Lecture
The division of the world economy into spheres of economic activity and the definition of the basic economic interrelations between them allow not only to analyze the development trends of individual countries, but also to compare them with each other. However, in the world as a whole there are approximately 200 countries that are very different in terms of economic development. And knowledge of classifications is extremely important for mutual study and exchange of experience in economic development.
The definition of a country adopted in the world economy differs from the definition adopted in international law or ordinary. Within the framework of the world economy, a country is considered to be not only territorial units that are a state, but also certain territorial units that are not states, but they conduct independent and independent economic policies and keep separate statistical records of their economic development. This applies to certain island dependent territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and France, which, while not being independent states, are considered, however, the international economy as separate countries.
The most complete picture of groups of countries in the world economy is given by the data of universal international organizations whose members are most countries of the world - the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The assessment of groups of countries in the international economy by these organizations varies somewhat, since the number of member countries of these organizations varies (UN - 185, IMF - 181, WB - 180), and international organizations only monitor the economies of their member countries. For example, from the IMF classification, Cuba, North Korea and some other small countries that are not members fall out. Some countries - members of international organizations do not provide complete data on their economies or do not provide them up-to-date, as a result of which assessments of the development of their economies fall out of the overall assessments of the international economy. These are San Marino from among developed and Eritrea from among developing countries.
Finally, any classification is made up of the tasks of each organization. For example, the World Bank pays attention to assessing the level of economic development of each country, the UN - to social and demographic aspects, etc.
In total, in modern literature it is possible to single out several basic signs for the classification of countries of the world: 1. According to the type of socio-economic system in the second half of the twentieth century, countries were divided into capitalist, socialist and developing, or third world countries. In turn, the developing countries divided into countries of a socialist or capitalist orientation. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the world socialist system led to the rejection of such a classification of the world economy.
2. According to the level of development of the country are divided into developed and developing. The post-socialist states and countries, still officially proclaiming the building of socialism as the goal of their development, were among the developing ones.
3. According to the degree of development of a market economy in international practice, all countries of the world are most often divided into three main groups: developed countries with market economies, countries with economies in transition and developing countries. This grouping was chosen for ease of analysis at ECOSOC (United Nations Economic and Social Council). At present, the IMF has introduced the term “advanced economies” (or “advanced countries”) to designate groups of countries and territories traditionally classified as developed (these are 23 countries). Four East Asian "tigers" (South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, as a special administrative region of China, and Taiwan), Israel and Cyprus are also among the advanced economies of the world.
Among the leaders of the world economy are the countries of North America (USA and Canada), Western Europe (primarily Great Britain, Germany, Italy and France), and East Asia, led by Japan. They are followed by a markedly progressive group of new industrial economies, including the "Asian tigers". Still at the stage of reform in the framework of the transition to a market, a number of states of Central and Eastern Europe remain, as well as states on the territory of the former USSR. Some of them have been admitted to the European Union in recent years, and the group of developed countries has increased to 30. A vast array of countries — a developing zone — numbers more than 100 countries of the world.
To characterize the economy of the countries of the world, already known indicators are used: GDP per capita, sectoral structure of the economy and knowledge-intensive industries and the level and quality of life of the population.
Developed countries are characterized by a high standard of living. Developed countries, as a rule, have a large stock of produced capital and a population that for the most part is occupied by highly specialized activities. About 15% of the world's population lives in this group of countries. Developed countries are also called industrial countries or industrialized ones.
Developed countries typically include 24 high-income industrialized countries in North America, Western Europe and the Pacific. Among industrialized countries, the so-called Group of 7 (G-7) countries play the most significant role, providing 47% of world GDP and 51% of international trade. These states coordinate their economic and financial policies at annual summits that have been held since 1975. On the European continent, where 4 of the 7 largest developed countries are located, the most significant association is the European Union consisting of 15 countries, giving 21% of world GNP and 41% of exports.
Source - CIA World Factbook
Other indicators of the US economy
Economic indicators of other developed countries
The following countries are distinguished by the International Monetary Fund as economically developed countries: 1. Countries qualifying by the World Bank and the IMF as developed economies at the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st centuries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France , Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States.
2. The more complete group of developed countries also includes Andorra, Bermuda, the Faroe Islands, the Vatican, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Liechtenstein, Monaco and San Marino.
