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12.1: Chapter Introduction and Objectives

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    212566
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    Chapter Introduction & Objectives

    Learning Objectives
    • Understand the concepts of global, national, and regional development and their interconnections.
    • Explain various trade models, including free trade and protectionist models, and their impacts on development.
    • Analyze the role of microfinance in fostering economic development, particularly in developing regions.
    • Describe the stages of economic development and the factors that influence progression through these stages.
    • Evaluate the effectiveness of different development strategies and policies at global, national, and regional levels.
    • Understand: the primary measures and terms associated with wealth, poverty, economic growth, and social improvement for gauging levels of development by region and country
    • Explain: the two paths to development and the attendant strengths and weaknesses of each.
    • Describe: Regional differences in economic and social development across the world
    • Connect: the processes of globalization to development efforts and outcomes that vary dramatically by place

    Chapter 12: Development Geography

    Originally remixed from: Todd Lindley Dorell

    Introduction: Development & Geography Section

    If you could choose anywhere on the planet, where would you like to live? Would you choose a place with mountains or with beaches? A place with high taxes or few regulations? Do you love your community/state/country? Could you make more money somewhere else or might you be happier with warmer/colder weather? Do you think that you are able to realize your full personal potential in the place where you live now? Why or why not? Your answers might vary greatly from other people around the world based upon what language you speak, your religious preferences, your cultural framework, and your own personal values. Nonetheless, there are certain indicators that geographers can use to categorize places according to how developed they are in terms of technology, infrastructure, wealth, and opportunity. As you might guess, the differences between places can be quite stark, but it’s important to understand the dynamics and geography of the patterns and processes associated with income, well-being, and opportunity. This chapter explains how those distinctions are made and how they vary across time and place using the concept of development (the processes related to improving people’s lives through access to resources, technology, education, wealth, opportunity, and choice).

    Which places on earth are the most developed? There is no simple answer to this question. San Francisco is often voted as the most beautiful city in the U.S. but the cost of living makes this place unaffordable for all but the wealthiest of residents. Ancient cities like Jerusalem, Athens, and Baghdad contain amazing architecture and the roots of western civilization, but streets also tend to be narrow and housing crowded. China has experienced the fastest economic growth of any other country in the past 30 years, but it is accompanied by catastrophic levels of air pollution, poor working conditions, and severe limits on personal liberty. Within the United States, people in Colorado tend to be the healthiest while those in Utah have the largest houses and people in Texas are the most loyal to their home state. There are multiple ways to measure development, and geographers spend a great deal of time and effort studying, measuring, and quantifying the differences and commonalities.

    A few general truths about development and wealth in our 21st century world can simplify the complexity:

    1. The world continues to be divided into the Global North and Global South by the Brandt Line (See Figure 9.1). Levels of wealth, wellbeing, access to technology, and health tend to be higher in northern countries than in southern ones. The line is problematic because it over-generalizes, but it remains a meaningful starting point to understanding development from a global scale.
    2. The majority of people living in the 21st century have a higher standard of living, earn more money, are healthier, and live longer than was the case for people 50 years ago.
    3. In spite of #2, the wealth disparity between those at the bottom and those at the top remains greater than ever before. According to Credit Suisse’s global wealth report, the globe’s richest 1% (of people) control more than half of the world’s wealth, up from 42.5% in 2008.

    Figure | The Global North as defined by the Brandt Line in 1980 Author | User “Jovan.gec” Source | Wikimedia Commons License | CC BY SA 4.0

    Important Terms & Concepts from this section

    People in more developed countries (MDC) and less developed countries (LDC) experience the world very differently, but let’s think about the meaning of such terms. MDC’s tend to have higher incomes, levels of technology, infrastructure development, and life expectancies while LDCs tend to have lower levels of those and other indicators. The simplest measure to consider is income. The World Bank (more on this institution later in the chapter) places countries into 4 categories. In 2017, low-income economies were defined as those with a gross national income (GNI) per capita, of $1,025 or less in 2016; lower middle-income economies are those with a GNI per capita between $1,026and $4,035; upper middle-income economies are those with a GNI per capita between $4,036 and $12,475; high-income economies are those with a GNI per capita of $12,476 or more. The map in Figure 9.2 displays the general geographic patterns associated with the 4 categories. Take a moment to look at the map to see if any of the countries or regions surprise you. For example, are all African countries in the same category? What about countries in Latin America or Asia? Which country is in a higher category, China or Russia?

