World Economy: Core, Periphery, and Semi-Periphery

World Economy
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World Economy
Core-periphery is a concept used in economic geography to describe the hierarchies that exist among countries of different strengths. The world-system theory, by Immanuel Wallerstein, classifies countries in an economic map into three categories: core, periphery, and semi-periphery (Knox et al., 2014). The core countries are the first and highest in the hierarchy. High industrialization, urbanization, high wages, technological advancement are attributed to these countries. Periphery countries, on the other hand, are less urbanized, less industrialized with a high level of illiteracy, and are characterized by agrarian jobs attracting low wages. Just like in the dependency theory, the core countries exploit the countries in the periphery while those in the periphery are dependent on the core countries (Knox et al., 2014). The semi-periphery category functions to represent the countries that depict both the characteristics of the core and periphery countries. The hierarchy goes from core, semi-periphery, and periphery in descending order.
According to the Human Development Index (HDI) established by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the indexes for well-being are income, education, and healthcare, while the primary indicators life expectancy include years of schooling, and purchasing power (Knox et al., 2014). Although there are additional aspects with the measure of wellbeing, the economic aspects remain constant with the standard HDIs. The alternative indicators include the inequality-adjusted index, gender inequality, and the poverty index. They are not primarily based on economic characteristics but rather on social, political, and cultural aspects.
Highly affluent people and countries, in general, tend to use more efficient energy consumption systems compared to their counterparts in low-income countries. They are also more reliant on renewable energy. However, wealthier countries are highly industrious,...