ABSTRACT
The chapter elaborates on the concept of unequal specialization. Unequal specialization arises as rents emerge in international trade. Rents prove persistent if they cannot be neutralized. This happens when rents meet structural unemployment and create international technology gaps. Economies that suffer from unequal specialization are less able to benefit from international trade. They become dependent on exports of only a few product groups. Extractivism is a special case of this pattern of unequal specialization. After presenting the theoretical model, the chapter engages in an in-depth empirical analysis of unequal specialization during the last 150 years, focusing on the Global South. It traces how extractivism develops through the interplay of international and domestic factors. It highlights how extractivism changes but also why it is so persistent.
