Examining Core Issues in World Development: An Economic Perspective

This essay delves into critical issues in world development, examining various perspectives and theories. It discusses the comparative advantage in international trade, arguing its potential benefits for developing countries by enabling specialization in low-investment products. The essay also addresses the threat of growing inequality to democracy, highlighting how debt and resource exploitation affect third-world countries. Furthermore, it disputes the notion that prosperous societies are more prone to violent conflicts, citing that less developed nations often experience higher levels of violence due to political instability. The essay evaluates Malthusian theory, noting its failure to accurately predict population growth due to technological advancements in agriculture. It also explores the impact of multinational corporations on developing countries, weighing both the benefits, such as employment and economic growth, and the challenges, like the pollution haven hypothesis. The essay references the film 'Slaving Away' to illustrate the exploitation of immigrant workers in developed countries, emphasizing the need for fair wages and working conditions. Finally, it touches upon the pollution haven hypothesis, discussing its costs and benefits for developing nations and suggesting strategies to mitigate its negative impacts through stricter environmental policies.

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ISSUES IN WORLD DEVELOPMENT
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Development is the process in which people improve their standards of living through
economic growth, poverty alleviation, affordable health care, good infrastructure, political
stability and good quality education (Mundial 2014). Over the last two decades, the world has
highly changed with more nations adopting technology to boost their economic growth; this has
seen countries with a high technological innovation grow at a very fast rate while those with less
technology penetration such as African countries have registered slow growth.
I disagree with the statement that the theory of comparative advantage in international
trade is not helpful to developing countries that are trying to advance their level of development.
Comparative advantage will enable each actor in international trade to produce their products at
the lowest opportunity cost (Soskice 2001). When the concept is embraced less developed
countries will specialize in producing products that require little investment without receiving
any competition from the developed nations, this will see countries like Japan specializing in
automobiles while Kenya will specialize in agriculture.
I agree with the statement that growing inequality is a threat to democracy. Over the last
decade, there has been stiff competition between the world economic leaders on who is to
dominate Africa (Oliver and Shapiro 2013). Almost each third world country owe huge debts to
one or more of the world’s superpowers. The debts have accumulated to an extent that these third
world countries are unable to pay them, therefore, they are manipulated by the lenders to part
with their natural resources such as minerals in order to clear the debt.
I disagree with the statement that the probability of violent conflicts to occur is higher in
more prosperous society. Gupta (2012) argues that for prosperity and success to prevail a cordial
environment must be provided. In a prosperous society, people will look for all logical means of
solving differences which may include settling them in a court of law and therefore they are

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unlikely to result into violent disputes. It is evident that less developed nations such as African
nations register the highest number of violent actions mainly propelled by political differences.
I agree with the statement that Malthusian catastrophe of world over population was not
proved. Malthus’ predictions never came true, the world’s population is much larger than his
theory had predicted. There are famines and droughts in the world, which have more to do with
local conditions such as global warming and politics than with the inability of the earth’s
resources to support the population. Tsuji, Hoogenboom and Thornton (2013) argues that the
introduction of technology in agriculture has increased productivity per unit thus making it
possible to feed an enormous population, Malthus did not predict introduction of technology.
I agree with the statement that operation of multinational corporations (MNCs) from a
developed country in a developing country will benefit the development process of the host
country. Mundial (2014) records that many developing nations suffer from lack of sufficient
employment opportunities for their growing population. The investment of multinational
corporations in developing nations will therefore provide the following benefits; employment
opportunities, increase government revenue, low-cost products, increased productivity, resource
exploitation, and increased economic growth.
Slaving away is a film that provides insights into how workers in the Australian fresh
food industry are violated. From the film, it is evident that many of the people who work in the
Australian fresh food industry are immigrants. According to Brue McConnell and Macpherson
(2016), many people from less developed nations, consider migrating to more developed nations
in search of better living standards. It is for that reason why we see many foreigners being
mistreated in the Australian fresh food farms and processing industries. The film portrays how

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ruthless investors are reaping billions as profits from the fresh food industry but are never
concerned about the welfare of their employees.
The victims in the film have noted that it was not their wish to be enslaved in Australia,
but it is the poverty and the high levels of unemployment in their mother countries that have
made them work for such low wages. According to Brue McConnell and Macpherson (2016),
every employee has right to fair wages and good working conditions. Therefore a legal action
should be taken against the employers.
According to Kearsley and Riddel (2010), pollution haven hypothesis is the idea that
polluting industries will relocate to places with less stringent environmental rules. Developing
countries have less strict policies on environmental protection, therefore, they fall victims of
pollution haven hypothesis, which comes with the following costs: global warming, health
effects such as skin problems and respiratory problems, acid rain, destruction of vegetation as
result of emission of harmful gases into the atmosphere and many more.
Pollution haven hypothesis despite having the above-mentioned costs it provides some
advantages to developing countries which include: creation of employment, economic growth,
increased government revenue, increase in the level of exports, and access to low-cost products
among other benefits. Developing countries can navigate pollution haven hypothesis by
formulating strict environment protection policies in order to prevent pollution and its
ramifications, and also provide cheap access to resources and land in order to attract foreign
investors.

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Reference
Brue, S.L., McConnell, C.R. and Macpherson, D.A., 2016. Contemporary labor economics.
McGraw-Hill Education.
Gupta, A., 2012. Red tape: Bureaucracy, structural violence, and poverty in India. Duke
University Press.
Kearsley, A. and Riddel, M., 2010. A further inquiry into the Pollution Haven Hypothesis and
the Environmental Kuznets Curve. Ecological Economics, 69(4), pp.905-919.
Mundial, B., 2014. World development indicators 2014. Relaciones Internacionales.
Oliver, M. and Shapiro, T., 2013. Black wealth/white wealth: A new perspective on racial
inequality. Routledge.
Soskice, D.W. ed., 2001. Varieties of capitalism: The institutional foundations of comparative
advantage. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Tsuji, G.Y., Hoogenboom, G. and Thornton, P.K. eds., 2013. Understanding options for
agricultural production (Vol. 7). Springer Science & Business Media.