Development and Globalisation Definitions

Bottom-up development: Where decisions about development are made by local communities

Colonialism: The rule of one weaker power by a stronger power, including take-over of its government

Commodity: Raw material items, usually either farm crops or minerals

Core and Periphery: A theory that shows how different economic development between regions leads to a prosperous 'core' region and a poorer 'periphery'

Demographic: Relating to population

Dependency theory: A theory by economist Andre Frank, which shows how economic development of core regions occurs at the expense of the peripheries. The core depends on raw materials from the periphery areas, while the periphery depends on the core as a market for its goods

Development: Socia-economic change which aims to improve wealth and standards of living

Development Continuum: The span of levels of economic development, from poorest to wealthiest countries

Development Gap: The differences between poorer countries of the developing world (or LICs), and wealthier developed countries (or HICs)

Export Processing Zones: A type of Special Economic Zone where businesses are free to import raw materials, process, and manufacture them, and re-export without paying duties or tariffs

Export-oriented industries: Those industries established largely for the purpose of increasing exports

Fair Trade: A system of trade whereby producers are paid fair prices to give them a reasonable standard of living

G8: The group of the 8 largest economies in the world (Russia, the USA, UK, France, Canada, Germany, Italy, and Japan)

GDP (and GDP per capita): Usually given in the US$, this is a figure which sums the total value of all goods and services produced in a country in a year. It may either be expressed for a whole country, or per capita by dividing the total by the population.

Globalisation: The way in which people, cultures, money, goods, and information 'move' between countries with few, or no barriers

Green Economy: An economy based on sustainable development eg. low carbon use

Green Revolution: A package of mechanised farming techniques and high yielding seeds to enable LICs to feed their growing populations

Human Development Index: A UN index with a range between 0 (worst) and 1 (best), which measures life expectancy, knowledge (literacy and number of years spent at school), and standard of living (GDP per capita)

IMF: The International Monetary Fund, an organisation which funds development in poorer countries, using bank deposits from wealthier countries

Just-in-time: A process used by transnational companies to reduce stock, so that goods are produced just in time before sale, rather than being held in warehouses

Modernisation theory: A theory stating that capitalism generates economic development in ways that will benefit all; it dates from the 1950's-70s when US investment was used in South East Asia to prevent the expansion of Russian communism

New Economy: Also known as the 'knowledge economy' which is based on creativity and specialised expertise in finance, media, and management, rather than manufacturing goods

Out-sourcing: The employment of people overseas to do jobs previously done by people in a HIC. Usually associated with IT software development, banks, and service companies, eg. call centres

Purchasing Power Parity (PPP): The relationship between average earnings and prices, and what it will buy, because a dollar buys more in some countries than others. It expresses the the spending power within individual countries and reflects the cost of living

Special Economic Zone: Areas in which governments offer tax incentives for foreign companies to build new factories there. Usually found in NICs

Tariffs: Also known as 'duties'. Charges imposed on the import of goods from certain countries

Top-down development: Where decisions about development are made by organisations, eg. government or large companies, and imposed on a population

Trade Liberalisation: Also known as free trade - means removing barriers such as duties or customs. The theory is that the fewer barriers there are to the flow of goods, the greater trade will be

World Bank: An organisation set up after World War II to promote investment globally. It provides loans for countries who agree to conditions; like the IMF

WTO - World Trade Organisation: A group of (in 2011) 143 nations agreeing to trade with each other without the use of tariffs or duties. It deals with the rules of global trade, with the aim of easing trade and getting rid of anything hindering it

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