Theories of Unequal Exchange-A Critique of Emmanuel and Amin

A Critique of Emmanuel and Amin Nirmal Kumar Chandra The theory of unequal exchange, the author argues, is quite unsound and does not advance our knowledge of why the economic distance between the North and most countries in the South is increasing with the passage of time. The writings of Arghiri Emmanuel or Samir Amin do contain many useful insights that serious students of economic developments can hardly afford to miss. Their main fault lies, however, in constructing a simplistic theory with an extremely small number of variables and quantifying them in a manner that suits the theory rather than the facts; they hardly realise that the variables properly estimated could often stand the theory on its head.