Dependencia, or dependency theory, is the notion that resources flow from a “periphery” of poor and underdeveloped states to a “core” of wealthy states, enriching the latter at the expense of the former. There are several “branches” of dependency. The first comes from Marxist ideas about capitalism. The second comes from the weight which researchers put on domestic and international factors. Many believe that as more time goes on dependency increases. Even though dependency theory was popular in the 1960s, and has since died down, the ideas behind it started in the 1940s.
Two of the leading people of dependency theory are Raul Prebisch and Andre Gunder Frank. Prebisch was a leading economist on international trade and development. He was from Argentina and helped develop the Prebisch-Singer hypothesis which, “refers to the claim that the relative price of primary commodities in terms of manufactures shows a downward trend” (Cuddington, Ludema, and Jayasuriya). The Prebisch-Singer hypothesis made the way to the creation of dependency theory. Gundar Frank was a German-American economic historian and sociologist. He promoted dependency theory and even wrote several articles which pertain to the ideas of the theory.
Even though these two men were some of the leading people on dependency theory, many others come from Third World countries. Theorists of dependency theory have different views on what are the underlying factors that cause it and what countries must do to get out. Some of these ideas will be discussed in some of the other blogs this week.
Sarah Farrell
For further readings:
http://udel.edu/~jdeiner/depend.html
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Dependency_Theory.aspx
http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-dependency-theory.htm
http://www.economicsonline.co.uk/Global_economics/Dependency_theory.html
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Raul_Prebisch.aspx
http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/15857/1/wp02006a.pdf
Two of the leading people of dependency theory are Raul Prebisch and Andre Gunder Frank. Prebisch was a leading economist on international trade and development. He was from Argentina and helped develop the Prebisch-Singer hypothesis which, “refers to the claim that the relative price of primary commodities in terms of manufactures shows a downward trend” (Cuddington, Ludema, and Jayasuriya). The Prebisch-Singer hypothesis made the way to the creation of dependency theory. Gundar Frank was a German-American economic historian and sociologist. He promoted dependency theory and even wrote several articles which pertain to the ideas of the theory.
Even though these two men were some of the leading people on dependency theory, many others come from Third World countries. Theorists of dependency theory have different views on what are the underlying factors that cause it and what countries must do to get out. Some of these ideas will be discussed in some of the other blogs this week.
Sarah Farrell
For further readings:
http://udel.edu/~jdeiner/depend.html
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Dependency_Theory.aspx
http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-dependency-theory.htm
http://www.economicsonline.co.uk/Global_economics/Dependency_theory.html
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Raul_Prebisch.aspx
http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/15857/1/wp02006a.pdf