The effect of positioning in the world economic system on economic and social development: A relational approach to services

In this study, we aimed to evaluate how the positioning of the country in the world economic system influences economic development (per capita income) and social development (HDI). Taking exchange of services as a reference point, through social network analysis and panel data, we found that the positioning of the country in more central positions, i.e., the core and semiperiphery, and capacity for betweenness positively interfere with economic development, but not with social development. However, we did observe that those countries with greater outsourcing of services to other countries tend to enjoy greater social development.