Among the main features of developed countries, it is advisable to highlight the following:
1. GDP per capita averages about 20 thousand dollars and is constantly growing. This determines the high level of consumption and investment and the standard of living of the population as a whole. Social support is the “middle class”, dividing the values and basic foundations of society.
2. The sectoral structure of the economy of developed countries is evolving towards industrial dominance and a pronounced tendency to turn the industrial economy into a post-industrial economy. The service sector is booming, and it leads in the share of the population employed in it. Scientific and technological progress has a significant impact on economic growth and economic structure.
3. The business structure of developed countries is heterogeneous. The leading role in the economy belongs to powerful concerns - TNCs (transnational corporations). The exception is the group of some small countries in Europe where there are no world-class TNCs. However, the economies of developed countries are also characterized by widespread medium and small businesses as a factor of economic and social stability. This business employs up to 2/3 of the economically active population. In many countries, small business provides up to 80% of new jobs and affects the sectoral structure of the economy.
The economic mechanism of developed countries includes three levels: spontaneous-market, corporate and state. It corresponds to a developed system of market relations and diversified methods of state regulation. Their combination determines flexibility, rapid adaptability to changing conditions of reproduction and, in general, high efficiency of economic activity.
4. The state of developed countries is an active participant in economic activities. The objectives of state regulation are to create the most favorable conditions for self-growth of capital and to maintain the socio-economic stability of society. The most important means of state regulation are administrative and legal (developed systems of economic law), fiscal (state budget and social insurance funds), monetary and state property. Since the beginning of the 1960s, the general trend has been to reduce the role of state property on average from 9 to 7% in GDP. And it concentrates mainly in the field of infrastructure. The differences between countries in the degree of state regulation are determined by the intensity of the redistributive functions of the state through its finances: most intensively in Western Europe, to a lesser extent in the USA and Japan.
5. The economies of developed countries are characterized by openness to the world economy and the liberal organization of the foreign trade regime. Leadership in world production determines their leading role in world trade, international capital movement, international monetary and settlement relations. In the field of international labor migration, developed countries act as a host.
The countries with transitional economy usually include 28 states of Central and Eastern Europe and the former USSR, moving from a centrally planned to a market economy, and, in some cases, Mongolia, China and Vietnam. Among the countries with transition economies, due to their political importance, Russia is usually considered separately, apart from other groups, (2% of world GDP and 1% of exports). The countries of Central and Eastern Europe that once belonged to the socialist camp, as well as the countries of the former USSR, which are called the countries of the former “ruble zone”, are singled out as a separate group.
Source - CIA World Factbook
Other indicators of the Russian economy
Economic performance of other countries in transition
Countries with economies in transition include:
1. Former socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe: Albania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro, the successors of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia;
2. The former Soviet republics are now CIS countries: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine;
3. Former Baltic republics: Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia.
Of particular difficulty is the classification of the People’s Republic of China, since the construction of capitalism, which means market relations, in the PRC takes place under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The Chinese economy is a symbiosis of a planned socialist economy and free enterprise. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) classifies China, like India, to developing Asian countries.
For countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Baltic countries and some Balkan countries, initially characterized by a higher level of socio-economic development; radical and successful reforms (“velvet revolutions”); a strong desire to become part of the EU. Outsiders in this group are Albania, Bulgaria and Romania. Leaders - Czech Republic and Slovenia.
Since 1993, the former Soviet republics, with the exception of the Baltic countries, have been united into the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The collapse of the USSR led to the rupture of economic ties between enterprises of the former republics that had taken shape for decades. The one-time cancellation of state pricing (in the context of a shortage of goods and services), spontaneous privatization of the largest export-oriented state-owned enterprises, the introduction of a parallel currency (US dollar) and the liberalization of foreign trade activities led to a sharp decline in production. GDP in Russia decreased by almost 2 times. Hyperinflation reached 2,000% or more per year.
There was a sharp drop in the national currency, a deficit of the state budget, a sharp stratification of the population with an absolute impoverishment of its main mass. The formation of the oligarchic variant of capitalism took place without the creation of a middle class. Loans from the IMF and other international organizations were sent to “patch up holes” in the state budget and were plundered uncontrollably. Conducting financial stabilization due to budgetary restrictions and restriction policies or the contraction of the money supply (rising interest rates) gradually reduced inflation, but had serious social losses (unemployment, increased mortality, street children, etc.). The experience of “shock therapy” showed that in itself the introduction of private property and market relations is not a guarantor of creating an effective economy.
