in the way of capitalist development was lack of private ownership. He explained the issues of India during British rule and process of development during this era. Amin wrote this article on the basis of Marx's work. He stated various theses some are: economic theory itself develops an interest in the problem of transition to the money economy. Also, inequality within international specialization creates distortion in development. Thesis claim that the multiplier effects theory of investment cannot be increased in mechanical ways. Analysis of foreign monopoly strategies indicated that in the world market, dogma need to be challenged otherwise periphery would be without any economic mean. The high level of unevenness, disarticulation and economic domination by the center made underdevelopment manifested in the level of structural characteristics. The argument of Amin is correct as Marx only focused on a certain point and ignored the remaining there were many other factors that caused the underdevelopment issue in India which Amin discussed through his theses.
The writers Sokoloff and Engerman wrote an article, “History Lessons: Institutions, Factor Endowments, and Paths of Development in the New World” in 2000. In the article, differences in development among different countries were discussed. Among many countries, America and Canada are far more successful but development level had a significant difference. To find out these differences, the authors used a different aspect. They used data history of GDP per capita of various countries. They explained the effort of the country's through factor endowments to inequality and the role of the institution for this inequality persistence. From the data showing factors like GDP per capita, literacy rate, the extent of voting and franchise governed by laws concluded that the whole world enjoyed a significant level of production in the past. Divergence can be observed through US and Canada growth during late eighteen centuries. The difference in growth rate was due to various reasons including political power, wealth inequality, and human capital. The inequality leads to the limiting population from different economic opportunities. Another aspect that affected the economies was the presence of elite class who were differentiated by human capital, politics, and wealth from the rest of the population. Therefore we can say that inequality was the main reason for the unequal development. This argument is correct because inequality leads to an increase in unemployment and also the capacity and effectiveness of every country is different from the other while collectively decide the progress of the nation.
The author P. Baran wrote “On the roots of Backwardness” in which he discussed the problems of developed capitalist societies whose economy showed surplus still unable for their rational utilization. He used data on world income distribution to analyze the performance of underdeveloped countries. The issues of no advancement can be studied now by recalling the condition in which underdeveloped countries worked. The author discussed India and China progress. He stated that there was feudalism combined with the mode of production, politics and social orders. The basic increase of capital leads to rapid progress shook the pre-capitalist order’s foundation. This can be noticed through the progress pattern of either Europe, Russia, Latin America, or even India and China. All these countries did not follow the same path they had the difference of climate, geographical location, politics, culture, and religious background. The author discussed the progress of Japan which is difficult to compare with India, and there was a British impact in India. Japan progressed by investing in railway, communication and another mode of production. On the other hand, India's development was slow due to various factors. History of India is so clear that it is accessible to analyses the conditions of that era. British work mainly for their own interest and due to the religious and diverse cultural background India faced various hurdles in the way of development.
Abhijit Banerjee and Lakshmi Iyer wrote "History, institutions, and Economic Performance: The Legacy of Colonial Land Tenure Systems in India." This article is really well executed with all the useful tools to analyze the issue. With the help of both qualitative data and quantitative data, authors concluded that economic behavior of India in a different era. The condition during British rule and before, i.e. during Mughal rule. During pre-British rule, property rights were in the hand of the rulers. During British rule mode of production changed. Landlords had considerably lowered the investment in agriculture and production level, education, and health. The landlord system in India leads to the various problems in the path of progress. The reason for underdevelopment during British rule other than landlord system was the cultural and religious difference between British and local people of India.
The author Nathan Nunn, in her article "The Long-Term Effects of Africa's Slave Trades" discussed the underdevelopment in Africa. Africa's performance during the late half of the twentieth century was really poor. The two main factors for this underdevelopment were colonialism and slaves’ trade. Through different qualitative and quantitative data author explained that a large number of slaves were exported from Africa. There was a negative correlation between the slave trade and the country's development. This relationship was spurious as the negative impact of trade war was on the most developed area of Africa, not the least. Therefore the increase in the number of slave exports leads to a decrease in the development of Africa. This trade created a broader ethical group that leads to ethnic fractionalization. The argument of the author is correct as the slave trade was one of the reasons for the backwardness of Africa. The country is still underdeveloped and fighting for basic necessities even today. The impact of past is great in contemporary time.
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