WORLD GEOGRAPHY Nov. 4, 2014

Today Unit 6 – Development (pt. 1)

Unit 6 - Development Issues to be explored: - defining and measuring the development - geographical situation and development - barriers to and costs of development - Uneven development and political and economic institutions.

Defining the world by “development”

Demonstration of the complexity of the world - Hans Rosling

Core and Periphery Elements of World Systems Theory - World economy is a three-tiered structure; Core Periphery Semi-periphery (these concepts comprise places and processes)

Core and Periphery

Core processes: incorporate higher levels of - education - salary - technology These processes produce more wealth in the world economy. e.g. biotechnology, finance, IT

Core and Periphery Core nations: - Have strong central governments - Highly industrialized - Adequate tax base to provide infrastructure - Less influence from outside forces e.g. The U.K., Sweden, The U.S.

Core and Periphery

Peripheral processes: incorporate lower levels of - education - salary - technology These processes generate less wealth in the world economy. e.g. farming

Core and Periphery Peripheral nations: - Have relatively weak governments - Tend to be less industrialized - Tend to rely on a single type of economic activity (e.g. extracting natural resources and exporting them to core countries) - Targeted by outside corporations from core nations (exploit cheap, unskilled labor) e.g. Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Bolivia

Core and Periphery

Semiperiphery - Places. - Both core and periphery processes occur.  These places tend to be exploited by the core and exploit the periphery “Buffer between the core and periphery” e.g. Mexico

Defining and measuring development “Wealth does not depend solely on what is produced; it depends in large part on how and where it is produced.” (p. 321)

Defining and 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, both inside and outside a country’s territory Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Measure of the total value of the officially recorded goods and services produced with a country by the citizens and corporations in a given year Gross National Income (GNI) Most common measurement used today Measure of the monetary worth of what is produced within a country plus income received from investments outside the country Using economic development

Issues with measuring econ. development 1. Focuses only on formal economy - the legal economy that governments tax and monitor 2. Ignores informal economy - illegal or uncounted economy that governments do not tax or monitor

Issues with measuring econ. development Informal economy e.g. Zimbabwe GDP: 904 USD GNI: 820 USD

Issues with measuring econ. development Informal economy e.g. Zimbabwe popn.: 14.2 million Employed in informal economy: 5.7 million Lost tax income: approx. 25,000,000 USD

Defining and measuring development Still other means of measurement: Occupational structure of the labor force (employment in sectors of the economy) Productivity per worker (production divided by total labor force) Transportation and communications facilities per person (per capita index of transportation and communications per person) Dependency ratio (dependents, young and old, that each 100 workers must support)

Communications Worldwide, there are more than 6.5 billion mobile phone subscriptions (world population: 7 billion). - This seems to indicate that almost everyone has a mobile phone. However…

Differences in Communications Connectivity Around the World

Communications

Defining and measuring development Significant limitation of all concepts mentioned: - lack of consideration of development within countries

Development models The concept of “developing” implicates the concept of “progress”  improving literacy rates, and productivity per worker increasing number of people with mobile phones, encouraging a shift to technology-based industries “Progress” also implies that all countries take a similar pathway towards development.

Rostow’s modernization model 5 stages: – Traditional – Preconditions of takeoff – Takeoff – Drive to maturity – High mass consumption

Ladder of development

Rostow’s model - issues Assumes all countries follow the ladder of development. - implies economic development only attained by climbing the same ladder as currently “industrialized” countries. No larger context to development: - Is moving up the ladder dependent only on what happens within a single country?

Rostow’s model - issues Lacks geographical context (e.g. actions of nearby countries, global forces, and their effects on a country’s climb up the ladder. Lacks context within a single country (e.g. cultural differences)