Deindustrialization, Distribution, and Development: Structural Change in the Global South

Andy Sumner

Sep 2021 · Oxford University Press

About this ebook

The term rust belt has rarely been associated with developing countries. In fact, it is commonly used to discuss deindustrialization in advanced nations, particularly the US. However, this book argues that such a belt is now threatening the middle-income developing world, spreading across Brazil and other countries in Latin America, running down across South Africa, and then upwards to Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines in South East Asia. Deindustrialization, Distribution, and Development: Structural Change in the Global South explores the emergent processes of stalled industrialization and the spectre of deindustrialization in these developing countries. Building upon the author's previous work on economic development, structural change, and income inequality, this book examines the causes and consequences of these new issues, focusing on inequality both between and within countries since the Cold War. Providing a comparative, in-depth analysis of the varieties of contemporary structural change in the Global South and challenging many long-standing myths, this work explains why late development remains a crucial concept in understanding contemporary development and explores what deindustrialization means for the future of global development.

About the author

Andy Sumner is a Professor of International Development at King's College London. He is Director of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Global Challenges Strategic Research Network on Global Poverty and Inequality Dynamics. He also holds associate positions at Oxford University; the Center for Global Development, Washington DC; the United Nations University, WIDER, Helsinki; and the Centre for Economics and Development Studies, Padjadjaran University, Indonesia. His research focuses on the relationship between poverty, inequality, and economic development across developing countries. He has twenty years’ international research experience and has published extensively, including ten books and fifty journal papers and book chapters. His most recent books are Global Poverty (2016, Oxford University Press) and Development and Distribution (2018, Oxford University Press).