If we talk about the term "transition economy", it is used to characterize the transformation of the economy of socialist countries into a market economy. The transition to the market required a number of significant changes, which include:
1) the privatization of the economy, requiring privatization and stimulating the development of non-state enterprises;
2) the development of non-state forms of ownership, including private ownership of the means of production; 3) the formation of the consumer market and the saturation of its goods.
The first reform programs consisted of sets of stabilization measures and privatization. Monetary and fiscal restrictions were supposed to bring down inflation and restore financial equilibrium, and the liberalization of external relations would bring the necessary competition to the domestic market.
The economic and social costs of the transition were higher than expected. The protracted economic recession, high unemployment, the decline of the social security system, the deepening of income differentiation and a decrease in the well-being of the population were the first results of the reforms.
The practice of reforming in different countries can be reduced to two main alternative ways:
1) the path of rapid radical reforms ("shock therapy"), taken as a basis in many countries, including in Russia. The strategy was historically formed in the 1980s by the IMF for debtor countries. Its features were the landslide liberalization of prices, incomes and economic activity. Macroeconomic stabilization was achieved by reducing the money supply and huge inflation as a consequence.
Urgent system transformations included privatization. In foreign economic activity, the goal was to involve the national economy in the world economy. The results of “shock therapy” are more negative than positive;
2) ways of gradual evolutionary transformation of the economy, taken as a basis in China.
Since the mid-1990s, and with the onset of the revitalization stage, transition countries have shown generally good indicators of economic development and market economy. GDP figures gradually went up. However, the unemployment rate remains high. Taking into account the different starting conditions of different times of the beginning of transformations, their results turned out to be different. Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Estonia, and Slovakia achieved the greatest successes.
In many countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), the share of government spending in GDP is high: at least 30–50%. In the process of market reform, the standard of living of the population decreased and inequality in income distribution increased: about 1/5 of the population managed to raise the standard of living, and about 30% became poor. In one group can be distinguished the former Soviet republics, which are now united in the CIS. Their economies exhibit different rates of market transformation.
Developing countries - 132 countries of Asia, Africa, Latin America, characterized by low and medium income levels. Due to the great diversity of developing countries, it is customary for the international economy to classify them both by geography and by various analytical criteria.
There are certain grounds for separating yesterday's dependent and colonial countries that are lagging behind in their economic and social development and conditionally united by the term “developing” into a special group of states. 80% of the world's population lives in these countries, and the fate of this region will always substantially influence world processes.
Важнейшие критерии выделения развивающихся стран – это особое место в системе экономических и политических связей, уровень экономического развития и специфические черты воспроизводства и особенности социально-экономической структуры.
Первой и наиболее существенной чертой развивающихся стран является их место в мировой экономике и политике. Сегодня они являются частью мировой капиталистической системы и в большей или меньшей степени подвержены действию господствующих экономических законов и мировых хозяйственных тенденций. Оставаясь звеном мировой экономики, в этих странах продолжает действовать тенденция к углублению экономической и политической зависимости от экономик развитых стран.
Развивающиеся страны по-прежнему являются крупными поставщиками сырья и топлива на мировой рынок, несмотря на то, что доля развивающихся стран в импорте странами Запада топлива за последние годы несколько уменьшилась. Являясь поставщиками сырья, они зависят от импорта готовой продукции, поэтому сегодня удельный вес развивающихся стран в мировом экспорте составляет только около 30%, в том числе в поставках промышленных изделий – 21,4%.
Source - CIA World Factbook
Другие показатели экономики Бразилии
Экономические показатели других развивающихся стран
The economy of this group of countries is highly dependent on TNCs, as well as financial dependence. TNCs with the most advanced technology do not go for its transfer when creating joint ventures in developing countries, preferring to place their branches there. In developing countries, at least 1/4 of TNK’s foreign investments are concentrated. Private capital today has become the main element of foreign earnings in developing countries. Foreign direct investment today accounts for more than half of all funds coming from private sources.
Уровень экономического развития развивающихся стран можно охарактеризовать как экономическую отсталость от наиболее развитой части мира. Низкий уровень развития производительных сил, отсталость технической оснащенности промышленности, сельского хозяйства и социальной инфраструктуры – основные черты экономики этих стран в целом. Наиболее характерный признак отсталости – аграрный профиль экономики и доля населения, занятого в сельском хозяйстве. Индустриально-аграрный профиль экономики не типичен для развивающихся стран. Он сложился лишь в наиболее развитых странах Латинской Америки и нескольких азиатских государствах. В подавляющем большинстве стран сельскохозяйственная занятость и поныне в 2,5 раза, а иногда и в 10 раз превышает индустриальную. В этом отношении многие нефтедобывающие страны стоят ближе к развивающимся странам, чем к развитым.
