Andre Gunder Frank facts for kids

Andre Gunder Frank (born February 24, 1929 – died April 25, 2005) was an important thinker. He was a German-American sociologist and economic historian. He helped develop ideas like dependency theory and world-systems theory. These ideas explain how different countries are connected in the global economy.

Andre Gunder Frank's Life Story

Frank was born in Germany. His father, Leonhard Frank, was a writer who believed in peace. When the Nazis came to power, his family had to leave Germany. They moved to Switzerland and then to the United States in 1941.

School Days and Early Career

Andre went to Swarthmore College and earned a degree in economics in 1950. Later, he got his PhD in economics from the University of Chicago in 1957. His PhD study was about farming in the Soviet Union. His teacher was Milton Friedman, a famous economist. It's interesting because Frank later disagreed with Friedman's ideas about how economies should work.

In the 1950s and early 1960s, Frank taught at universities in America. He then moved to Latin America in 1962. He taught at the University of Chile. There, he was involved in changes happening under the socialist government of Salvador Allende.

Moving Around the World

After a military takeover in 1973, Frank left Chile and moved to Europe. He worked at many different universities there. From 1981 until he retired in 1994, he was a professor at the University of Amsterdam. He taught about how countries develop their economies.

Frank was married three times. He had two sons with his first wife, Marta Fuentes. He passed away in 2005 due to health problems.

Andre Gunder Frank's Big Ideas

Andre Gunder Frank taught and researched in many different subjects. These included economics, history, and sociology. He worked at many universities around the world. He also gave countless talks in many languages.

Writing and Research

Frank wrote a lot about the history and development of the world. He focused on how countries, especially those in the Third World and Latin America, grew. He wrote over 1,000 articles and books in 30 languages!

One of his most famous books is Capitalism and Underdevelopment in Latin America. It was published in 1967. This book was very important for dependency theory. This theory suggests that poorer countries are kept poor because richer countries depend on them.

World-Systems Theory

Frank also made big contributions to world-systems theory. This idea looks at the world as one big system. He believed that this world system started thousands of years ago, not just a few hundred years ago. He argued that there is only one "World System," not many separate ones.

His ideas often focused on how a country's economic strength is linked to its history and where it is located. He also warned that if poor countries only focus on selling goods to other countries, it can hurt their own development.

Later Work

In his later years, Frank studied world history. He also wrote about the global economy. The Stockholm School of Economics in Riga (SSE Riga) now has his personal library. They created the Andre Gunder Frank Memorial Library to honor him.

Selected Books

• (1967) Capitalism and Underdevelopment in Latin America.
• (1998) ReOrient: Global Economy in the Asian Age.

See also

In Spanish: André Gunder Frank para niños

• History of globalization
• James Morris Blaut
• Samir Amin
• John M. Hobson
• World-systems theory