    Income categories by the Country.png

    Figure | Income Categories for Countries as Defined by the World Bank in 2017 Author | The World Bank Source | The World Bank License | CC BY 4.0

    Now that you have pondered these categories and spatial patterns, let’s take a step back. What exactly is meant by Gross National Income per capita? It is the sum of a nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) and the net income it receives from overseas. GDP includes all of the goods and services produced with a country in a given year and is calculated according to the following formula: Consumption + Investment + Government Spending + Net exports. So if a government increases spending on the military or on road construction in a given year that will increase GDP (and GNI). If a country imports a lot of things but doesn’t export many things, it will decrease that country’s GDP (and GNI). Finally, if consumers buy a lot of alcohol for New Year’s Eve, that will also increase GDP (and GNI). GNI also includes income derived outside of the country by members of the country. For example, Coca Cola, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, earns profits in 200 different countries around the world. Those profits outside of the U.S. are not included in GDP, but they are included in GNI. It’s a little confusing, but this measure provides a valuable way to compare economic outputs between multiple countries and is the metric that is most often used in recent years. The total GNI for a country is divided by the total population of that country to arrive at a per capita figure, which includes children, the elderly, those imprisoned, etc. So, the figure of $12,476 does NOT mean that the average adult earns that amount annually as income, but rather it represents total income and economic output divided by the total population. Take a look at the cartogram in Figure 9.3, which shows countries represented, not by their physical size, but by the size of their respective GNI. Table 11.2 shows the top 15 countries by GNI, with the United States ranked at the top and China second. The next table shows countries ranked according to GNI per capita (per person). Notice how the list of the top 15 countries changes dramatically. Can you think of reasons to explain why this might be? First, small oil-producing countries tend to have high incomes that are spread across a small population (e.g. Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Brunei). Second, countries with high incomes, high exports, and few children (e.g. Singapore and Switzerland) have high GNI. Third, certain small countries attract very wealthy member of society to live there in order to avoid paying higher tax rates elsewhere (e.g. Switzerland, Isle of Man, and Bermuda).

    map of GNI by country.png

    Figure | Gross National Income by Country Author | © Copyright Worldmapper.org / Benjamin D. Hennig Source | WorldMapper License | CC BY NC ND 4.0

    The difference between GNI and GNI per capita tends to be more pronounced in large, highly populated countries. The U.S. and China, for example, are the top two countries for total GNI, but neither appears in the top 15 for GNI per capita, in which the U.S. ranks 18th ($58,700 per person) and China drops all the way to 103 ($15,500 per person). A final important term useful to understand economic differences is Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). The PPP accounts for differences in the cost of living and goods between 2 places to allow for a more meaningful comparison. Think about it this way. If you earned $60,000 per year in New York City or in Lincoln, Nebraska, where would your salary be more valuable? Most items are cheaper in Lincoln, so your salary would be worth more there than in NYC. Similarly, the cost of living in Mexico is much lower than in Sweden, so the PPP figures in Table 11.1 account for such differences. If you are considering a move, you can check on salary equivalencies here: http://money.cnn.com/ calculator/pf/cost-of-living/index.html.

    Chart of GNI by country and GNI per capital.png

    Figure | Gross National Income & Gross National Income per capita (PPP) in 2016 Author | The World Bank Source | The World Bank License | CC BY 4.0


    12.1: Chapter Introduction and Objectives is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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