Thematic Study 2: Development and sustainability practice questions.

Which indicator measures income inequality within a country on a scale from 0 to 1?

• Gini coefficient
• GDP per capita
• Human Development Index
• Inflation rate

Answer: Gini coefficient

The Gini coefficient ranges from 0 (perfect equality) to 1 (maximum inequality); higher values mean greater inequality.

The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) measures poverty using which approach?

• Deprivations in health, education and living standards
• Household income alone falling below a fixed dollar threshold
• Total national GDP
• Government spending as a share of GDP

Answer: Deprivations in health, education and living standards

The MPI captures poverty beyond income by counting overlapping deprivations experienced by households.

How many Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) did the UN adopt in 2015 to be achieved by 2030?

• 17
• 8
• 10
• 25

Answer: 17

The 2030 Agenda set 17 SDGs (e.g. no poverty, quality education, climate action), succeeding the 8 Millennium Development Goals.

Which development theory argues that poor 'periphery' countries are kept underdeveloped by their exploitative relationship with rich 'core' countries?

• Dependency theory
• Modernisation theory
• Rostow's stages of growth
• Neoliberalism

Answer: Dependency theory

Dependency theory (e.g. Andre Gunder Frank) sees underdevelopment as produced by unequal core-periphery ties, not a lack of progress.

Which theory claims that all societies pass through similar linear stages toward a modern industrial economy?

• Modernisation theory
• Dependency theory
• World-systems theory
• Post-colonialism

Answer: Modernisation theory

Modernisation theory (e.g. Rostow's five stages) assumes development follows the path taken by industrialised Western states.

Immanuel Wallerstein's theory dividing the global economy into core, semi-periphery and periphery is known as what?

• World-systems theory
• Modernisation theory
• Human capital theory
• Comparative advantage

Answer: World-systems theory

World-systems theory analyses a single capitalist world economy with a semi-periphery mediating between core and periphery.