Examining Mobility in International Development

International development scholars routinely test for convergence across a range of outcomes, including income, health, and education. However, the extent to which countries have reordered themselves along the development hierarchy receives less attention. Accordingly, the present analysis features...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social problems (Berkeley, Calif.) Calif.), 2016-08, Vol.63 (3), p.329-350
Main Author: Clark, Rob
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Center and periphery
Convergence
Countries
Developing countries
Economic development
Economic models
GDP
Gross Domestic Product
Health status
Human development
Income inequality
Inequality
International cooperation
International development
International economics
Life expectancy
Mobility
Modeling
Simulations
Upward mobility
World system theory
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Summary:International development scholars routinely test for convergence across a range of outcomes, including income, health, and education. However, the extent to which countries have reordered themselves along the development hierarchy receives less attention. Accordingly, the present analysis features a systematic examination of cross-national mobility in international development. I first introduce a generic model of mobility in which country-level movement is a function of several factors, including initial inequality, growth dynamics, and temporal span. I then show that observed mobility rates across several development indicators (gross domestic product per capita [GDP PC], human development index [HDI], and life expectancy) are significantly lower than what the generic model predicts. An investigation of longitudinal trends shows that mobility rates have been declining since the 1980s and that the discrepancy between expected and observed mobility has grown wider during this time. Mobility rates appear to be hindered by the lack of largescale mobility among upper tier countries (where mobility patterns are more favorable than expected) and lower tier countries (where mobility patterns are less favorable than expected). Overall, the results are consistent with propositions derived from world-system theory regarding the relative stability of the core/periphery hierarchy. In sum, the analysis of mobility can serve as a useful complement to existing research and produces an image of development and change not typically found in convergence studies.
ISSN:0037-7791
1533-8533
DOI:10.1093/socpro/spw011