DIT is an acronym that means International Division of Labor, which expresses the way the distribution of production in global terms, in between developed and underdeveloped countries.
DIT is characterized by the Specialization of countries in the production of something, whether final products or intermediate products, which are going to be used in the completion of a final product. This need arose because it is not possible for a single country to be able to produce all the goods it needs on its own.
The relationship between more and less industrialized countries is an essential part of the DIT, because the less developed countries present benefits to the more developed ones, such as cheap work force, reduced taxes, etc.
Evolving along with the capitalism, DIT is a strategy used to increase profits, since the cost of the final product is reduced.
There are several authors who criticize the DIT, stating that this division is responsible for creating inequalities between countries. Countries that are on the upswing often buy technologies at very high prices, and their end products do not reach adequate prices, which stifles their development, and consequently benefits countries economically more strong.
The international division of labor can be separated into three phases. THE first phase (characterized by the commercial capitalism) occurred in the 15th and 16th centuries, when the colonies provided minerals, spices and slave labor, and the metropolises were responsible for the production and export of the developed products. THE second level took place in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, and was marked by the industrial capitalism, where the colonies (or underdeveloped countries) supplied the raw material and other agricultural and mineral products, and the developed countries industrialized the supplied raw material. During the third phase, O financial capitalism imposes that the underdeveloped countries supply the raw material and industrialized products, while the developed countries are concerned with investments, development of new technologies and products industrialized.
DIT is a dynamic process which has undergone changes over the years, because the economic and industrial context has been changed by the globalization.
Originally, the classic DIT it indicated that underdeveloped countries supplied raw materials to developed countries, while the latter used them for the production of final goods. Later, underdeveloped countries had to buy these products from producing (developed) countries.
Later, the new DIT (also known as DIT of the new world order), the least developed countries do not only supply the raw material, but produce materials and goods whose production is more expensive (or causes a lot of pollution) in the more developed countries. These contribute with investment and technologies that help in the production processes. The new DIT corresponds to the third phase discussed above, and has a high level of complexity, because the flow of investment and products also occur from less developed countries to more developed ones, which does not happen at DIT classic.
See too: characteristics of globalization.