Особенности социально-экономической структуры развивающихся стран связаны с многоукладностью экономики. Развивающимся странам присущ значительный набор форм производства: от патриархально-общинной и мелкотоварной до монополистической и кооперативной. Хозяйственные связи между укладами ограничены. Уклады характеризуются своей системой ценностей и образом жизни населения. Патриархальный уклад характерен для сельского хозяйства. Частнокапиталистический уклад включает различные формы собственности и существует в торговле, сфере услуг.
Возникновение капиталистического уклада имеет здесь свои особенности. Во-первых, часто он связан с экспортом капитала из более развитых стран, и в условиях неподготовленной экономики носит «анклавный» характер.
Во-вторых, капиталистический уклад, развиваясь как зависимый, не может ликвидировать многоукладность и даже ведет к ее расширению. В-третьих, не наблюдается последовательного развития одной формы собственности из другой. Например, монополистическая собственность, чаще всего представленная филиалами ТНК, не является продуктом развития акционерной собственности и т.п.
Социальная структура общества отражает многоукладность экономики. Общинный тип доминирует в общественных отношениях, гражданское общество только формируется. Для развивающихся стран характерны бедность, перенаселение, высокий уровень безработицы.
Экономическая роль государства в развивающихся странах весьма велика и наряду с традиционными функциями включает: осуществление национального суверенитета над природными ресурсами; контроль над иностранной финансовой помощью, чтобы ее использовать для осуществления проектов, предусмотренных в программах социального и экономического развития государства; аграрные преобразования, связанные с увеличением производства сельскохозяйственной продукции, созданием кооперативов и т.п.; подготовку национальных кадров.
Существует классификация развивающихся стран в зависимости от уровня экономического развития, измеряемая показателем ВВП на душу населения:
1) cтраны с высокими доходами на душу населения, сопоставимыми с доходами в развитых странах (Бруней, Катар, Кувейт, ОАЭ, Сингапур);
2) cтраны со средними показателями ВВП на душу населения (Ливия, Уругвай, Тунис и т.п.);
3) бедные страны мира. В эту группу входит большинство стран тропической Африки, страны Южной Азии и Океании, ряд стран Латинской Америки.
Другая классификация развивающихся стран связана с уровнем развития капитализма как хозяйственного уклада. С этой точки зрения можно выделить следующие группы развивающихся стран:
1) это государства, где государственный, иностранный и местный капитал преобладает. Экономическая активность государства является госкапиталистической по содержанию. В этих странах высока включенность иностранного капитала в местный. К таким странам относятся Мексика, Бразилия, Аргентина, Уругвай, Сингапур, Тайвань, Южная Корея, а также ряд небольших государств Азиатско-Тихоокенского региона.
2) вторая группа государств – самая большая. Их особенность в том, что здесь капитализм представлен «анклавами», причем иногда весьма изолированными. К данной группе относятся такие страны как Индия, Пакистан, страны Ближнего Востока, Персидского залива, Северной Африки, нескоторые страны Юго-Восточной Азии (Филиппины, Тайланд, Индонезия).
3) третья группа – наименее развитые государства мира, примерно 30 стран с населением около 15% населения развивающегося мира. Капиталистический уклад в них существует в виде фрагментов. Эти капиталистические «анклавы», в основном, представлены иностранным капиталом. 2/3 наименее развитых стран находится в Африке. В докапиталистическом секторе преобладают натуральные связи. Почти все сфер занятости населения – традиционные уклады. Единственная моторная сила развития в большинстве из них – государство. Доля обрабатывающей промышленности в ВВП не более 10%, ВВП на душу населения не более 300 долл., а уровень грамотности – не более 20% взрослого населения. У этих стран мало шансов улучшить свое положение самостоятельно, опираясь лишь на внутренние силы.
Source - World Economy: study guide / E.G. Guzhva, M.I. Lesnaya, A.V.Kondratyev, A.N.Egorov; SPSUKU. - SPb., 2009. - 116 p.
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World economy
Terms: World economy