Development Chapter 10

How do you Define and Measure Development? Key Question: How do you Define and Measure Development?

Awesome

Development “The process of improving the material conditions of people through diffusion of knowledge and technology.” Every country lies at some point along the development continuum. MDC Developed Countries LDC  Developing Countries list

Measuring Development Gross National Product (GNP) Measure of the total value of the officially recorded goods and services produced by the citizens and corporations of a country in a given year. Includes things produced inside and outside a country’s territory. Includes things that are produced inside and outside a country’s territory.

Measuring Development Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Measure of the total value of the officially recorded goods and services produced by the citizens and corporations of a country in a given year. Only includes goods and services produced within a country

Measuring Development Gross National Income (GNI) Measure of the monetary worth of what is produced within a country plus income received from investments outside the country. ** Most common measurement used today. Measured per capita: US $41,950 Japan $31,410 Nigeria $1040

Issues with Measuring Economic Development All measurements count the: Formal Economy – the legal economy that governments tax and monitor. All measurements do not count the: Informal Economy – the illegal or uncounted economy that governments do not tax or keep track of.

Other Ways of Measuring Development Occupational Structure of the Labor Force Productivity per Worker Transportation and Communications Facilities per Person Dependency Ratio

Differences in Communications Connectivity Around the World

Dependency Ratio by Country, 2005 A measure of the number of people under the age of 15 and over the age of 65 that depends on each working-age adult.

What does Development Mean? Development implies “progress” Progress in what? Literacy, communications, etc. Do all cultures view development the same way? Do all cultures “value” the same kinds of development?

Development Models Modernization Model Walt Rostow’s model assumes all countries follow a similar path to development or modernization, advancing through five stages of development, climbing a ladder of development. traditional (subsistence farming) preconditions of takeoff takeoff (rapid economic growth) drive to maturity (workers are more skilled/educated) high mass consumption (secondary industry) Some would now add a sixth stage: “Post-Industrial”

Rostow’s Ladder of Development

Is the idea of economic development inherently Western Is the idea of economic development inherently Western? If the West (North America and Europe) were not encouraging the “developing world” to “develop,” how would people in the regions of the “developing world” think about their own economies?

How does Geography affect Development? Key Question: How does Geography affect Development?

Dependency Theory The political and economic relationships between countries and regions of the world control and limit the economic development possibilities of poorer areas. -- Economic structures make poorer countries dependent on wealthier countries. - Little hope for economic prosperity in poorer countries. Views the world as countries that work as interlocking parts

Neocolonialism The periphery takes a dependent role in the world economy It is underdeveloped because of uneven trade Structuralists find this difficult to change

Dollarization – Abandoning the local currency of a country and adopting the dollar as the local currency. El Salvador went through dollarization in 2001

Geography and Context * Cannot simply study what is produced. * Need to examine how and where it is produced and where the production is on the commodity chain. * Examine commodity chains and look for the kinds of economic processes operating at each link in the chain.

Commodity Chain Series of links connecting the many places of production and distribution and resulting in a commodity that is then exchanged on the world market. How processes operated at each step in the commodity chain that produced the dolomite stone for this fireplace?

Wallerstein’s Three Tier Structure Core Processes that incorporate higher levels of education, higher salaries, and more technology * Generate more wealth in the world economy Periphery Processes that incorporate lower levels of education, lower salaries, and less technology * Generate less wealth in the world economy Semi-periphery Places where core and periphery processes are both occurring. Places that are exploited by the core but then exploit the periphery. * Serves as a buffer between core and periphery

Compare and contrast Rostow’s ladder of development with Wallerstein’s three-tier structure of the world economy.

What are the Barriers to and the Costs of Economic Development? Key Question: What are the Barriers to and the Costs of Economic Development?

Millennium Development goals Key issues that need to be resolved in order for economic development to be achieved Poverty, gender equality, etc. List on page 328

Barriers to Economic Development Low Levels of Social Welfare Trafficking Foreign Debt Structural adjustment loans Political Instability Widespread Disease Malaria

Foreign Debt Obligations Total interest payments compared to the export of goods and services.

Foreign Debt Obligations Foreign Debt and Economic Collapse in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2001

Widespread Disease Malaria kills 150,000 children in the global periphery each month. Tamolo, India This baby sleeps under a mosquito net distributed to villagers by UNICEF workers.

Global Distribution of Malaria Transmission Risk

Costs of Economic Development Industrialization Export Processing Zones (EPZs) – Offer favorable tax regulations to foreign firms maquiladoras, special economic zones (SEZs) – less environmental regulations and taxes Agriculture Desertification – destroying livestock Tourism

Export Processing Zones

Areas Threatened by Desertification

Think of a trip you have made to a poorer area of the country or a poorer region of the world. Describe how your experience in the place as a tourist was fundamentally different from the everyday lives of the people who live in the place.

Why do Countries experience Uneven Development within the State? Key Question: Why do Countries experience Uneven Development within the State?

Uneven Development Peripheral countries Marked by severe disparities  Cities and Rural Areas Hurricane Katrina vs. WWII Europe

How Government Policies Affect Development Governments get involved in world markets WTO, ILO, etc. Decide how producers exchange on the global market price commodities (gas) shape laws to affect production (Quota Market) T-shirt: Texas  China focus foreign investment in certain places

Islands of Development Created by Governments and Corporations can Places within a region or country where foreign investment, jobs, and infrastructure are concentrated. Capital city First created by colonists in periphery Some have moved

Government-created Island of Development Malaysian government built a new, ultramodern capital at Putrjaya to symbolize the country’s rapid economic growth.

Corporate-created Island of Development The global oil industry has created the entire city of Port Gentile, Gabon to extract Gabon’s oil resources.

Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) entities that operate independent of state and local governments, typically, NGOs are non-profit organizations. Each NGO has its own focus/set of goals. List Microcredit program: loans given to poor people, particularly women, to encourage development of small businesses.

How do actors in nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) mobilize political change? An Indonesian woman (on left) who migrated to Saudi Arabia as a guest worker talks with an Indonesian activist (on right) who works to defend migrant workers’ rights.

Take an item of clothing out of your closet, and using the Internet, try to trace the commodity chain of production. What steps did the item go through before reaching you? Consider whether core or peripheral processes were operating at each step and consider the roles governments and international political regimes played along each step.