Karen_A._Mingst,_Ivan_M._Arregu_n-Toft]_Essentia

340 CHAPTER NiNE ■ InternatIonal Po lItI cal economy

Bank. Most of the debates over the best approach have focused on variations or adap-
tations of the liberal economic model, but other critiques are more fundamental. As
constructivists assert, there is a real conflict over ideas.
During the 1950s and 1960s, the development institutions, including the World
Bank and major donors such as the United States, a dopted a strategy for development
that emphasized financially large infrastructure proj ects— such as dams, electric power,
and telecommunications—as necessary for providing the foundations of development.

Human DeveloPment InDex, 2015

Life

expectancy

at Birth

(years)

Mean

years of

schooLing

(years)

expected

years of

schooLing

(years)

gross

nationaL

incoMe

per capita

(2011 ppp$)a

h uMan

deveLopMent

index vaLueb

a rab States 70.6 6.4 12.0 15,722 0.686

east asia

and the

Pacific

74 .0 7. 5 12.7 11,449 0.710

eu rope and

central asia^72 .3 10.0 13.6 12,791 0.74 8

latin

amer i ca

and the

ca rib bean

75.0 8.2 14.0 14,242 0.74 8

South asia 6 8.4 5.5 11.2 5,605 0.607

Sub- Saharan

africa^58 .5 5.2 9.6 3,363 0.518

World 71.5 7.9 12.2 14,301 0.711

a. PPP is purchasing power parity. It is a way to compare levels of economic data cross- nationally, free

of price and exchange- data distortions.

b. The HDI combines indicators for life expectancy, educational attainment, and income into a

composite value, ranging between 0 (low development) and 1 (high development).

Source: United Nations Human Development Report, 2015.

t able 9.1