Citation

Darity W, Davis LS. Camb. J. Econ. 2005; 29(1): 141-170.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2005, Cambridge Political Economy Society, Publisher Oxford University Press)

DOI

10.1093/cje/bei003

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Theories of growth and international trade are reviewed critically from the perspective of understanding persistent inter-country and inter-regional income inequality. Three separate literatures are considered for the insights they offer about international disparity: Classical political economy, the North-South trade models, and the 'new' growth and trade theories that incorporate increasing returns and/or product differentiation. Classical antecedents of the more recent theories are identified, and contrasts are drawn between structuralist and neoclassical approaches to explaining the income gap between rich and poor nations.