Past research has defined economic dependency along dimensions of trad
e dependency and foreign investment. The authors argue that the presen
t phase of world-system development is shaped by finance capital and d
ebt dependency. Debt dependence refers to dependence on flows and stoc
ks of concessional and nonconcessional debt and resulting debt service
ratios to finance development. While flows of loans may increase econ
omic growth, stocks of debt inhibit development. In their analyses the
authors find that trade and investment variables still had significan
t negative effects on economic growth between 1973 and 1985. At the sa
me time, stocks of nonconcessional debt and debt service ratios were b
eginning to have negative effects of economic growth. The authors sugg
est additional case studies in future research to explore these relati
onships.